‘As a curator, I have a strong interest in emerging art practices, particularly those that intersect with other fields. I like to focus on one aspect of an artist’s work and use it as a way to explore the wider context. While I am not a historian, I really enjoy engaging with artists in conversations, delving into their worlds and imaginations. What I find most fascinating about curation, and art in general, is the power of storytelling. From a work’s genesis to an anecdote, every detail reveals and constructs its unique qualities and values.

‘In that sense, Marie Matusz, a young French artist, is a great example of a sculptor who primarily deals with Minimalist or Modernist attitudes but always with a contemporary twist. She likes to work with materials that have transparency, such as glass or plexiglass, which she uses in vitrine-like sculptures. Recently, she designed the set for “Tales of the Club”, a theater play that explores the ambivalent social space of nightclubs, at Kaserne Basel. In this project, she demonstrated that sculpture can also be performative, with actors moving around and inside the sculptures. Her back wall project at Kunsthalle Basel is set to open in September. I am looking forward to exploring her vision for this unique public space.

‘Vaginal Davis is an artist known for her combative performance, and is an icon of “terrorist drag.” She played a significant role in the art scenes of Los Angeles and New York in the 1980s and 1990s, community building and initiating collective work within the music and Queer scenes. She has been an inspiration to many, including the riot grrrl band Le Tigre, fashion designer Rick Owens, and choreographer Pina Bausch. Personally, I have a deep interest in her work as I attended her classes while studying for my master’s degree in Geneva. I am thrilled that she recently opened her first extensive solo exhibition, titled “Magnificent Product”, at the Moderna Museet and three other institutions in Stockholm, which explores her multidisciplinary work across performance, drag, punk music, video, and drawing.

‘A further crossover project with music and art that I find intriguing is “New York” by London-based duo Gretchen Lawrence and Coumba Samba. They describe themselves as a “girl-pop music and performance project”, and their performances feature raw, chopped lyrics. Their debut album, No Sleep Till N.Y. (2022), is a blend of electro and pop music that is strikingly innovative. Earlier this month, the band previewed a new album during a live show at Pageant, an artist-run performance space in Brooklyn. Additionally, Samba is an accomplished visual artist who recently opened her first solo show at Cell Project Space in London. The show features a soundscape by Lawrence, adding an extra dimension to Samba’s artwork.

‘Another London-based artist on my radar is Deborah-Joyce Holman. They have a range of talents and wear different hats in their practice. Holman is not only a painter but also deals with architecture and interiors and creates long-durational films displayed as installations. They recently presented their work in a solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern and also had a screening at London’s ICA. Their films Moment (2022) and Moment 2 (2022) respond to Portrait of Jason, Shirley Clarke’s 1967 classic cinema verité study of the titular black gay hustler and cabaret performer, Jason Holliday. Their paintings explore domestic film sets where bodies are absent and time elongates and slowly freezes. They have a curatorial practice, too, and used to run the space 1.1 in Basel, which had a great program that combined music with the visual arts.

‘One artist whose work I have loved seeing evolve since we first did a show together in 2019 at Truth and Consequences gallery in Geneva is Ser Serpas, a poet, sculptor, and painter. She uses materials she finds in the streets and assembles them as a kind of private performance. Her paintings are a constant study of the representation of bodies, and she often depicts faceless nudes and focuses on abstract bodies. One of her sources of inspiration is before-and-after photos of people who have undergone cosmetic surgery.

‘All these artists are at different stages in their careers, but they are all going through a shift in their practice – and that is why they are on my radar. I am very much enjoying witnessing these turning points and excited to see where they will lead.’