"This is the last zone of freedom at the fair," exclaimed the duo behind the Artist Record area at Art Basel, the granddaddy of all art fairs, this past weekend.
"This is the last zone of freedom at the fair," exclaimed the duo behind the Artist Record area at Art Basel, the granddaddy of all art fairs, this past weekend. And it was true. Both the Records and the new Artist Book sections revitalised the art fair, now in its forty-second year, presenting visitors with an alternative to Anish Kapoor's imposing Push/Pull down the hall. New York-based art publishers Printed Matter’s selection of artist’s books, including Andy Warhol, Gordon Matta-Clark and a new release from AA Bronson, sparked public interest, ushering in a new wave of young collectors. Inside the main hall, the artist publications continued, with Paris-based Three Star Books presenting new books by Jonathan Monk and Maurizo Cattelan, including Haim Steinbach’s Object.
iPads at the ready, galleries in the main hall stuck to what they knew best – conceptual, photographic and installation artists were prominent, as were sculpture works, with hyperrealist Ron Mueck making his debut at Hauser & Wirth with Youth and Liza Lou at L&M. At Lisson, James Casebere’s photographic series of fabricated constructions of a suburban community in Landscape with Houses (Duchess County, NY) created an uncanny and ambiguous scene, transforming the fair space into an even more surreal environment. West Coast sensibilities were evoked by Jason Martin’s electric violet pigment laden canvas Tico at L.A Louver, while Catriona Jefferies softened the mood with tactile fabric installations by Liz Magor and conceptual paintings by Ian Wallace. Over in the Art Collector’s Lounge, fashion house Bally continued their fusion with art, showcasing a new collaboration with Swiss artist Olaf Bruening.
Across the Messeplatz, the Art Unlimited and Art Feature sections displayed large-scale installation and video works. Venice successes Allora & Calzadilla and Marc Leckey were shown alongside New York-based artist Jacob Kassay’s alchemical silver canvases and David Nashs’ Black Dome. Politics were a prevalent theme, seen in Minerva Cuevas' video Disidencia, which poetically traced protest movements in Mexico City, and South African artist Kendell Geers’ Hanging Piece that alluded to violent acts during the peak of apartheid. At Feature, the winners of the Baloise art prize investigated how one creates meanings from observations. Using 16mm film, British artist Ben Rivers’ Sack Barrow documents the daily routine of a small family-run factory in London, while Uruguayan-born Alejandro Cesarco (who is also representing Uruguay at the Venice Biennale) presents a mise-en-scene comprising of texts and a slide show in an attempt to disarticulate narrative structures.
Outside the confines of the exhibition hall, Art Parcours, curated by Jens Hoffman, connected visitors and residents of Basel to their local history through a series of site-specific installations. Artistic interventions weaved through the historic St. Albans area, with Yinka Shonibare’s bright textiles appearing in overhead foliage and Ai Weiwei’s five hundred photographic portraits on a concrete wall. American artist Anne Chu appropriated the Hohen Dolder House’s history with William Tell to reinterpret the folk hero with puppets and an endless supply of apples (no doubt appreciated by visitors).
Text by Zoe Alexander
Zoe Alexander is a freelance art, fashion and lifestyle writer based in London.
