Viewing Art Basel : The Wick Culture

The Wick Culture - Carrie Mae Weems, Painting the Town #17, 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco adn Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin

Above Carrie Mae Weems, Painting the Town #17, 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco adn Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin

The Wick Culture - B. Ingrid Olson Judtih's, Glyph [Clockwise is a direction and so is south], 2012-2025. Courtesy of the artist and Croy Nielsen, Vienna. Photography by B. Ingrid Olson / Studio

Above B. Ingrid Olson Judtih’s, Glyph [Clockwise is a direction and so is south], 2012-2025. Courtesy of the artist and Croy Nielsen, Vienna. Photography by B. Ingrid Olson / Studio

The Wick Culture - Galerie 1900-200. Marcel Duchamp, LH.O.O.Q, 1965. Courtesy of Galerie 1900-200, Paris-New-York

Above Galerie 1900-200. Marcel Duchamp, LH.O.O.Q, 1965. Courtesy of Galerie 1900-200, Paris-New-York

The Wick Culture - Tschabalala Self, The Covetor, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich / Vienna. Photography by Christopher Burke / Shoot Art

Above Tschabalala Self, The Covetor, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich / Vienna. Photography by Christopher Burke / Shoot Art

The Wick Culture - Ebun Sodipo, What if Laure Was / A Black Goddess Come to Earth, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Soft Opening, London. Photography by Eva Herzog

Above Ebun Sodipo, What if Laure Was / A Black Goddess Come to Earth, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Soft Opening, London. Photography by Eva Herzog

Above Carrie Mae Weems, Painting the Town #17, 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco adn Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin

Above B. Ingrid Olson Judtih’s, Glyph [Clockwise is a direction and so is south], 2012-2025. Courtesy of the artist and Croy Nielsen, Vienna. Photography by B. Ingrid Olson / Studio

Above Galerie 1900-200. Marcel Duchamp, LH.O.O.Q, 1965. Courtesy of Galerie 1900-200, Paris-New-York

Above Tschabalala Self, The Covetor, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich / Vienna. Photography by Christopher Burke / Shoot Art

Above Ebun Sodipo, What if Laure Was / A Black Goddess Come to Earth, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Soft Opening, London. Photography by Eva Herzog

Art Basel

Messeplatz 10
June 19 – 22 2025

Art Basel is upon us – the godfather of art fairs in the pristine Swiss city opens this week and runs to Sunday. 280 world class galleries gather at the Messeplatz to present booths, with special events and a programme of talks, tours and other activities across the city.

The Wick recommends a public guided tour spotlighting 14 women working on an ambitious scale and presented at Unlimited, Art Basel’s special sector for monumental scale projects. This year includes Petra Cortright’s 50 webcams with over 200 compositions, Nicola Turner’s new ten-meter-high sculpture made of horsehair and wool, and a huge new painting by Katherine Bernhardt.

What is considered a commercial work is shifting and plenty of projects at Basel this year push the criticality and role of art in today’s political climate to new places. A case in point: Nir Altman’s presentation of French artist Ndayé Kouagou, a performance and video artist that blurs the language of TV, TikTok, advertising and art in a masterful and ingenious way. A new work, A not that dirty mirror (2025) will be shown, featuring a TV-style vox pop presenter stopping passersby to ask: ‘What do you think of what’s happening here and elsewhere?’