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Kunsthaus Baselland presents Laurent Grasso: Disasters and Miracles

Kunsthaus Baselland presents Laurent Grasso: Disasters and Miracles an exhibition on view through 30 June 2013.

Laurent Grasso, Uraniborg, 2012. 16mm film transferred on BluRay, colour, sound, 15:48 minutes. Named after Uraniborg the last of the primitive observatories, established in 1576 by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Courtesy of Galerie Valentin, Paris / Sean Kelly Gallery, NY / Edouard Malingue Gallery, HK / Alfonso Artiaco Napoli.
Laurent Grasso, Uraniborg, 2012. 16mm film transferred on BluRay, colour, sound, 15:48 minutes. Named after Uraniborg the last of the primitive observatories, established in 1576 by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Courtesy of Galerie Valentin, Paris / Sean Kelly Gallery, NY / Edouard Malingue Gallery, HK / Alfonso Artiaco Napoli.

Laurent Grasso‘s work, which uses various forms of media and includes videos, painting, photography, neon works as well as sculpture and architecture, is characterised by a strong narrative component. The topics taken up are based on scientific observations, astronomy, primal human fears, superstitions, science fiction and mythologies. The exhibition at Kunsthaus Baselland takes up the idea of a journey through different times, topics and historical and pseudo-historical moments also architecturally. Like in a journey through time, we see the impact of miracles and disasters, of mystical traditions and the effects of superstition and delusion. Grasso leads us to the limits of reality and fiction, faith and knowledge. We dive into a maze and leave it surely different than we were when we entered it. In a series of recent works, the artist focuses on disasters and miracles. In paintings with a wide brass frame and a date and a painting each tell of various events: The Basel earthquake of 1356 was regarded as one of the strongest in Switzerland, which claimed many lives and even caused parts of the Basel Minster to collapse. Another image takes up the earthquake of 1456 in Naples and a at Lake Lucerne in Lucerne. Juxtaposed to the catastrophes is a work that refers to the miracle of Fatima. For Grasso this miracle, for which there is no scientific evidence, stands in a series of events that have been created in history again and again, to keep alive an apparatus of control and power.

Kunsthaus Baselland
St. Jakob-Strasse 170
CH-4132 Muttenz/Basel
www.kunsthausbaselland.ch