Installation view, Bizarre Silks, Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts, etc., an exhibition by Nick Mauss, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel 

Bizarre Silks, Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts, etc.,
February 7 - April 26, 2020 
Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland 
An exhibition by Nick Mauss 


“Artist Nick Mauss (* 1980) has repeatedly turned exhibition-making—the assembly of precisely staged relations—into an art form. He especially conceives the scenography for this show, which brings together and reframes works by contemporary and historical figures, emphasizing aspects of legibility, textility, fragility, and aggression across various media.”

Mauss has chosen two fabric sculptures for this exhibit, including the acclaimed Galla Placidia, which has not been exhibited since the 1970s and never shown in Europe. We also worked with Mauss and artist Amanda Friedman on reenacting Mayer’s Ghosts, sculptural installations from the early 1980s that no longer exist. Based on close study of the documentation of Ghosts, these new installations incorporate the forms, ideas, and materials of her earlier work while connecting to the place and time of the exhibition.

For more information about this exhibition please visit the Kunsthalle Basel website here. To read the full exhibition text, please view the PDF linked below. 

Installation view, Bizarre Silks, Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts, etc., an exhibition by Nick Mauss, view on Rosemary Mayer, Hypsipyle, 1973, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel 

Detail view of Hypsipyle , 1973, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Marie Warsh

Detail view of Hypsipyle , 1973, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Marie Warsh

Installation view, Bizarre Silks, Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts, etc., an exhibition by Nick Mauss, view on Rosemary Mayer, Galla Placidia, 1973, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel 

Installation view of Galla Placidia, 1973, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Marie Warsh

Detail view of Galla Placidia, 1973, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Marie Warsh

Detail view of Galla Placidia, 1973, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Marie Warsh

Installation view, Bizarre Silks, Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts, etc., an exhibition by Nick Mauss, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel 

Installation view, Bizarre Silks, Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts, etc., an exhibition by Nick Mauss, view on (front) Rosemary Mayer, “reenactment” by Nick Mauss in collaboration with the Estate of Rosemary Mayer, February Ghosts (Monoceros, Auriga, and Orion), 1981/2020, and (back) Nick Mauss, Tresholds, 2020, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel 

Installation view, Bizarre Silks, Private Imaginings and Narrative Facts, etc., an exhibition by Nick Mauss, view on (front) Nick Mauss, Tresholds, 2020, and (back) Rosemary Mayer, “reenactment” by Nick Mauss in collaboration with the Estate of Rosemary Mayer, February Ghosts (Monoceros, Auriga, and Orion), 1981/2020, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel 

Detail view of February Ghosts (Monoceros, Auriga, and Orion), 1981/2020, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Marie Warsh

Detail view of February Ghosts (Monoceros, Auriga, and Orion), 1981/2020, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Marie Warsh

Detail view of February Ghosts (Monoceros, Auriga, and Orion), 1981/2020, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Marie Warsh

Installation view of February Ghosts (Monoceros, Auriga, and Orion), 1981/2020, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Marie Warsh

Installation view of February Ghosts (Monoceros, Auriga, and Orion), 1981/2020, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Photo: Marie Warsh