CLAUDIA COMTE
CACTI, WAVES AND SUNSETS

MARKTPLATZ BASEL, BASEL, SWITZERLAND
10 JUNE – 8 OCTOBER 2023

GLOBUS PUBLIC ART PROJECT
IN COLLABORATION WITH FONDATION BEYELER

This summer, Swiss artist Claudia Comte will take over and transform the facade of Basel’s historical department store Globus with a large-scale installation that offers passersby a moment of contemplation in their daily routines. Waves, Cacti, and Sunsets is the first iteration of the “Globus Public Art Project”. During the three-year renovation of its iconic department store on Basel’s market square, Globus is collaborating with Fondation Beyeler on inviting artists to conceive and realize new site-specific works of art that engage with the building and its facade.Waves, Cacti and Sunsets present a window into another world, a world of contemplation and stimulation. While a sweeping black and white pattern provides a second skin to Globus’ fa c ade, consisting of an iridescent flow of lines and spanning the full height of the building, the work is comprised of large format images of desert landscapes featuring tall cacti. In the background, a stunning sunset seduces and intrigues. The cacti are playful analogs of this plant and an ecological force: resilient and adaptive to the increasing aridity of land in many parts of the world. Camouflaged with a cartoonish environment that is both joyful and optimistic, the cactus is inscribed in Comte’s artistic vocabulary as a symbol of desertification. The third component of the work is a repeating image of waves breaking, connected like a sequence of film stills set on pause. Rolling along on the ground level, these waves invite people to look up while counterbalancing the desert above. Yet, the landscape also causes pause for thought: the desert is too arid to sustain human life; the cacti are cast in marble and the sunset is a burning orange. The work’s undertones of ecological crisis provide a necessary counterpoint to the dreamscape.
© Claudia Comte
© Images Maris Mezulis with all rights reserved

FEATURED ARTIST

CLAUDIA COMTE
Claudia Comte (b. 1983 in Grancy, Switzerland) is an artist based in the countryside outside of Basel, Switzerland. She studied at the Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne, ECAL (2004-2007) followed by a Masters of Art in Science of Education at Haute Ecole Pédagogique, Visual Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland (2008-2010). 

Comte works between media, often combining sculptures or installations with wall paintings to create environments where works relate to each other with a visual rhythm that is both methodical and playful. Her work is defined by her interest in the memory of materials and by a careful observation of how the hand relates to d...
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