Project: Bass - June 17, 2025

Bass @ Schaulager Basel

Project: Bass - Schaulager Basel
Light Artist / Designer: Steve McQueen
Visiolite Products Used: Visiolite Vibrance, Visiolite RGBW.

A Vibrant Symphony, Part II

Steve McQueen's installation uses a custom designed LED strip containing the Visiolite Vibrance(tm) LED chip in combination with high precision RGBW to achieve 8 channel color mixing. The LEDs are coupled with a custom controller using 16-bit precision, expanding the color gamut to include every wavelength of the custom LED spectrum.

Steve McQueen at Schaulager Basel

The world-renowned artist and Academy Award-winning filmmaker is returning to Schaulager in June 2025, with his most abstract work to date and 12 years after the groundbreaking exhibition. Specifically attuned to the architecture of Schaulager, Bass is largely inspired by McQueen’s keen interest in the effect of light, colour and sound on our physical perception of space and time.

Originally co-commissioned by the Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager Basel and Dia Art Foundation, the work debuted at Dia Beacon last year, where it transformed the museum’s cavernous, post-industrial underground into an enveloping sensory field. The piece has since been adapted to complement Schaulager’s own architectural character, flooding the space with a 40-minute, immersive presentation of low-frequency tones and spears of shifting hues.

“What I love about light and sound is that they are both created through movement and fluidity. They can be molded into any shape, like vapor or a scent; they can sneak into every nook and cranny. I also love the beginning point where something isn’t a form as much as it is all-encompassing.” McQueen wrote in a recent statement.

The exhibition is now live in Basel through November 16.

Schaulager Basel Ruchfeldstrasse 19, 4142 Münchenstein, Switzerland