YELL, LOW HIGH - an intervention by students of the Masterstudio Scenography at the HGK Basel

Scenography refers to the design of spaces to create an atmosphere or experience. Liminal spaces are spaces of transition, change and innovation, where everything seems possible and which are constantly in a state of flux. They offer the opportunity for something new as established structures are temporarily dissolved. This semester, the task was to explore the scenographic potential of transitional spaces.

The HGK Basel on the Campus Dreispitz is located in a place of transition. The former Transitlager was used for storing goods. Even today, the area remains a site of change and transition, where people, ideas, and things transform, encounter, and unfold. Within the Art Academy, CIVIC serves as a place of transition and possibilities.

For Art Basel 2024, six students from the Masterstudio Scenography of the Institute Contemporary Design Practices (ICDP) at the HGK Basel designed and implemented YELL, LOW HIGH, a spatial transition utilizing the existing framework within CIVIC and transforming this space into a place of change.

The envelope of a hot air balloon becomes the skin of YELL, LOW HIGH, an installation in constant motion that is simultaneously poetic, humorous, and powerful. Sounds, scents, and the perpetual movement of the wind transform this installation into an organism evoking associations with yellow in all its shades, inviting interaction.

YELL, LOW HIGH is activated as a gesture of playful resistance: breaking through facades to connect inside and outside, blending sounds of alphorns with electronic music, moving with dancers in harmony with the wind, blurring the boundaries between performers and visitors.

Jeanette Winterson discusses in "The World and Other Places" the idea that “in the space between chaos and form, there was another chance”. YELL, LOW HIGH, born in this realm between chaos and form, demonstrates the potential of liminal spaces.

Congratulations to Marcial Koch, Adelina Malekova, Jimena Martel Bidegain, Connor Muething, Renê Salazar, and Martin Wöllenstein for this spatial realization with its immersive events featuring dance, performances, music, and culinary specials.

A big thank you to Matylda Krzykowski for the invitation to stage CIVIC during Art Basel, to Enver Pajazati and his team for their support, to the artists who brought YELL, LOW HIGH to life and to everyone who shared yell, low high moments with their presence, their associations, and their participation.

Prof. Charlotte Tamschick, Martina Ehleiter

Yellow
is a huge entity living in the lobby of CIVIC
that only opens once every solar cycle.
No one knows where it came from…
Did it fall from the sky? Did it come out of the ground?
It feeds on air, it's mysterious, it's elusive and strangely alive.

It sends out signals of seduction.
Whistling low sounds into your ears,
breathing high scents into your nose,
yelling silently.

It wants you to come closer.

Yellow
High above your head
yellow
Low under your feet

y     e     l    l   o   w   w   w

in your veins

Y    l   l   w
on your mind

It wants you to surrender.
Can you resist?

YELL, LOW HIGH – a spatial transition at CIVIC was realized during ART Basel by Masterstudio Scenography.

CONCEPT & REALISATION
Marcial Koch, Adelina Malekova, Jimena Martel Bidegain, Connor Muething, Renê Salazar, Martin Wöllenstein

POEM
Martin Wöllenstein

SOUND DESIGN
Iman

INSTRUMENTALISTS
Köbi Dolder & Thomas Schauffert

DANCE
Pietro Cono Genova, Giulia Esposito

MENTORING
Prof. Charlotte Tamschick, Martina Ehleiter

SUPPORT
Matylda Krzykowski, CIVIC Artistic Lead