News
June 2026
You are a Coral Reef (solo exhibition), Art Basel Week, Novartis Pavillon, Basel, Switzerland
‘YOU ARE A CORAL REEF’: THE MICROCOSMS OF THE HUMAN BODY
by Martin Oeggerli, Hand-coloured scanning electron micrographs
The Novartis Art Collection, Basel
Beyond the limits of normal sight, an entire world unfolds within the human body. Martin Oeggerli journeys into it as both scientist and artist, returning with larger-than-life images of structures we carry inside us but have never seen. Applying careful colorization, composition and extreme magnification, he turns scientific imagery into artworks, zooming in on tiny elements until they appear monumental, radiant and alien, as though from a different planet. The exhibition features Oeggerli’s ongoing exploration of the human body and the microorganisms and processes that surround and sustain us — alive on our skin, teeming in our gut, coursing through our blood, shaping every sense and thought.