Art Basel opens amid volatile economic situation
The world's most important art fair, Art Basel, opens its doors on Monday for its 54th edition. Despite slightly weaker market conditions last year, the organisers are optimistic about the success of the upcoming fair.
Check out our selection of newsletters. Subscribe here.
The 4% slowdown in the global art market was expected following the post-pandemic upswing, according to the latest art market report by Art Basel and UBS. For Art Basel Director Maike Cruse, the upcoming edition of the art fair will serve as a benchmark for the current state of the market.
The Art Basel director is optimistic. The galleries’ programmes are excellent and many important collectors have registered, she told the Keystone-SDA news agency.
+ Art Basel: Where have all the Russians gone?
Art Basel, at its birthplace in the city of Basel in northwestern Switzerland, is still the largest and most important of a network of fairs with offshoots in Miami, Hong Kong and, for the past two years, Paris. A total of 285 galleries from 40 countries were selected, including major art trade groups. This year, 22 galleries will be taking part for the first time. “It is very important to me to implement a generational change,” said Cruse.
Bonus points: intimacy and art affinity
The fair director also attaches great importance to anchoring the fair firmly in the city of Basel. She sees the intimacy and simultaneous affinity with art as a major plus for Basel. “It’s a combination that is otherwise only found every two years at the Art Biennale in Venice and every five years at the Documenta in Kassel”, she said. The international art scene also appreciates this very much.
+ Giacometti lamp tops million-franc mark in Geneva auction
Art Basel opens on June 10 and 11 for VIP guests. After the exhibition day on June 12, the fair will be open to the general public from June 13-16. Starting today, the so-called, “Art Parcours,” a free trail of exhibitions from the Mittlere Brücke [bridge over the Rhine River] to the Messeplatz will be open to the public.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/sb
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
More
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
More
In Switzerland four out of ten people have a migrant background – who are they?
More
Suicides in Switzerland quadruple among older people
More
French gangs target luxury cars in Switzerland
More
Renewed controversy in Switzerland over US fighter jets – explained
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.