bruce nauman: disappearing acts, a retrospective at the schaulager, basel

the schaulager presents a retrospective of bruce nauman‘s work with video, drawings, prints, sculptures, neon works, sound pieces and installations that span over five decades of the influential artist’s career. organized in collaboration with the museum of modern art, new york (MOMA), the exhibition brings together 170 works, ranging from early pieces to the artist’s most recent installations.

installation view: green horses, 1988
photo by tom bisig, basel © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

from 16 march to 26 august 2018,the schaulager examines the work of bruce nauman in a comprehensive retrospective that showcases rarely exhibited works alongside renowned pieces, representing all phases of his career from the mid-1960s to the present day. the show includes the world premiere of two recent pieces, the monumental sculpture ‘leaping foxes’ (2018) and a 3D-video titled ‘contrapposto split’ (2017), as well as the european debut of the video projection ‘contrapposto studies, i through vii’ (2015 / 2016). ‘functioning as an act, concept, perceptual probe, magical deceit, working method, and metaphor, disappearance has been a useful and persistent prompt for nauman’s art,‘ curator kathy halbreich explains on the choice for the exhibition title. ‘close relatives of disappearance– the absent, the void, and ensuing senses of nonexistence, privation, or omission – also appear in many forms.‘

green horses, 1988 (still)
photo by ron amstutz, © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

installation view: the true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths (window or wall sign), 1967
photo by tom bisig, basel © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

double steel cage piece, 1974
photo by jannes linders, rotterdam, © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

installation view: contrapposto studies, i through vii, 2015/2016
photo by tom bisig, basel © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

installation view: leaping foxes, 2018
photo by tom bisig, basel © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

make me think me, 1993
photo by dorothy zeidman, new york, © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

installation view: model for trench and four buried passages, 1977
photo by tom bisig, basel © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

neon templates of the left half of my body taken at ten-inch intervals, 1966
photo by andy romer photography, courtesy of the glass house, a site of the national trust for historic preservation, © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

one hundred live and die, 1984
photo by dorothy zeidman, courtesy the artist and sperone westwater, new york,  © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

installation view with various works
photo by tom bisig, basel © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

installation view: square, triangle, circle, 1984
photo by tom bisig, basel © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

corridor installation (nick wilder installation), 1970
photo courtesy friedrich christian flick collection im hamburger bahnhof, berlin, © bruce nauman / 2018, prolitteris, zurich

exhibition info:

organized by: laurenz foundation, schaulager basel and the museum of modern art, new york

duration: 16 march to 26 august 2018