The historic building of the GLOBUS department store on Basel’s Marktplatz will be undergoing renovations for the next three years. For this period, the company has come up with something really quite special. The department store has teamed up with Fondation Beyeler to conceal the cheerless scaffolding behind a huge art installation. Swiss artist Claudia Comte is kicking off the GLOBUS Public Art Project with ‘Waves, Cacti and Sunsets’. And we installed it on the façade in record time.
We had just four weeks to install Claudia Comte’s mammoth project. This process included everything from measuring and surveying all the scaffolding to creating several samples, printing, assembly and installation. Thanks to our experience and expertise, we were able to handle the challenging size and deliver within the ambitious deadline. We also acted as a liaison between the construction site and the artist. The final result has been on display for all to see on the façade of the GLOBUS building on Basel’s Marktplatz since 8 June 2023.
‘Waves, Cacti and Sunsets’ by Claudia Comte consists of three elements. The largest of the three elements, weighing 800 kilograms and measuring 90 x 15 metres, is a mesh sheet featuring a print of black and white lines and stripes. As it is composed of three large and two small sections, the lines were a particular challenge when it came to welding seams and joints. They had to line up perfectly to ensure that the transitions were invisible. We used tarpaulin for the other two elements. The wave on the ground measures 46 x 3 metres, and the tarpaulin featuring the cacti and the sunset covers a total area of 300 m2.
During the three-year renovation project on Basel’s Marktplatz, every year the GLOBUS Public Art Project will invite an artist to design and create a work of art for the building’s public space. To select the artists, Fondation Beyeler launched a call for entries; Claudia Comte won the first round. Her work, ‘Waves, Cacti and Sunsets’, will be on display until the beginning of October 2023, inviting passers-by to pause and reflect. The Swiss artist lives and works in Basel. Her site-specific installations playfully combine large-scale murals and sculptures. She draws on organic patterns and morphology to convey the intelligence and transformative power of the natural world, which she does to impressive effect. The undertones of ecological crisis that resonate in the work provide an indispensable antithesis to the dreamscape.
Waves, cacti and sunsets.
