For one week in June, the art world descends on the Swiss city of Basel for the opening of Art Basel, one of world’s leading contemporary art fairs. Restored to its traditional June slot for the first time in two years, Art Basel features 289 leading galleries and more than 4,000 artists from five continents. Running alongside the fair is a city-wide programme of events, exhibitions and live performances.
Galleries for your radar include Gagosian, which shows new works by Rudolf Stingel, Rick Lowe and Jonas Wood; and Stephen Friedman, which presents a group exhibition of artists, including Lisa Brice, Melvin Edwards and Denzil Forrester, focusing on themes of diasporic cultures, migration and displacement. But make sure you save time for the ‘Statements’ and ‘Edition’ sections, where you’ll find engaging works courtesy of Ben Brown Fine Arts, Sadie Coles HQ, Hauser & Wirth and Lisson Gallery, among others.
Besides the gallery presentations, this year’s fair presents Unlimited, a unique platform for large-scale projects, expansive installations and monumental sculpture. Also worthy of note is Lawrence Weiner’s large-scale floor installation titled ‘Out of Sight’ and the fair’s public sector, Parcours, which features 21-site specific artworks. Among the highlights is a new sculptural installation by Anna Hulačová and Tomás Saraceno’s sculpture ‘Silent Autumn (AB Aur b/M+M)’ (2021), presented outdoors in the garden of Haus zum Raben by Tanya Bonakdar Gallery and neugerriemschneider.
It’s also worth scoping out the Film progamme and Art Basel’s renowned Conversations series, which brings together leading artists, gallerists, curators, museum directors and critics to discuss issues concerning the contemporary art world today. All events are free to the public and will be streamed on Art Basel’s Facebook channel. So, there really is no excuse!
