Performance is a moving image that, unlike other artistic genres, is directly rooted in the dimensions of time and space; thus, the artistic discussion and its reception also represent a real and immediate experience. As an ephemeral, unique event, performance creates an exciting counterweight to the static and yet hectic situation of the fair and possesses at the same time the capacity to decelerate

Performance Project at LISTE – The Young Art Fair
June 14 – June 20, 2010

Curated by Silke Bitzer

LISTE – The Young Art Fair
Burgweg 15
CH-4058 Basel
T: +41 61 692 20 21
F: +41 61 692 20 18
contact@liste.ch
www.liste.ch
www.liste.ch/fair/press

Performance is a moving image that, unlike other artistic genres, is directly rooted in the dimensions of time and space; thus, the artistic discussion and its reception also represent a real and immediate experience. As an ephemeral, unique event, performance creates an exciting counterweight to the static and yet hectic situation of the fair and possesses at the same time the capacity to decelerate.


Monday, June 14: NEZAKET EKICI (DE/TR), "Permanent Words", 7 p.m.
Tuesday, June 15: RYAN MCNAMARA (US), "Private Dancer", from 1 p.m.
Wednesday, June 16: LILIBETH CUENCA RASMUSSEN (DK), "The Artist's Song", 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 5 p.m.
Thursday, June 17: SASKIA EDENS (CH), "Breath", 6 p.m.
Friday, June 18: DAWN KASPER (US), "On series", 6 p.m.
Saturday, June 19: AIDEEN BARRY (IE), "Flight folly", 6 p.m.
Sunday June 20: CALIFORNIUM 248 (CH/FR), "mit freundlichen grüssen", 2 p.m., 4 p.m.

Taking place for the sixth year in a row at LISTE 15 – The Young Art Fair in Basel, the Performance Project is not only an integral part of the fair, but can now be counted among the established programs in the field. It is important to us to provide young international performance artists with a platform that attracts international performance experts as well as many friends of the arts and to contribute to a lively exchange between artists and the public. Artist Nezaket Ekici will kick off this year's program with her performance "Permanent Words", followed by Ryan McNamara. Having shown his works at Performa09, Whitney and MoMA PS1, it is clear that McNamara is among the hottest and most promising artists in the US art scene. In performances and videos, McNamara creates ambiguous situations that appear at once abstruse and macabre. In his subtle play with the observer's voyeurism, McNamara consciously seeks to undermine all expectations. Such will also be the case with " Private Dancer", a piece, conceived specifically for LISTE. Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen's performance "The Artist's Song" deals with (in)famous works from the history of art, which have influenced the concept of art, and questions artistic strategies as well as their related political assertions, whereas "Breath", a work of Swiss artist Saskia Edens is based on the physical encounter with the audience. Characterized by silent gestures that are geared much less toward showy effects but more toward a contemplative observer, her work will be a counterpart of a fair's situation. L. A. based artist Dawn Kasper creates actions that contextualize a systematic process. Activated by researched information and translated into performance, the culmination of these actions finds her various characters coming together to display a sculpture. Aideen Barry's artistic focus deals with the notion of the "Uncanny". She examines our perceptions and creates images on the border between the truly p erceivable and pure imagination: in-between spaces. Her LISTE performance "Flight folly" cites historical notions of fairs or world expositions and how experiments in flight were commonplace at those venues. Young artist collective californium 248 makes use of stereotypical standards applied by the entertainment industry. In creating a shift between such stereotypical aesthetics and a reality of packed emotions deriving from the here and now, the mainstream codes appear as though they were highlighted, ready to explode at any time.

This project is supported by, among others: Alfred Richterich Stiftung. Culture Ireland. Ernst Göhner Stiftung. GGG, Basel. Manor AG, Basel. Lotteriefonds Basel-Stadt. Lotteriefonds Basel-Landschaft.

For further information please contact:
Silke Bitzer
Curator Performance Project
T: +41 61 692 20 21; contact@liste.ch