Image: HeK (House of Electronic Arts Basel)
HEK (House of Electronic Arts) will present ‘Thresholds – On the Values We Set and the Limits We Cross’, a comprehensive exhibition by Studio Lemercier, from 22 August to 15 November 2026. The exhibition in Münchenstein/Basel will bring together immersive installations using light, water and projections, alongside plotter drawings, to examine how technology shapes perceptions of reality.
According to HEK, the exhibition focuses on transitions between technology and nature, visibility and invisibility, and imagination and responsibility. The works are framed as thresholds—points at which perception changes and alternative realities emerge. The presentation asks which boundaries people draw and cross, and how technological choices influence the world in which they live.
‘Thresholds’ is described by HEK as the first comprehensive presentation of Studio Lemercier’s work in Switzerland. It offers an insight into nearly two decades of artistic practice by the studio, which comprises Joanie Lemercier and Juliette Bibasse. Their work has investigated the ways that light, projection and digital technologies alter the perception of space and reality.
The exhibition’s presentation of the studio’s practice moves between systems whose internal logic is concealed and works that make their materiality, labour and limitations more visible. HEK’s description contrasts the opacity of the black box with the transparency of simple tools, placing the technical means of the works alongside their perceptual effects.
More recent projects by Studio Lemercier turn increasingly towards the ecological consequences of human activity. The exhibition connects that focus with a broader question about the role of art in opening new perspectives on the relationship between people and the environment. Its combination of projected imagery, light, water and mechanical drawing extends that inquiry across both immersive and materially explicit forms.
Juliette Bibasse and Sabine Himmelsbach are the exhibition’s curators. The opening reception is scheduled for Friday, 21 August 2026, at 7pm, one day before the exhibition opens to the public. The programme lists welcome remarks by Sabine Himmelsbach, director of HEK, and by Juliette Bibasse and Joanie Lemercier of Studio Lemercier. Markus Eigenmann, a member of the Executive Council and head of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft, is scheduled to deliver the welcome address. The reception will also include drinks and snacks by ela eatery and an electronic hybrid DJ set by Robin Michel in the HEK foyer. HEK is located at Freilager-Platz 9, 4142 Münchenstein/Basel, Switzerland.
