For Art Basel Parcours 2026, Wschód is pleased to exhibit new works by Amsterdam-based artist W.Rossen (b. 1995, Netherlands).
Art Basel Parcours
June 15 – 21, 2026
Villiger store
Claraplatz 3, Basel
Curated for the third time by Stefanie Hessler, Director of Swiss Institute (SI) in New York, Art Basel’s public art sector unfolds along Clarastrasse, connecting the fairground with the Rhine with one installation on view across the river near Bankverein. Under the guiding principle of ‘Conviviality,’ Parcours 2026 presents ambitious projects that explore how we live together. The artists embrace both the beauty and complexity, moments of connection as well as the ruptures that shape shared life.
Across the selection, several thematic threads emerge: The artists examine rituals, myths, and beliefs; interspecies dependencies and ecological awareness; and architectures of public space as well as their ideological underpinnings. They explore choreographies, rhythms, and movements—both individual and collective—as well as diasporic memory, intergenerational transmission, and cultural translation. They articulate political resistance and dissent; discuss labor and attached value systems; and experiment with digital realities and technological co-authorship. Through over 20 largely new and site-responsive projects, Parcours presents an international, intergenerational prism of contemporary life.
Adorno argued that in a modern, “false” world, art can only be truthful
by disrupting or distorting reality, rather than simply mimicking it.
Being incomplete, like fragments from the past. That creates a sense of memory rather
than direct representation. It’s less aboutfaithfully reproducing history and more
about how history lingers and gets distorted throughout time.
- – W. Rossen
For Parcours, Rossen presents a site-specific painterly installation conceived for the Villiger Mode window vitrine. Drawing on close study of Dutch Baroque painter Jacob van Ruisdael – whose works he visited at the depot of the Kunstmuseum Basel – Rossen reconstructed fragments of these historical references, translating color palettes and compositions into a new visual puzzle that reflects on urbanization and shifting perceptions of landscape. The installation turns the shop window into a threshold between interior and public space, which is omnipresent but whose use is shifting in urban landscapes. By merging historical references with contemporary languages of painting and public display, the installation examines how the genre can be reimagined today.
Landscape painting creates a specific collective experience that reflects cultural, emotional, and environmental narratives. Different kinds of compositions or arrangements of forms on the surface of the canvas and different kinds of forms in nature are associated with specific emotional states and philosophies. The landscape painting involved in both conceptualization and illustration emphasizes the importance of direct perception – something that has been endured collectively through decades. A Study on Ruisdael is a site-specific project that will fully uncover Rossen’s meticulous practice and examine the relationship between historical and contemporary painting.
This presentation is made possible with the support of the Mondriaan Fund.
