At the heart of “Extrasensory” lies the question of how meaning is created. Chloe Wise is interested in the ways sensory experience, language, history and cultural expectations shape our perception. In the exhibition, perception is presented not as a neutral recording of reality, but as an active process in which images, signs and narratives play a central role.

Wise’s work also focuses on moments where rational explanations reach their limits. Since ancient times, societies have turned to mythology, religion and speculative forms of storytelling to give shape to the unknown. In “Extrasensory”, the artist draws on these traditions and translates them into a contemporary visual language. Figures reminiscent of angels, supernatural beings or technological apparitions emerge, yet resist any fixed interpretation.

The exhibition invites visitors to resist the urge to resolve uncertainty too quickly. Rather than offering clear-cut answers, “Extrasensory” lingers in those moments when perception, language and interpretation begin to falter. It is precisely this openness that gives the exhibition its appeal: it creates a space in which multiple readings can coexist.

Curator Samuel Leuenberger understands the figures that emerge throughout the exhibition as cultural constructs through which encounters with the unknown can be imagined. At a time when contemporary society often demands certainty and clear definitions, “Extrasensory” embraces ambiguity, sensorial experience and the power of what cannot be fully explained.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is a film project shown on three large screens. Moving images create a cinematic environment that is constantly changing. Rather than simply moving through an exhibition space, visitors are immersed in a layered interplay of image, narrative and atmosphere.

The film project serves as the starting point for an installation-based experience in which perception and space continuously shape one another. This ambitious presentation transforms “Extrasensory” into an exhibition that is not only viewed, but experienced through the senses.

Chloe Wise was born in 1990 in Montreal, Canada, and today lives and works in New York. She studied at Concordia University in Montreal and graduated there as a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Her artistic practice spans painting, sculpture, video and installation.

A central focus of her work is the history of portraiture and the ways in which notions of identity are constructed. In particular, she explores the interplay between consumer culture, body image and image production. With humour and irony, Wise draws on art-historical traditions while simultaneously questioning structures of desire surrounding food, the body and representation.

She is particularly known for her meticulously hand-painted casts of food items, which are assembled into uncanny sculptural objects. These works occupy a space between permanence and transience, fiction and reality.

Her most recent solo exhibitions include “Myth Information” at Almine Rech in New York, “Told A Vision” as part of Art Basel Parcours in Basel, “In the Loveliness of Perfect Deeds” at Blouin Division in Montreal, “Spite Unseen” in Geneva, as well as an exhibition at the Heart Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark. Her works have also been shown in group exhibitions, among others at the Centre Pompidou-Metz, Kunstverein Bielefeld, LACMA and the Andy Warhol Museum.

Samuel Leuenberger is an independent curator and cultural producer. He is the founder of SALTS, a non-profit exhibition space based in Birsfelden and Bennwil (Switzerland), and serves as a mentor at the Institute Art Gender Nature at the Basel Academy of Art and Design. Previously, he worked at Kunsthalle Zürich, Christie’s in Zurich and the Stephen Friedman Gallery in London. 

He has contributed to numerous international exhibitions and programmes, including the Parcours sector of Art Basel (2016–2023) as well as the Globus Public Art Project in collaboration with the Fondation Beyeler (2022–2025). Further collaborations include Centro Párraga (Murcia), Misk Art Institute (Riyadh), Centre Pasquart (Biel), Salon Suisse-Pro Helvetia (Venice), Les Urbaines (Lausanne) and 14 Rooms (Basel). 

His most recent projects include curating the 10th edition of the Biennale Gherdëina (Dolomites, Italy) and the 2026–2027 exhibition cycle of Plataforma – a new exhibition and residency initiative in Guadalajara (Mexico). Leuenberger recently published a book surveying Basel’s art institutions titled “ABC Basel”, released by Mousse (2025), and is co-host of the “This is Basel” podcast. He is also the curator of the “Extrasensory” exhibition by Chloe Wise at KBH.G.

20 November 2026 to 14 February 2027

In this exhibition, internationally renowned photographic artist Mariana Cook turns her attention to glacial erratics – monumental stones carried across continents by glaciers over thousands of years. As silent witnesses to history, they embody the past, present and future. In Cook’s photographs, they become compelling visual narratives.

Cook first came to prominence through her sensitive portraits of leading figures from the worlds of art, politics and literature, including Jorge Luis Borges, Sonia Rykiel, and Michelle and Barack Obama. In this body of work, she turns her gaze from people to the landscape, opening up a contemplative perspective on time, memory and presence.

The exhibition is complemented by a film offering insights into Cook’s artistic practice and her approach to subject matter, process and perception. The exhibition is curated by Beda Achermann.