In his latest work, Bass, British artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen strips his creative language down to just light and sound to create an immersive experience that is as much felt as it is seen. Premiering at Dia Art Foundation’s gallery in Beacon, New York, last year, it is now on show at the Laurenz Foundation’s Schaulager in Basel until 16th November.

The Schaulager’s sprawling five levels provide the perfect setting for the work to expand and breathe, inviting new interpretations. The space is dark, awash in coloured light emitted by over 1,000 LED strips that line the ceiling, and the light changes slowly, almost imperceptibly, through the entire colour spectrum. Deep bass frequencies reverberate through the space, in discordant notes that sometimes form a melody and other times scatter into pounding vibrations, fleeting yet impactful.

Recorded on site at Dia Beacon, the score is a three-hour long improvisational session between an intergenerational group of Black musicians, playing a variety of bass instruments. As the foundation of many compositions, bass can be a grounding force, “unfamiliar but recognisable”. In the case of Black history, bass instruments have been pivotal in articulating untold emotion and forming new musical genres, a direct line from the blues all the way to hip-hop. Speaking at the exhibition launch, McQueen recalled a conversation with the late music producer Quincy Jones, who told him that “the bass changed music,” McQueen added that “all Black music is rooted in pain.”

The dark, cavernous basement at Dia Beacon, where the piece was first presented, reminded McQueen of the hold of a ship, like the ones that transported people from the African continent to the New World in the transatlantic slave trade during the so-called Middle Passage.  But in the Schaulager’s vast space, McQueen saw a “cathedral” that allowed the piece to “transform and transcend” in ways similar to the ones the Black diaspora has done.

“What I love about light and sound is that they are both created through movement and fluidity,” the artist said. “They can be moulded into any shape, like vapour or a scent; they can sneak into every nook and cranny.” Rejecting the term ‘abstract’, McQueen prefers instead to call the work ‘formless’ inviting visitors to bring themselves into the space and create their own meaning.

“There is a commonality in the bass, the vibration, the reverb, the tone. It seems like a calling, an interplay, a form of communication between scattered people. For me, it was a way of bringing a diaspora back together,” McQueen told us.

Steve McQueen ‘Bass’ runs at Schaulager, Laurenz Foundation until 16th November.