ACCESSIBLE OBJECTS


AO:05. 251206

Date - 06 December 2025
Location - Basel, Switzerland
Curator - Eero Schoch
Work - Brenda Dell’Anna, Celia Sophie Honegger, Lucie Schrag
Scenography/ set design - Kaito Yamamoto-Ran, Somin Yoo










YOU CAN’T JUST PLACE THESE WORKS IN A HOUSE AND THUS RE-DOMESTICATE THEM INTO AN ALREADY DOMESTIC SPACE. IT’S A DOUBLE TURN: USING THE DOMESTIC AS A CRITIQUE OF INSTITUTIONS PER SE, THEN NEEDING TO UN-DOMESTICATE THE SPACE TO PROVIDE THESE WORKS WITHIN A FRAME OF DIGNITY.
 IT’S NOT JUST DOUBLED DOMESTICATION, BUT ALSO DOUBLED SUPERIMPOSITION. ON THE ONE HAND YOU’RE IMPOSING ON THE ARTISTS THAT THEY DO “DOMESTIC” WORK, WHETHER CHOSEN CONSCIOUSLY OR NOT. THEY HAVE TO REACT TO STEREOTYPES OF WOMEN OR FEMININITY, SUCH NARRATIVES, OR TRADITIONAL CRAFTS. AND ON THE OTHER HAND, THE DOMESTIC SPACE IS THEN SUPERIMPOSED AS AN INSTITUTIONAL SPACE THROUGH STAGING AND OCCUPATION. AESTHETICALLY, IT LOOKS DIFFERENT, BUT ONTOLOGICALLY IT’S STILL AN APARTMENT—A FAÇADE.
HOPEFULLY, FOR ONE NIGHT, IT’S A SPACE OF AMBIGUITY—NEITHER INSTITUTIONAL NOR FULLY DOMESTIC. WE’RE PUTTING PRECONCEIVED ARCHITECTURAL NOTIONS OF THE APARTMENT’S FUNCTION INTO QUESTION, AND INSTEAD TRY TO OCCUPY IT IN A DIFFERENT MANNER WITH AGENCY. IF FOR ONE NIGHT WE CAN RELEASE SOME OF THE SOCIAL AND ART HISTORICAL FRAMES THE ARTIST’S WORK IS READ THROUGH, IT’S A SUCCESS.

IT’S A NECESSARY RESPONSIBILITY OF USING THE DOMESTIC SPACE, WHICH HAS DISTINCT POSSIBILITIES AND VALUES FROM INSTITUTIONAL SPACES. IT’S AN AMBIGUOUS SETTING. WE DON’T HAVE TO MESS WITH BUREAUCRACY, OR CREATE A GRAND NARRATIVE SINCE IT’S NOT A COMPLETELY PUBLIC EXHIBITION. IT HAS A DIFFERENT FORMAT. THE PUBLIC IS NOT THE SAME. THERE IS NO PUBLIC, TO BE PRECISE; THERE ARE GUESTS, FRIENDS, PEOPLE WE KNOW, AND THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO LATER REACT TO SELECTED PICTURES AND TEXTS ONLINE.

I WORRY ABOUT THIS A LOT. UNDER IDEAL CONDITIONS, IT WOULD BE IN A LESS STRICT APARTMENT SETTING, THAT IS OPEN TO ANYONE. THIS EVENT IS IN A WAY A PROTOTYPE OF WHAT THAT COULD BE—REALIZING IT INSTEAD OF LETTING IT REMAIN A CONCEPT.
FRAMING IT AS A PROTOTYPE IS GREAT SINCE THROUGH THIS COMPACT FORMAT, YOU CAN TRY CERTAIN THINGS FASTER WITH LESS RESPONSIBILITY—FINANCIALLY, REPUTATIONALLY, AND IN RELATION TO CRITIQUES OF ART HISTORIC TRADITIONS OF CERTAIN MEDIA. THIS IS THE STRENGTH OF A SMALL, FAST-PACED FORMAT: YOU CAN BE MORE ASSERTIVE OR PROVOCATIVE WITHOUT TRYING TO SMOOTH EVERYTHING OVER. IN THAT SENSE, THE PROTOTYPE MAKES VISIBLE THE CONCEPT’S FRAGMENTEDNESS AND FRAGILITY—AN OSCILLATION BETWEEN INSTITUTIONAL AND DOMESTIC MODES, BETWEEN MAKING A CLEAR STATEMENT AND WITHHOLDING IT. HOW FAR DO YOU MOVE TOWARDS FRAMING AND EXPLANATION? AT WHAT POINT DOES IT WORK AGAINST THE EPHEMERALITY AND IMMEDIACY OF A ONE-NIGHT GATHERING? AND WHAT, THEN, IS REALLY THE LINE BETWEEN THE INSTITUTIONAL AND THE PRIVATE?