Basel | ArtRegion: Basel - Oberrhein

von Bartha

Sarah Oppenheimer: N-02

14. Mai – 30. Juli 2022

Invoking von Bartha’s longstanding engagement with kinetic art, Sarah Oppenheimer’s work introduces the human motor as an agent of phased movement.

Known for the manipulation of the built environment, Oppenheimer’s latest work, N-02, consists of three interconnected ‘instruments,’ each composed of an elongated black aluminium bar and two linear lighting tracks. Arrayed across the ceiling, lamps weave between gallery walls. Black bars interrupt the wall’s white surface.

Visitors are invited to manually manipulate each instrument. Sliding a black bar modulates the position of overhead lights. Touch animates the environment, creating cyclical patterns of change. Elongated black lines merge and separate while luminous stripes of light rise and fall. Gestures overlap and intersect. The energy of human motion intertwines with the frequencies of the environment. As sunlight diminishes and day becomes night, the gallery’s reflective façade is transformed into a transparent window. Light diffuses across the building membrane, and the radiance of the oscillating instruments spills into the street.