News from ArtBasel
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Art 31 Basel Newsletter 1
Dear Sir or Madam,
Dear Friends of Art Basel
Even if the new millennium has started in exactly the same way as the old one ended
almost everywhere, there has been at least one change at ArtBasel. On January 1, 2000,
Samuel Keller took over management of the International Art Fair from Lorenzo A.
Rudolf who has been appointed chairman of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Samuel Keller
joined the Messe Basel in 1992 as Communications Manager, with responsibilities that
included public relations activities for Art Basel. In recent years, Samuel Keller supported
his predecessor as Deputy Fair Manager. 34 years old, he studied philosophy, art history
and the history of economics at Basel University before joining Art Basel - just as Lorenzo
Rudolf had - via the PR sector. The appointment of Samuel Keller as the new Art Basel
Manager illustrates the desire of the Messe Basel Management to continue the successful
development of this leading international art fair.
“I will continue and even step up the partner-like collaboration with gallery owners, artists,
curators and collectors”, emphasizes Samuel Keller. “Our aim is for Art Basel to remain
the leading event for the international art market in the 21st century.” As the most
important annual meeting place for the art world, Art Basel will in future become an even
more significant global location for meetings with and between artists. Art Basel has
become the “family get-together” or, as the New York Times put it, “the Olympics of the
art world.”
The tried-and-tested concept of the Basel art fair will be retained. However, a new
platform called «Art Unlimited» is being opened at the first Art Basel of the 21st century.
Unusual works of art and projects will be exhibited in the adjacent newly built glass hall.
Here, the galleries and their artists will be able to show works of art that cannot be
exhibited and sold at art fairs, or often not even in galleries. Art Unlimited overcomes the
limitations in space, budget, technology, time and concept that have hitherto hindered the
presentation of art. This new platform builds on the successful experiences gained with the
special Art Video Forum and Art Sculpture sectors that are being replaced by, or rather
integrated into, Art Unlimited. Enthusiastic reaction by the general public and excellent
sales in these two sectors have led to the development of Art Unlimited.
And yet, Art Unlimited is not confined to individual types of media - such as video art or
sculpture - nor is it divided up according to such categories. Art Unlimited is open to all
works by artists that cannot be presented optimally - or that cannot even be presented at all
- on the traditional fair booths occupied by the exhibiting galleries. As well as outsize
installations and monumental sculptures, such works include, for example, video
projections and installations, outsize paintings, wall paintings, pro-cess art, performances,
sound art, Internet art and multimedia art, spatially specific works and the like. Art
Unlimited is available, in particular, for works and campaigns created on the spot. A
video- and mediathèque as well as an Internet lounge with snack bar will also be installed.
Art Unlimited will not be subdivided into classic gallery booths or sectors, but has, instead,
been devised as an open exhibition. The infrastructure will be adapted to suit the works of
art.
Samuel Keller: “Art Basel also aims to offer the art of the 21st century optimal exhibition
conditions and sales opportunities along with openings for making valuable contacts. To
achieve our objective, we dream up new concepts - to make the unusual possible - and we
are also prepared to take risks. With Art Unlimited we are investing in the future of art, of
artists and of galleries. Above all, however, we are offering visitors and collectors
something unique.”
Participation in Art Unlimited is reserved for those galleries admitted to Art Basel. Every
gallery can submit several projects. The presentation of a work of art costs an all-in sum of
CHF 5000.- regardless of its size. This means that “stand rental prices” will usually sink to
less than 20% of the normal m² costs charged at art fairs. To minimize costs further and to
do justice to current forms of collaboration, works can also be presented by several
galleries working together. The Art Committee will make its selection of the projects
submitted in collaboration with the Fair Management and the coordinators, these latter
being responsible for the exhibition concept and the positioning of the works. The
experienced exhibition designers Martin Schwander and Simon Lamunière have been
selected to serve as coordinators. Martin Schwander, former director of the Kunstmuseum
Lucerne, has already worked for Art Basel's sculpture sector. Simon Lamunière, director
of the Biennale de l'image contemporain in Geneva, was a curator at the Internet art
exhibition of documenta X in Kassel.
Art Unlimited will take place in the glass hall built by award-winning top Swiss architect
and art collector Theo Hotz for the Messe Basel in 1999. The ground floor (12,000 m², 80
metres wide, 150 metres long, 10 metres high) of this impressive 170 million Swiss franc
building will be given over to this special sector. The modern infrastructure and the
generously dimensioned and highly impressive architecture with daylight permeating most
of the space offers excellent conditions for exhibiting contemporary art. Art Unlimited is
directly connected to the Round Court Building, the traditional venue for Art Basel, by a
short footbridge. The hall can be accessed directly from Messeplatz, too. Admission
tickets to Art Basel are also valid for Art Unlimited. A day ticket for Art Basel remains
unchanged at CHF 25.-, or CHF 10.- for students and others eligible for discounts.
Evening tickets valid from 17 h are available at CHF 5.- each.
Art Basel is open daily from 11 to 19 h from June 21 to 26, 2000. Guests from all over the
world will be invited to the Vernissage on the day before the fair opens. Because of the
great rush in 1999, the number of Vernissage invitations is being reduced by about 20%.
Last year's experiment of staying open until 20 h will not be repeated this year because of
the many events and receptions taking place in the city's museums and art centres every
evening. The highlight of these will be ArtZappening, Basel's cultural festival, which will
be celebrated by thousands of local inhabitants and guests in cultural centres and public
spaces on the night of Saturday, June 24, 2000.
