You Can Break a Rock With an Egg

Artists: Azadbek Bekchanov, Mykki Blanco, Raffaela Boss, Adriana Brantuas Arijón, Xavier Coronel, Anna Dettwiler, Dominic Jan Dietschi, Sophie Diggelmann, Yana Dyl, Tatjana Erpen, Sabrina Fässler, Daniela Flores Arias, Svenja Gansner, Alex Ghandour, Alma Herrmann, Oleksandr Holiuk, Charlotte Horn, Jasmine Noemi Jetzer, Salome Jokhadze, Pallavi Keshri, Lale Keyhani, Tim Kummer, Lena Laguna Diel, Nina Lazzarini, Sara Løve Daðadóttir, Jael Ludewig-Kedmi, Nora Lune, Luise Maier, Jorge Morocho Ibarra, Arbesa Musa, Madeleine Noraas, Viola Oppizzi, Alberto Papparotto, Timo Paris, Shanti Pérusset, María Sabato, Salphinah Savin, Odilia Flurina Senn, Lois Leon Siegenthaler, Rea Siegrist, Claudius Skorski, Yara Solenthaler, Nicolas Spycher, Elio Nicodemo Stricker, Thea Stucki, Jasmin Tanner, Alice Tioli, Kateryna Vysoka, Babette Walder, Lorenz Walter Wernli, Hugo Willemin, Gerta Xhaferaj, Franca Fay Zanetti. Curated by Ines Goldbach and Chus Martínez; Curatorial assistance Emily Harries.

With You Can Break a Rock With an Egg, this year’s graduation exhibition of the bachelor and master students, the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW becomes the guest of the Kunsthaus Baselland for the ninth time. The presentation of new works by over 50 emerging artists continues the long-term collaboration, this time at the new location of the Kunsthaus Baselland in the immediate vicinity of the Campus Dreispitz of the HGK Basel FHNW. To emphasize the special nature of a graduation exhibition in a leading art institution and in the education of artists, who are transitioning from the sensitive environment of the art academy to the challenges of working as professional artists, each year a renowned guest curator is invited to curate the exhibition together with Chus Martínez, head of the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW. On the occasion of the new location and new neighborhood, this year’s guest curator is Ines Goldbach, director of Kunsthaus Baselland.

“This is our first graduation exhibition in the recently opened new building of the Kunsthaus Baselland. As a result, once again we decided to team up, Ines Goldbach and Chus Martínez, as we did the first time when we jointly curated the graduation exhibition back in 2016. After nearly a decade, the graduation exhibition of the newly produced works of the third-year bachelor and second-year master students of the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW has become a reference in our culture calendar. Both curators, teachers and the teams of the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW and of the Kunsthaus Baselland have been working for almost a year on the conception and production of works specifically made for this occasion. This year’s title You Can Break A Rock with an Egg refers to an ancient Chinese saying and resonates with the current efforts artists undertake in our society. Indeed, what all the artists in the exhibition have in common is their insistence on believing that the impossible needs to be accomplished: an equal society, a society living with the values and respect of all forms of life as well as the possibility of living a life in balance, in the experience of art and culture. Each and every work looks inside the mind and around our world at the same time, in a personal and specific way. All works invite us to follow their path and free our mind of the constrains and obligations of everyday. Examining the materiality of the world, together with the production of experiences that enhance a sense of care, responsibility towards nature, and a commitment to the poetic and the fantastic worlds, is very present in the exhibition.

We extend our gratitude to the entire team of the Kunsthaus Baselland for the collaboration and for hosting our graduation exhibition for the ninth time. We also thank the team of the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW, as well as all the participating artists for their brilliant works.”
—Chus Martínez and Ines Goldbach 

You Can Break a Rock With an Egg is part of Kunsttage Basel (August 30–September 1, 2024). Press contact: Institute Art Gender Nature, Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW, Anna Francke, email, T +41 61 228 43 25.