CHOIR (art installation)

File:CHOIR installation by Katharina Grosse at Messeplatz at Art Basel 2025.jpgCHOIR is an art installation created by German artist Katharina Grosse for the 2025 Art Basel flagship fair. Up for only a period of seven days, the work covered the walls and structures of the Messeplatz in Basel with white and magenta paint.{{Cite web |last=Gunia |first=Amy |date=2025-06-19 |title=This artist just spray painted a public square in Switzerland |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/katharina-grosse-spray-paint-art-basel-hnk-spc |access-date=2025-06-21 |website=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2025-06-16 |title=Katharina Grosse: ‘Imagination doesn’t have a scale’ |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/06/16/katharina-grosse-imagination-doesnt-have-a-scale |access-date=2025-06-21 |website=www.theartnewspaper.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Belmont |first=Sarah |date=2025-06-13 |title=Ahead of Art Basel, Katharina Grosse Sprays the Messeplatz with Color |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/katharina-grosse-messeplatz-art-basel-interview-1234745036/ |access-date=2025-06-21 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}

The 53,000-square-feet of the pedestrian area of the Messeplatz was the largest canvas for Grosse to date. It took Grosse and her team six days to create the work.{{Cite web |date=2025-06-20 |title=Katharina Grosse On Transforming Art Basel’s Messeplatz With Color |url=https://observer.com/2025/06/interview-katharina-grosse-art-basel-2025-messeplatz/ |access-date=2025-06-21 |website=Observer |language=en-US}}

When questioned about the short duration of the art work’s existence, Grosse said she found the ephemeral quality to be one of its strengths. In an interview with ARTNews she said, “You can’t buy it, you can’t own it. It defies the reality of the fair, which is mainly about transactions. There is beauty in that transience.”

The work was curated by Natalia Grabowska, of the Serpentine Gallery in London.

References