“My studio is my kitchen, and all ingredients are permissible.” Using various means – painting, sculpture, objects, videos, manifestoes, interventions and culinary arts – Nicoletta Stalder (born 1972) repeatedly injects an energy into the art business that runs almost stubbornly counter to traditional exhibition forms. Nicoletta has drawn attention to herself with actions and manifestoes which coquettishly berate the current art business. She has chosen a space that lies outside of the theoretical debate and works closely with a whole network of people who are creatively active in art and culture, and who have chosen an independent path – to the advantage of their creative work, but to their own financial disadvantage.
30 days are no trouble to this artist. Having been invited as a guest to the Kunsthalle, she how, as hostess, offers a platform to her growing network of partners. Small and micro-companies will allow the public insight into their respective independent economies. On a daily basis, new time windows will open in which Nicoletta’s guests sing, play, dance, perform magic, or pursue crafts. The fruits of these activities are texts, hats, paintings, sound, a climbing wall, and much more.
Hallimasch: the word (also armillariella mellea, or honey mushroom) sounds like the name of a character from The Arabian Nights or of some strange Scottish national dish, although it actually refers to a widespread type of fungus. The system that provides this organism with nourishment and water is an expansive, dense underground mesh. Applied to this 30-day forum, the mushroom symbolises both life and work forms that assert themes without being permanently visible.
The exhibition catalogue will be published by Kunsthalle Basel with Schwabe Verlag, Basel.