In an era shaped by digital media, Reverb draws attention to physical forms of human communication. The exhibition brings together five video works by the Australian, Paris based artist Angelica Mesiti (* 1976) who combines different disciplines in poetic ways. The works illustrate the enchantment of the everyday and show how cultural traditions, rituals, music and sounds shape identity and foster community.
In her most recent work, the 7-channel video installation “The Rites of When” (2024), Mesiti rethinks social rituals, taking as her point of departure old customs that follow nature and the cycle of the seasons. Such customs are often closely linked with knowledge of the stars and the movements of sun and moon that once informed the calendars of both agricultural activities and spiritual practices. “A Hundred Years” (2020) is a quiet meditation on the traces left by war on landscapes and on memory. On the battlefields of the Somme, the film follows the rhythm of the seasons—from winter to spring, summer, and autumn. “Sidereal” (2024) shows a performance by two dancers, suspended from above, who slowly revolve around one another. Between gravity and weightlessness, their choreography recalls the movement of heavenly bodies or satellites, their interaction sometimes resembling a struggle, sometimes playful harmony. The three-part video installation “Relay League” (2017) is based on the final message sent in morse code by the French Navy in 1997, marking its transition to digital communications. The work develops a poetic reflection on the ways communications are changing and stresses the importance of direct physical contact in an era when machine codes are being constantly developed and renewed. “Prepared Piano for Movers (Haussmann)” (2012) shows two movers in Paris carrying a grand piano up six flights of stairs. The soundtrack is a chance-based composition—inspired by John Cage, the piano was prepared by placing objects inside the instrument that create unpredictable percussive sounds with every movement. Converging with the men’s laborious efforts, this produces a musical score that reveals the grace of everyday events.

Website
tinguely.ch/en/exhibitions/exhibitions/2026/angelica-mesiti.html

Where
Museum Tinguely
Paul Sacher-Anlage 2
4002 Basel

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