MARGARIT LEHMANN

Artist Statement 

My work grows out of an engagement with what is happening in the world around me—with the changes and tensions of our time and with our relationship to nature and to ourselves. A work often begins with an observation, a disturbance, or a question that stays with me.

Philosophy is part of my working process. Texts, books and the ideas of others are important impulses for me. I engage with different perspectives, allow myself to be challenged, disagree, and question my own assumptions. Through this process of thinking and researching, new questions emerge and eventually find their way into my artistic work.

The body, its surface and its traces play an important role. I am interested in the body as something changeable, vulnerable and resistant—as a place where personal and social experiences leave their marks.

I work with photography, video, drawing, printmaking, installation and a range of materials. Through folding, layering, fragmenting, enlarging and shifting, I transform images and materials until their original meaning begins to lose its certainty.

I am not looking for clear answers. My work is an attempt to look more closely and to keep questions open. It arises from the necessity to engage with the time I live in.  

Artist Biography 

Margarit Lehmann (1958, Lucerne) is a visual artist and curator. She grew up in Lucerne and Fribourg and lived in Barcelona from 1985 to 2012. There, she studied art at the Escola d’Art i Disseny La Massana and printmaking at the Escola Superior de Disseny i Art La Llotja. She later continued her studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Barcelona and subsequently studied digital photography at the Escola Superior de Fotografía GrisArt.

Since 2012, she has lived and worked in Basel. Her artistic practice encompasses photography, video, printmaking, and drawing. Together with Megan Adie, she initiated Edition/Basel in 2013, an international project dedicated to printmaking and cultural exchange.

Selected Exhibitions

2026
IMPRESSION / Kunsthaus Grenchen, CH
I Never Read / Art Book Fair Messe, Basel, CH
Eindruck 2026 / Druckwerk Kunsttage Basel, CH
Manywhere Galerie / Porto, PT
Regionale 27 / Basel, CH
Videocity REX Box Bern / HKB Mediothek / Bern, CH

2025
B74 Raum für Kunst / Lucerne, CH

2024
Striving for Common Access / Regionale 25, M54, Basel, CH
Artificial Life and Death / Regionale 25, E-WERK, Freiburg, DE
Lines Ficcion / Film Reel, Kunstraum Kreuzberg Bethanien, Berlin, DE
DOCK / Partizipative Ausstellung, DOCK & OFFCUT, Basel, CH
RE / VISION / Galerie Nord, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin, DE
Wild at Art Zeitgeist – Pre and Post Analogue / Salon Mondial, Münchenstein, CH
B74 Raum für Kunst / Lucerne, CH

2023
Regionale 24 / Cargo Bar, Basel, CH
Science+Fiction / Festival der Wissenschaften, K-Haus, Basel, CH
EINDRUCK 23 / Druckwerk, Warteck, Basel, CH
Brand-Sanierung / Jubiläumsausstellung, Weißenfels, DE
Videocity, Augen-Blick / Transformation, Messeplatz, Basel, CH
Videocity, Augen-Blick / Transformation, Foyer Public, Basel, CH
Videocity, Augen-Blick / Im Auge der Betrachtenden, REX Box, Bern, CH
No Future on Mondays / Film Screening, SCOTTY, Berlin, DE

2022
The Joy of Transforming Kapital into Art / Kasko, Basel, CH
Me and My Materials / Kunsthalle Bazar, Basel, CH
Frauenfelder Buch- und Druckmesse / Frauenfeld, CH
Videocity, Augen-Blick / Stadtmuseum St. Pölten, Austria
FATart Kammgarn / Museumsnacht, Schaffhausen, CH
FATart Fair 2021 – Women & FLINTA in Arts / Kammgarn West, CH
Lines Fiction / Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin, DE
Wild at Art / Wildt’sches Haus, Basel, CH
EINDRUCK / Druckwerk Print and Art, Basel, CH
I Never Read / Book Art Fair, Kaserne Basel, CH
HORIZONS / Galerie Katapult, Basel, CH
IMPRESSION / Kunsthaus Grenchen, CH

2021
Mother Earth Calling / Salon Mondial / Atelier Mondial, Basel, CH
I Never Read / Art Book Fair Messe, Basel, CH
Brand-Sanierung / Travel, Print and Exchange, Weißenfels, DE
Triennale Grenchen / Grenchen, CH

