The China International Garden Expo is the nation’s premier and most representative exhibition for the landscaping and horticulture industry, renowned for its scale, influence, and international reach. Jointly organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and provincial governments, it represents one of China’s most significant platforms for landscape and urban development. As the only art-focused sub-venue of this year’s Garden Expo, the Longwan presentation is curated by UCCA Lab, a creative platform under UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, one of China’s leading institutions for contemporary art.

Themed "Chinese Pose, Splendor Unfolds," this sub-venue brings together landscape art, public art, and urban space in a multifaceted dialogue. Taking the ecological canvas of Huangshishan as its foundation and drawing inspiration from the strengths of its vision and eye-care  industry, Longwan bridges natural landscapes with visual technology. Through an innovative integrated “city-garden”model Longwan is crafting an "everlasting visual art museum" for all ages.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Ferdinand Hodler (1853-1918) was a key figure on the Swiss and European art scenes. Celebrated from Paris to Vienna, and compared to Paul Cézanne, Gustav Klimt and Auguste Rodin, Hodler was one of the most recognised painters at the dawn of the First World War. In Switzerland, he made a decisive contribution to artistic modernity, acting as a role model, a driving force and also a repellent.

Produced jointly with the Musée d'art de Pully and the Institut Ferdinand Hodler, this exhibition reveals painters who were inspired by Hodler's teachings, others who were influenced by his example, and some who turned against his legacy. It presents artists who were recognised in their time, such as Cuno Amiet, Giovanni Giacometti and Félix Vallotton, and others whose reputation has only grown, such as Marcel d'Eternod, Stéphanie Guerzoni and William Röthlisberger.

Today, Hodler's impact on contemporary art is still palpable. At the invitation of the Musée d'art et d'histoire, Claudia Comte, Didier Rittener and David Weishaar have created monumental works that echo the great painter's art through contemporary artistic and societal concerns.

Temporal Drift (coral, leaf, cactus) marks a pivotal moment in Claudia Comte’s practice: This immersive installation features a monumental curved wall with undulating black-and-white patterns inspired by oceanic rhythms, paired with three marble sculptures - a coral, leaf, and cactus. Created through carving and 3D milling they encapsulate her career-long fascination with the transformation of materials and the dialogue between natural forms and human intervention. Positioned within Comte’s exploration of ecological and temporal themes, the work challenges viewers to reconsider their relationship with the natural world and its enduring histories, forming a powerful contribution to Art Basel Unlimited.

The 2024 Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Project takes “Echoes Among Us” as its theme. Using sculpture as a medium, the exhibition seeks to forge a harmonious connection between art, the city, and its people. Against global cultural exchange as a backdrop, the exhibition explores coexistence with complexities of the modern world, creating a “concerto” of echoes that resonate within and around us. From September 26 to December 31, 2024, the 2024 Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Project (2024 JISP) will feature 35 sculptures by 31 artists from 10 countries in natural spaces, bustling streets, and waterfronts throughout Shanghai’s Jing’an District. These sculptures, with their varied forms and styles, are accommodated into everyday scenes, creating temporary artistic enclaves within the city. Of the exhibited works, 22 are newly commissioned for this exhibition.

Here, sculptures are no longer static, isolated objects, but instead dynamic forms that transform in step with life. Changes in light and shadow, passing of seasons, playfulness of children, and hurried footsteps of passersby become integral accompaniments to the works, enhancing the artistic experience. At the same time, the city becomes the ideal stage for art, where concepts from different eras and perspectives of diverse cultures are expressed together in the form of sculpture. Between resonance and dissonance, harmony and discord, these works engage in dialogues spanning history, disciplines, and culture. In the echoes of this shared concerto, we rediscover our connection with one another as well as our existence with the purest joy and fulfillment from art.  

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This exhibition hinges on the idea of the possibility of understanding and regenerating corals and is divided into two spaces: day and night, each environment refers to a moment in the investigative process as well as a coming to terms with the Ocean’s life. The day space presents corals made of wood, while the second one evokes the darkness of the depths of the seabed, with a mural painting that, through graphics, shapes, technology and materials, it becomes an immersive installation that encourages reflection and approach to corals.

Claudia Comte (1983, Grancy, Switzerland) has long since developed from a shooting star of the Swiss art scene into an internationally sought-after artist. Claudia Comte complements the transgression and combination of different techniques and disciplines by juxtaposing materials such as wood and marble, which she works in the traditional manner of sculpture, with industrially produced elements.

In the Kunstraum Dornbirn, Comte has created an environmental installation that immerses us in an artificial underwater landscape littered with ennoble marble debris. Suspended above an arrangement of 40 intricately rendered marble can sculptures hangs a gigantic text fragment by American marine biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson. Taking the form of wave movements, the text becomes primary material for Comte’s geometrical iconography, which is always grounded in the natural world. In The Sea of Darkness language distorts into slippery image.

Curator: Thomas Häusle

Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea organizes and presents the first Italian museum exhibition dedicated to the Swiss artist Claudia Comte (Grancy, 1983). The exhibition is drafted by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and Marianna Vecellio.Starting from the observation of nature and its changing patterns, the artist creates large-scale environmental installations that embody the world from the perspective of a form of consciousness primarily shaped through the digital experience. Examining current issues such as climate change, ecology and global pollution, her work also narrates the memory of materials and the wisdom of art and craft. These large installations represent the main group of Comte’s works, but her work also includes sculpture and painting, as well as extensive multimedia installations.

All the projects by the Swiss artist share a series of rules, as well as reference points, which clearly link one work to another in the conception phase. From this process, her works combine a rigid method with a dynamic approach characterized by a minimalist attitude at the same time.

Born and raised in Grancy, a small village near Lausanne at the foot of the Mont Tendre, one of the highest peaks of the Jura Mountains, a limestone mountain range located in the Alps, the Swiss artist puts a strong autobiographical reference in her artworks. The forest with its trees and all its non-anthropocentric data belong to the artist’s memory and specifically her childhood memories, and these elements are the first to influence the translation of the landscape into her creations.

The work of artist Claudia Comte (b. 1983 in Lausanne, lives and works in Berlin) is characterized by her use of a simple language of forms and her engagement with different media, such as sculpture, printmaking, installation and painting, which she presents in a spatial manner. In so doing, this artist from Western Switzerland revives traditional artisanal methods and explores the relationships between the visual languages of art history and popular culture. Comte finds the inspiration for her site-specific works in her environment: in nature, architecture and culture.

Her series of paintings Eye to Eye at the café of Museum Haus Konstruktiv shows elliptical canvases, on which black and white circles can be seen, which are reminiscent of comic characters’ eyes. The convergent eyes, inspired by Warner Bros. Road Runner, satirize the visual language of the Swiss Concretists. With a mixture of humor and homage, the artist subjects the modernist heritage to a jovial rejuvenation. In so doing, she combines concrete visual elements from art with the comic.