Judith Kakon (1988 in Basel) is a Swiss artist known for her interdisciplinary works. Her creations explore the interrelations between globalization, society, and commerce. She lives and works in Basel.

Biography

She studied Fine Arts at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, earning her Bachelor’s degree in 2013. In 2016, she completed her studies with a Master of Fine Arts from Bard MFA in New York.

Work

Her practice spans sculpture, installation, image-making, and text. As an observer and commentator on the interactions between globalization, society, and commerce, she navigates contradictory networks of social norms, image systems, and memories—structures we unconsciously inhabit and by which we are shaped.

Judith Kakon views the exhibition as a medium and considers space as dispositive. Her work investigates the familiar elements surrounding us in everyday life. The motifs are recognizable: fruits, flowers, barriers, candles, Christmas lights, cabinets, ladders, currency symbols, and greetings. However, the perspective she offers on these motifs is anything but ordinary. Through subtly altered reproductions and contextual or spatial shifts, Kakon re-presents the familiar, but now stripped from the hypnosis of daily routine.

A central aspect of her artistic practice is the exhibition medium, which she utilizes for her own works as well as in curatorial and collaborative projects. Her creations bridge stark contrasts—such as past and present—and operate within the tensions of public spaces, commerce, and institutions.

Selected Exhibitions

Judith Kakon’s works have been exhibited internationally, including in the following institutions and galleries:

2024: Frac Champagne Ardenne, Reims 2024: Gauli Zitter, Brussels 2023: For, Basel; La Criée, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Rennes 2020: Kunsthalle Basel; COALMINE, Winterthur 2019: SALTS, Birsfelden 2018: Anorak / Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart; Riverside Space, Worblaufen 2017: Alexander Bürkle Foundation, Freiburg; Kunsthaus Langenthal 2016: Studioli, Rome 2015: Taylor Macklin, Zurich; Kunsthaus Glarus

Awards

In 2021, Judith Kakon was awarded the Manor Art Prize of the Canton of Schaffhausen. As part of this recognition, her works were exhibited at the Museum zu Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen. To mark the occasion, her book *Stolen Language* was published by Mousse Publishing.