Basel is becoming the capital city of the artworld for one week in June every year. 289 exhibitors show the work of 4000 artists in several galleries all around the city.
2022 was especially well visited and people were buying and selling better than ever before. The Art world went back to their normal after two years of exhausting lock downs and restrictions.
Basel turned from a small town in Switzerland to a colourful metropolis during ART 2022. Fancy dresses, huge glasses and badass haircuts all over the exhibition square and the center of “Kleinbasel”. Famous actors, singers and of course art lovers visiting every year making the fair the most popular event every year. Art Basel Miami and Art Basel Hongkong followed recently.
Art Unlimited is the name of the exhibition showing 70 pieces of large – scale projects dedicated to the contradictory era we are living in. This year it’s all about diversity: “A powerful expression of this is the polymorphous chorus of artistic voices in this exhibition, singing in protest against isolation, loneliness, and indifference. The chants are becoming louder and ever-more discernible.” – says Giovanni Carmine, the curator of the event, in his press statement. Also unlimited potential to meet interesting people from all over the globe. Parties and diners everywhere to be attended only on invitation or connections.
In a suburban part of town there is a villa from the 1930s, renovated with expensive wallpapers, designer furniture as well as light installations in the basement. Live performances of body painted women took place in dark rooms, filled with basel crowd and those who were lucky enough to know the location of the #Beverlyholz venue hosted by Basel Social Club. The pool was filled with 500 CHF in small coins while synchronised swimmers showed their performance. Extravagant paintings from the “Gallery Müller” from Basel were bravely shown in the party location that never slept. A gin Bar as well as a – poüp up – restaurant serving a 5 course meal to the lucky guests quick enough to catch a rare table.
To attend all the artsy happenings during the week you have to be connected to one of the many insiders of the art circus. Plenty of curators postet their timetable on their insta profile to inform about their places to be. To attend all of them they travel around in large Mercedes sponsored by ART fair. Attending all of the events is impossible for a single person. 8.30am Kunsthaus Brunch, 9.00am brunch at Symbiosium w/Joana Moll, 1.00pm The power of she @ Feldbergstrasse 86, 3.00pm Conversations with Zineb Sedira & Latifa Echakhch, 4.00pm BMW Art Guide reception, 5.00pm Art Vernissage and on it goes and this is only Tuesday.
Tuesday is also the day of – Vitra Party. On the large campus located in Germany 10 minutes drive from exhibition square is one of the most popular happenings during the week. Hosting up to 7000 People who drink and eat for free. Well known DJs playing from 7 – 11 pm. If u missed it check #yesvitra to see some impressions. Also check out the high class furniture the company produces and resells all over the world. Here we meet Bianca, one of the Marketing managers of the company. The artweek is the most busy and important times of the year for all who are involved in the huge art scene of basel. She’s exhausted from standing in the hot sun all day and happened to develop a sunstroke as we speak. Her plans for the next days were party after party, especially excited she was to attend the Fondation Beyeler. The Fondation Beyeler is dedicating this year’s presentation at Art Basel to two important artists who in their work address the brutality of war – Francisco de Goya and Pablo Picasso.
During Art Basel, the Fondation Beyeler presents the premiere of Peter Fischli’s new artist’s book Snowman, a catalogue vernissage for “Mondrian Evolution” with the renowned graphic designer Irma Boom, and a talk with the Portuguese-born, Berlin-based artist Leonor Antunes. Furthermore, the international project “In the Eye of the Storm. Modernism in Ukraine 1900s–1930s”, which deals with the emergence and development of modernism in Ukraine, will be introduced.
Back at the actual fair we visit the Installation of Wu Tsang. The large scale Film and Sound Installation inspired by her previous work “Whales” supported by VIVe Arts. In her first VR work she collaborates with the French Studio Albyon to create a 3D experience under the surface of water. It shows the Whales perspective, inspired by the classic Novel by Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Which was also the INspiration of her first exhibition. The original silent Film of Moby Dick transformed into a Mighty mass emerging, enabling the visitors to dive into a poetic whales perspective.
During the week there’s also the ART Parkour in which young international artists get the chance to show their work. The 1 hour walk goes through the city to show the public some impressions of modern work for free. 21 sculptures along the beautiful pedestrian zone of Basel old town.