Raphael Hefti

Salutary Failures

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on The Sun is the Tongue, the Shadow is the
Language, 2020. Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on The Sun is the Tongue, the Shadow is the Language, 2020. Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on The Sun is the Tongue, the Shadow is the Language, 2020 (detail). Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on Polycrystalline Horticulture, 2020. Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on Polycrystalline Horticulture, 2020. Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on Polycrystalline Horticulture, 2020 (detail). Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on Dr. Sattler: So, what are you thinking? Dr.
Grant: We’re out of a job. Dr. Malcom: Don’t you mean extinct?, 2020. Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on (f. l. t. r.) RHE 9519; RHE 9520; RHE 9521;
RHE 9526; RHE 9527; RHE 9530; RHE 9525; RHE 9506, all 2020. Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on (f. l. t. r.) RHE 9512; RHE 9513; RHE 9514RHE 9515; RHE 9516; RHE 9502, all 2020. Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on Message Not Sent, 2020. Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on Message Not Sent, 2020. Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, installation view, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020, view on Message Not Sent, 2020 (detail). Photo: Gunnar Meier / Kunsthalle Basel

Raphael Hefti, poster for the exhibition, Salutary Failures, Kunsthalle Basel, 2020. Design: Maximage and Raphael Hefti Studio

Exhibition text and related events (PDF)
Press images (ZIP)

In what will be his largest show to date, Raphael Hefti (*1978), known for his experimental methods, will present several new, immersive, site-specific bodies of work. The Swiss artist’s multi-ton, extreme-aged, and high voltage answers to the conventions of painting and sculpture celebrate the potential of material volatility and even failure, across the five downstairs spaces of Kunsthalle Basel.

Press clippings:
interview with raphael hefti ahead of E.A.T. / engadin art talks 2021, designboom (01/2021)
Raphael Hefti “Salutary Failures” Kunsthalle Basel, Flash Art (01/2021)
Das Echo des Urknalls, artline> Kunstmagazin (10/2020)
Von Physik bis Poesie – Künstler Raphael Hefti stellt aus, Telebasel (10/2020)
Schönste Materialverschwendung, Basler Zeitung (10/2020)
Mit Raphael Hefti zwischen Helium und Sand in Poesie abtauchen, SRF2 Kultur (10/2020)
Raphael Hefti zündet den Urknall, bz — Zeitung für die Region Basel (10/2020)
Salutary Failures, Radio X (10/2020)
In der Kunsthalle Basel entscheidet sich die Chemie für die Kunst, Badische Zeitung (10/2020)