In his exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Basel, spread out across two of the museum’s venues, Gates will explore the cult of the Black Madonna, examining both its significance in the history of religion and its aesthetic and metaphorical tenor.
The presentation at the Kunstmuseum Basel Neubau will focus on Gates’s own work, some of it created specifically for the occasion. He will also build a shrine of sorts to the Black Madonna that will enter into a critical dialogue with the venue’s architecture and art from the collections. By contrast, the installation at the Kunstmuseum Basel Gegenwart will turn the museum space into a site of creative production. The artist will set up a temporary sound studio and printing workshop, where he will work with his personal archives, with a focus on the photography archives of Ebony and Jet Magazine, two key publications that have been vital media of black culture in America. Find out more about the ‘Black Madonna’ exhibition from the Kunstmuseum Basel’s website.
Preview the exhibition below | See Apollo’s Picks of the Week here
Hairstyles (1965). Photograph from the archives of the Johnson Publishing Company. Courtesy Theaster Gates
Funeral of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968). Photograph from the archives of the Johnson Publishing Company. Courtesy Theaster Gates
Corinne Bailey Rae (2018). Photo: David Sampson; courtesy Theaster Gates
Virgin with Child in front of a Landscape (1530), Maerten van Heemskerck. Courtesy Kunstmuseum Basel
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