Art Basel Parcours

Artist Chloe Wise’s latest work Told A Vision, a multimedia installation created for Parcours, Art Basel, replicates the sensation of channel surfing at the mercy of some unknown remote control holder. Fragments of commercials, despite their uncanny familiarity and authoritative language, advertise nothing in particular. These scenes evoke empty promises, tautologically promoting the idea of consumerism itself. As the film progresses, the messages become distorted, and language devolves into meaninglessness, approximating the incoherence of overheard snippets of conversation in a crowd. 
In congruence with the video work, Wise’s installation of welcome mats underscores the plurality of possibilities being sold to viewers through an abundance of directionless words and phrases. We are constantly in a state of almost having arrived. The fragmentary nature of both the film and the welcome mats creates a disconnect between what is uttered, what is shown, and what is meant. 

The installation will be on view at Martinskirche, Basel’s oldest Parish, as part of Parcours from June 12 - 19, 2023.