Summary
- Award-winning director and artist Steve McQueen has opened Bass (2024) at Schaulager Basel, which is now on view through November 16.
- Originally presented at Dia Beacon, the piece expands on McQueen’s well-known cinematic oeuvre, using light and sound to create an immersive sensory field.
A year ago, Steve McQueen presented a piece called Bass, leaving many people taken aback. Unlike his acclaimed works like Deadpan (1997) that won him the Turner Prize, or 12 Years a Slave (2013), which brought him an Academy Award, this work was entirely devoid of images. Instead, McQueen chose a more minimalist approach, employing only light and sound – the fundamental elements of cinema.
McQueen introduces “Bass” at Schaulager Basel, signifying his comeback to the Swiss institution after a gap of twelve years since his self-titled exhibition there. Initially co-commissioned by the Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager Basel, and Dia Art Foundation, the work premiered at Dia Beacon last year, where it dramatically altered the museum’s vast, post-industrial underground into a surrounding sensory environment. Since then, the piece has been modified to harmonize with Schaulager’s unique architectural style, filling the space with a 40-minute, immersive display of low-frequency sounds and vibrant color changes.
McQueen expressed his fondness for light and sound because they both originate from movement and flexibility. Just like steam or perfume, they can take on any form, slipping into even the tiniest spaces.
During this investigation into light – stunningly radiant with subtle shifts and changes – the work likewise grapples with recurring themes for McQueen: those concerning identity, voids, and the pain of the Black diaspora. By delving into the transient, multi-sensory realm that is “Bass“, the artist focuses on the “origins” of the “all-inclusive” – psychological conditions, complex history, personal recollections, and the unseen powers that guide us.
In this context, McQueen pushes the boundaries of our visual understanding, as well as what we generally associate with his body of work. By doing so, the film Bass adds depth and complexity to McQueen’s longstanding exploration of moving images, unveiling fresh perspectives within his cinematic realm.
The piece is now on view in Basel through November 16.
Schaulager Basel
Ruchfeldstrasse 19,
4142 Münchenstein,
Switzerland
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2025-06-16 23:55