For the first time in the history of the Messeplatz Project at Art Basel, public art takes the form of painting. Behind this bold gesture is Katharina Grosse, an artist who challenges the physical and conceptual limits of urban space: CHOIR is her largest work in an urban context and, as she herself states, «my most ambitious outdoor piece, and the first Messeplatz Project at Art Basel to take the form of a painting.»
Curated by Natalia Grabowska, Curator at Large for Architecture and Site-Specific Projects at the Serpentine in London, Katharina Grosse’s installation stands as a totalizing work— a contemporary fresco that freely expands over surfaces, structures, and even the official symbols of the fair. «From the start, I assumed I could paint everywhere, including over the Art Basel logo,» the artist explains on Instagram, highlighting her aim to break all forms of control.
CHOIR is a work that speaks of freedom, fluidity, and transformation. Born from a desire to «challenge what can happen in a tightly regulated environment», the painting embraces space with an almost organic visual force, as if it were «a vast painting that flew in, landed briefly, and left its residue behind.»
Color—especially magenta—takes center stage. It invades architecture and the urban landscape, captures the gaze, and alters the perception of the surrounding space. «Color becomes a tool to disrupt habits and provoke change. I want people to feel so destabilized—positively or negatively—that they are moved, inwardly,» says Katharina Grosse.
CHOIR is not just a painting: it is a collective and temporary experience. A “painterly crowd” that unites and dissolves, welcoming everyone and belonging to no one. «It belongs to everyone and no one. It brings people together in a fleeting collective – a choir of distinct voices, momentarily held together in a shared, ever-changing experience,» the artist concludes.
In an era where art tends to be codified and boxed in, CHOIR breaks through. It’s an invitation to let go, to perceive reality as something liquid, unstable, and therefore alive.
