M.I.A.S.M.A

Kunsthalle Bern, 2026

In a time marked by collective mourning for the intertwined destruction of environments and lives, Shani’s installation revisiting of the seminal Greek tragedy Antigone feels urgent. The adaptation centres on the 'ungrievability' of Polynikes’ corpse as an avatar for those rendered ungrievable within contemporary deathworlds. For Kunsthalle Bern, Tai Shani will develop a new site-specific exhibition centered around a monumental sculptural wall conceived as a fictional archaeological fragment. Combining references to Neolithic architecture, Egyptian soul houses, medieval ornamentation, Bauhaus aesthetics, Japanese postmodernism, and speculative futurisms, the work brings together multiple historical and imagined temporalities within a single spatial environment. Embedded within the structure, a choral composition by Aga Ujma is activated through twelve characters, while paintings, and sculptural masks displayed beneath cloches extend the installation across the exhibition space. Drawing on the figures and choruses of Antigone, Shani’s project explores forms of collective voice, ritual, and transformation through an intricate interplay of sound, image, and architecture.

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The exhibition by Tai Shani is commissioned by: Kunsthalle Bern and Jupiter Artland; and supported by: Dr. Georg und Josi Guggenheim Stiftung.