SIBYLLA
Basel
Opening: 16 June 2026, 18:00–21:00
Uriel Orlow Performance: 18:00 Reveries of Collective Walkers (Basel)

SIBYLLA unfolds as an exhibition that evokes the Latin name as a way of thinking about human connection beyond time.

In Greco-Roman mythology, sibyls were mystical women believed to be inspired by the gods, such as Apollo, to deliver prophecies and communicate divine insights. Taking its name from Maria Sibylla Merian, the pioneering female botanist whose life and work are deeply connected to Basel, the project invokes Sibylla not only as a scientist, but also as an oracle: a figure able to read the visible world and reveal the invisible forces that shape it.

Across the exhibition, traces of hidden histories, natural cycles, and silent forms of knowledge emerge through gestures, materials, sounds, and images. In dialogue with this legacy, Uriel Orlow’s practice becomes a central axis, extending Merian’s attentive gaze into contemporary questions of ecology, memory, and the more-than-human.

A performance by Uriel Orlow unfolds in parallel with his presentation at the Giardini of La Biennale di Venezia, extending its conceptual and sensory inquiry into the context of Basel. Developed in collaboration with Maria João Pires and Martin Masan, music curators of the project, the work takes place in the garden, where musicians perform with and for plants, activating a subtle dialogue between human and more-than-human forms of listening.

Bringing together a constellation of international artists — Amélie Bouvier, Mike Bouchet, Carina Brandes, Gabriel Chaile, Francisca Carvalho, Priscila Fernandes, Michel François, Sara Graça, Tiago Mestre, Diogo Nogueira, Uriel Orlow, Giovanni Ozzola, Hugo de Almeida Pinho, Fernando Prats, Fabrice Samyn, José Taborda and Kathrin Wächter — SIBYLLA proposes a space of resonance between art, ecology, music, memory and prophecy.

For this inaugural edition, Sonia Taborda has invited Joerg Bader to co-curate the exhibition, marking the beginning of a collaboration between dialogue and Freie Musikschule Basel, with the support of the Christoph Merian Stiftung.

Curators
Sonia Taborda
Joerg Bader

Music Curators
Maria João Pires
Martin Masan

Opening Hours
Tuesday 16 June, 18:00–21:00 — Vernissage
Wednesday 17 June, 18:00–20:00
Thursday 18 June, 17:00–20:00
Friday 19 June, 11:00–19:00
Saturday 20 June, closed
Sunday 21 June, 11:00–18:00

Location
dialogue × Freie Musikschule Basel
Gellertgut Park
Gellertstrasse 33
4052 Basel

Art Basel VIP Programme