NADINE CUENI – Klimax

Opening hours:
THU/FRI: 11 am - 6 pm, SAT: 2 - 6 pm

Exhibition period: 19.10. - 21.12.24

It is only through the human perspective that nature becomes a landscape, that a forest becomes a primeval forest, a climax, a temple of equilibrium in which content can be inscribed. In biology, the climax after a succession is referred to as the climax. Primeval forests are in climax, they exist today only as a relic tolerated by man - as an anthropological construction. Even primeval forests are not free of past events; they harbor their own memories and stories like an ancient temple that carries both traces of the past and hints of the future. Man longs for an equilibrium, the state of stable peak that seemed to exist in the past and can be reached in a distant future, but never in the present. The stability of the equilibrium of a primeval forest lies in its instability. Constant demolition, decay, reconstruction and reorganization go hand in hand. A never-finished state, an eternal construction site.

At Artstübli - Kunst & Kultur, in the middle of the hectic city of Basel, artist and biologist Nadine Cueni interweaves the digital post-natural environment with the archaic primeval forest as the epitome of raw and untouched nature in a multimedia installation.

The exhibition shows a large-format projection of the film “Climax - oh temple growing green”. The room contains architectural elements covered in moss and curtains with forest prints, accompanied by spherical sounds. Viewers move through an artificial film landscape of forest and architecture in the speculative video essay. The tracking shot through a digital forest temple shows images of “Scatlè”, a small piece of forest in the canton of Graubünden, probably one of the last primeval forests in Switzerland. “Scatlè” means ‘nested’, and the spruce primeval forest is indeed nested and difficult to access due to steep rocky slopes, scree fields and avalanche paths. The forest owes its existence to its unattractiveness to humans - it has never been used or cut down.

The scaffolding and cover sheets of the installation Under construction - Disclimax refer to the primeval forest as an eternal construction site, a place of constant demolition and reconstruction. The covering sheet as something provisional and protective in a phase of reconstruction serves as material for the huge prints in black and white, which show the Scatlè jungle in a state of brute upheaval. Film footage from this primeval forest can be seen on a screen as a tableau vivant, sometimes in black and white, then in color. The footage could be from tomorrow, yesterday or today.

Climax - oh temple growing green, video full HD with sound, 13:30 min.

Under construction - Disclimax, installation of printed cover sheets, scaffolding, video in loop

The exhibition was realized in collaboration with Robin Michel, Melanie Kuratli, Go Tsushima, Soundguy Basel, Simon Wyss, Pablo and Andreas Muster.

Opening hours
Thu, Fri: 11 am - 6 pm; Sat 2 pm - 6 pm
Artstübli - Art & Culture, Steinentorberg 28, Basel

Nadine Cueni *1976 lives and works in Riehen/Basel
Multimedia artist whose general ideas revolve around the relationship between personal and collective memories. With her background as a biologist, Cueni is not only scientifically interested in nature, but also examines society through its interaction with nature and questions behavior towards otherness on a larger scale. Her work is multi-layered, blending aspects of documentary, scientific research and personal perception - with a light touch of surreal fiction and humor.

Thank you for your support:

Film- und Medienkunst BS/BL
MIGROS Kulturprozent
GGG Basel

Ruth und Paul Wallach Stiftung 
Mustera Lithografie
Boenicke Audio

R. Soder Baugeschäft AG

Ausstellungsraum Klingental

Antoinette Cueni und Linda Wunderlin