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Preview of Design Miami/Basel and Basel Art Week – Basel goes ART
Previews
By Ania Dardas
The city of Basel is tested to almost bursting point during June when visitors with a love of art and design take it by storm.
Let’s start with Design Miami/Basel from June 9 to 13 at the Basel exhibition center in Hall 5. Launched in Basel in 2005, this design show has built a reputation as the forum for collecting, exhibiting, discussing and creating limited edition design. Design Miami – held in Basel and Miami (December) – unites the most influential designers, collectors, curators and critics from around the world. |  |
Each show always includes four components: design galleries that present their work in the form of beautiful installations often designed by well known architects; satellite exhibitions, also installations but more typically organized by individual designers, museums or schools selected by Design Miami; design talks that bring together international opinion leaders to discuss current issues in design; and awards round off the offering.
Running almost in parallel, the 40th edition of Art Basel from June 10 to 14 will attract some 60,000 artists, collectors, gallerists, curators and art reviewers as well as the casual but curious art lover. This show regularly exhibits key movers on the international art scene. The Art Basel Committee selects over 300 of the world’s leading galleries from more than 1100 applications. The show also presents a range of supplementary events and exhibits such as Art Unlimited for works that do not fit into standard formats and booths, with the emphasis on outsize sculptures and installations, but also including video projections, wall paintings and performances. This year’s great attraction is a presentation of Il tempo del postino at the Theater Basel curated and directed by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Philippe Parreno, where a group of leading visual artists will create a major experimental time-based presentation, each using up to 15 minutes of exhibition time with the stage representing the gallery space.
At last year's Art Unlimited: Thomas Hirschhorn Hotel Democracy, 2003 (Courtesy Stephen Friedman Gallery, London). Picture courtesy of Art Basel
From June 8 to 13, the cutting edge art fair VOLTA will be taking up residence at Basel’s Markthalle – one of Europe’s largest cupola structures, built in 1929. VOLTA is the platform for contemporary art galleries, and the VOLTA curators choose those galleries that work with the most exciting of emerging talent. Founded in 2005, this show has grown very quickly as the niche for cutting edge artists has expanded.
At last year's VOLTA: The Gate of Woodoo by Yummy Industries
Contemporary art is well served with two additional shows. Liste, billed as the Young Art Fair in Basel, has been around since 1996 and specializes in galleries that are no more than 5 years old and artists who are under 40. Liste, June 9 to 14 at Burgweg 15 at the old Warteck brewery, is regarded as a place to discover upcoming young artists.
On the right: the new Annex of Liste
The same dates also apply to SCOPE, based at Sportplatz Landhof, just 200 meters away from ART Basel. With 90 galleries exhibiting, this year’s focus is on Berlin and Asia. SCOPE is showcasing ART ASIA, a premier international Asian contemporary art fair that will be showing a range of media from emerging Asian artists.
Bagagli, by Stefano Bombardieri