The Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager Basel is pleased to announce Bass (2024), one of the most recent works created by Steve McQueen. Specifically attuned to the architecture of Schaulager, Bass is largely inspired by McQueen’s keen interest in the effect of light, color and sound on our physical perception of space and time.

“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 any nook and cranny. I also love the beginning point where something isn’t a form as much as it is all-encompassing.” Steve McQueen, 2025

Bass is as immersive as it is radically immaterial, for it consists purely of color and sound: deep bass frequencies resonate in the space – single tones or traces of a melody are heard, sometimes louder, sometimes softer. The space is also flooded with light that slowly, almost imperceptibly runs through the entire visible colour spectrum from deep red to almost ultraviolet. The work holds visitors in thrall the moment they enter Schaulager, its sheer scale heightening the overwhelming impact even more. Bass takes possession of the entire monumental interior of Schaulager, including the full height of the atrium and the breadth of the exhibition spaces. The vast interior volume is transformed into a resonating body for a temporary intervention that invites visitors to engage with this immediate, powerful experience. The composition of Bass emerged in collaboration with an intergenerational group of musicians from the Black diaspora under the direction of McQueen along with the renowned bassist Marcus Miller, who brought in several other acclaimed musicians: Meshell Ndegeocello and Aston Barrett Jr. (both on electric bass), Mamadou Kouyaté (on ngoni, a traditional West African string instrument) and Laura-Simone Martin (on upright acoustic bass).

McQueen’s fascination with the bass is no coincidence. Firmly rooted in Black music, the instrument is inseparably related to Black history and cultural identity. It is a mighty symbol that empowers the articulation of emotions that are difficult to put into words. As the foundation of many compositions, it ensures stability and palpable debth.

Bass is jointly commissioned by the Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager and the Dia Art Foundation in New York. In 2022, McQueen was invited to work out a new project that would first be presented at Dia Art Foundation and subsequently at Schaulager. Inspired by the cavernous, columned space at Dia Beacon, McQueen unexpectedly decided not to shoot a film but to design a temporary intervention consisting exclusively of light and sound. After premiering at Dia Beacon in 2024, Bass will be adapted to the impressive architecture of Schaulager for its presentation there in 2025.