Basel Exclusive

For Basel Exclusive, Esther Schipper is delighted to present Remains in Motion by Tuan Andrew Nguyen.

Basel Exclusive is a new initiative developed together with participating galleries that celebrates one of the defining experiences of Art Basel: discovering art works in person. As part of the initiative, selected major works will remain unseen until the opening of the show, creating a special moment of discovery for visitors.⁠⁠

Nguyen's work is largely made from bomb fragments salvaged in Vietnam—unexploded remnants of the Vietnam War. As the artist noted: "I wanted to create something in parallel with this idea of material reincarnation. In Vietnam's Quảng Trị province, these unexploded bombs are everywhere, being reused as planters in coffee shops or people's gardens and backyards. One of the ways that people made a living after the war was to forage and sell this material as scrap." Nguyen's practice draws on, as he put it, "the power to take something that was meant for destruction, harm, and change it to something that has the possibility to heal."