2020
I Never Read / Art Book Fair, Schaulager, Basel, CH
DASEIN / Salon Mondial / Atelier Mondial, Basel, CH
Passions to Manywhere / Edition/Basel, Papiermuseum Basel, CH

2019
Regionale 20 / Satellit M54 / Nord Théâtre, Saint-Louis, FR
EYE YOU / Kulturkapelle Arni, Biglen, CH
Skulpturen & Installationen / Kulturort Höfli, Herblingen, CH
STRATA / Salon Mondial / Atelier Mondial, Basel, CH
Durchsicht / Edition/Basel, Papiermuseum Basel, CH
I Never Read / Art Book Fair, Basel, CH
Galerie Graf & Schelble / Basel, CH
Eindruck 6 / Druckwerk, Basel, CH

2017-2018
Dimension Druck / Salzhaus, Brugg, CH
Texte aus dem Dunstkreis – nun gehört! / VIA Studio, Basel, CH
Eindruck 5 / Druckwerk, Basel, CH
Dock Basel / Nicht ganz 100, Basel, CH
Nachtflimmern / Projektraum M54, Basel, CH
International Print Biennale / Yerevan, Armenia
Rauschen / Immersion / Papiermühle Basel, CH
Liminality / Kaskadenkondensator, Basel, CH
Printed in Cuba / Kaskadenkondensator, Basel, CH
Printed in Cuba / Havana Galerie, Zürich, CH
Printed in Cuba / Taller Experimental de Gráfica, Havana, Cuba
Eindruck 4 / Druckwerk, Basel, CH

2015-2016
Superurbanvillage / Galerie Nord, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin, DE
Femmes Video Art Festival / The Situation Room, Los Angeles., USA
Eindruck 4 / Druckwerk, Basel, CH
Schwarmsichtung videoförmig – Werkschau / Villa Renata, Basel, CH
Die Welt retten / Ex Voto Today / Projektraum M54, Basel, CH
Unnoticed / Kaskadenkondensator, Basel, CH

2013-2014
Kunstsalon / Graf & Schelble, Basel, CH
Eindruck 3 / Druckwerk, Basel, CH
Nachtflimmern / Projektraum M54, Basel, CH
Entrée / Projektraum M54, Basel, CH
Queerograd Festival / SKIN / Haut als Differenzkriterium, Austria
Grid/Flow was hängen bleibt / Kaskadenkondensator, Basel, CH
Zwischenraum, hindurchzuschaun / KSA, Aarau, CH
Alles Zeichnung? / Tudelhaus, Baden, CH
Anonyme Zeichner / Galerie Nord, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin, DE
Eindruck 2 / Druckwerk, Basel, CH

2011-2012
Intimate Struggles / ArtFem / Mnemonic Mirrors, Galerija SC, Zagreb, Croatia
Almost Even / Galerie Graf & Schelble, Basel, CH
Intimate Struggles / 3rd Edition Oslo Screen Festival, Oslo, Norway
Anonyme Zeichner / Visarte, Zürich, CH
e_scapes / JiM Contemporani, Barcelona, ES
Wo, bitte, ist der Gegenstand? / Galerie Graf & Schelble, Basel, CH

2009-2010
Querspur / Internationales Videokunstfestival, Linz, Austria
Porn Filmfestival / Berlin, DE
Intimate Struggles / CIMUAT, Valencia, ES
Galerie Graf & Schelble / Basel, CH
Anonyme Zeichner 10 / Kunstraum Bethanien, Berlin, DE
BAC_2009 / Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona, ES

2006-2008
Galerie Graf & Schelble / Basel, CH
Kunst 07 / Zürich, CH
Galerie Elten & Elten / Zürich, CH
Galerie Nord, Kunstverein Tiergarten / Berlin, DE
Galerie La Xina / Barcelona, ES
Galerie Graf & Schelble / Basel, CH

2002-2003
Arte sonoro y espacio / Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona, ES
Centro Galileo / Madrid, ES
Kunstzentrum Nairs / Scuol, CH
ARCO 2002 / Madrid, ES

Education
1989–1994 / La Massana, Centre d’Art i Disseny, Barcelona, ES
1995 / La Llotja, Escola Superior de Disseny i Art, Barcelona, ES
1995–1998 / Universitat de Barcelona, Faculty of Philosophy, ES
1996 / GrisArt, Escola Superior de Fotografia, Barcelona, ES
2012 / Photo Editing in Architectural Photography, CH
Since 2013 / Co-Curator, Edition/Basel, with Megan Adie