Art Basel is one of Europe's largest cultural events. It is financed by the participating
galleries and, to a smaller degree, by revenue from admissions and contributions from
sponsors. UBS AG is the main sponsor. Art Basel is the world's most important annual art
event, the “family get-together of the inter-national art world”. For the 31st time, art
collectors, gallery owners, artists, curators and art lovers will assemble for this art fair. Art
Basel is undisputedly considered the world's leading fair for modern and contemporary art.
Its renown is based on the high quality and the unique variety of the works of art exhibited
as well as on the international composition of its visitors. These characteristics are
guaran-teed by a strict and balanced selection of participants. The leading international
galleries exhibit at Art Basel. The Art Committee, a jury composed of experienced gallery
owners, selects the 250 most interesting galleries from Europe, America, Asia and
Australia. All applicants - would be newcomers as well as long established exhibitors -
have to re-apply every year. This strong competitive pressure guarantees a high caliber,
'market-fresh' range of works of art and meticulously presented exhibitions. Despite the
steadily growing volume of applications, the number of participants will not be increased.
A record figure of more than 800 applications has been received for Art 31 Basel, which
explains why the jury's selection meetings had to be extended by a whole day to total 6
full days.
As well as the many famous longstanding exhibitors, Art 31 Basel has also admitted
interesting new galleries. 39 galleries will participate for the first time, despite the fact that
100% of last year's exhibitors re-applied for 2000. The new admissions comprise, in
particular, galleries with a young programme, although there have also been additions to
the already high-caliber classical field as well as to the Latin American and Asian
contingent. Cheim & Read as well as McKee (both New York), Artfocus (Zurich) and
Stolz (Cologne) will be strengthening the Classical Moderns. Contemporary art will be
represented by Brito Cimino (Sao Paulo), De Carlo (Milan), Villepoix and Nelson (both
Paris), Katsuya Ikeuchi (Tokyo), Walter (Basel) and Welters (Amsterdam). Almost all the
young galleries in Art Statements, the subsidized sector for young art, are participating for
the first time. Here, galleries from New York, London and Berlin will be joined by a
striking number of Scandinavian, Japanese and Austrian galleries. In the Art Edition
sector, which groups together 23 leading editors, the well known firm of Schellmann
(Munich) will be returning, while Landfall Press (USA) will be making its debut. The
traditional area of photo galleries has magnificent additions in Michael Hoppen and Eric
Franck (both London), Thierry Marlat (Paris) and Barry Friedman (New York).
The Art Statements sector enjoys a high reputation in the art world with its presentation of
one-person exhibitions by young artists. This is further emphasized by the large number of
requests for space. More than 260 projects (1999: 160) were entered for the 27 places.
Despite numerous applications from rising stars of the younger generation, the jury picked
adventurous projects by internationally still little known artists. The following artists were
selected:
Monserrat Soto (Adelantado, Valencia)
Sam Durant (Blum & Poe, St. Monica)
Rachel Feinstein (Boesky, New York)
Jeroen de Rijke + Willem de Rooij (Buchholz, Cologne)
Vibeke Tandberg (c/o Atle Gerhardsen, Oslo)
Mathieu Mercier (Chouakri, Berlin)
Simon Periton (Saddie Coles, London)
Constanze Ruhm (Engholm, Vienna)
Jeremy Blake (Feigen, New York)
Alexandra Ranner (Friedrich Ungar, Munich)
Julie Becker (Greene Naftali, New York)
Adi Rosenblum + Markus Muntean (Kargl, Vienna)
Claudia + Julia Müller (Kilchmann, Zurich)
Yoshihiro Suda (Koyanagi, Tokyo)
Pietro Sanguinetti (Kubinski, Berlin)
Maria Friberg (Lund, Stockholm)
Daniel Roth (Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe)
Ola Pehrson (Mörner, Stockholm)
Francis Cape (Murray, New York)
Sean Snyder (Neu, Berlin)
Gregor Zivic (Raum aktueller Kunst, Vienna)
Navin Rawanchaikul (Satani, Tokyo)
Zhou Thiehai (Shanghart, Shanghai)
Borre Saethre (Wang, Oslo)
Heike Baranowsky (B. Weiss, Berlin)
Bob & Roberta Smith (Wilkinson, London)
Katerina Vincourova (Svestka, Prague)
The 27 individual exhibitions will show the wide diversity in current approaches to art.
The selected contributions from different artistic circles promise insight into global art
production. While young abstract painting celebrated a comeback in 1999, works with
video and installations as well as process art will predominate in 2000. All the artists will
create new works especially for Art 31 Basel. The Bâloise insurance group is a sponsor of
Art Statements and will be awarding its Bâloise Art Prize, worth 50,000 Swiss francs, to
one of the participating artists.
Since 1994, UBS AG has been Art Basel's main sponsoring partner. The leading
international financial services company is strongly committed to the encouragement of art
and culture.
Promoting young art has had an extensive tradition at Art Basel and has always played a
very important role. After the «Young Galleries», «Perspectives» and «New Tendencies»
promotional programmes, Art Statements was initiated in 1996. Galleries showing here
were usually not only able to achieve excellent sales for the artists exhibited, but were also
able to arrange a number of museum and gallery exhibitions for them. Several former
Statements artists (including Mariko Mori, Jorge Pardo, Vanessa Beecroft, William
Kentridge) have in the meantime become world famous. In recognition of the galleries'
commitment to young art in Art Statements, Art Basel rewards them with greatly reduced
stand rentals.
At Art Basel, the art of the turn of the century is not just represented by Art Statements,
but also by numerous galleries showing in other sectors. No other art event in the world
features so many of today's artists. Contemporary art is as prominently represented at Art
31 Basel as are the rare modern masterpieces of the 20th century on which the event's
worldwide reputation has been founded.
Further factors in the success of Art Basel are its central location in Europe at the point
where Switzerland, Germany and France, the concentration of famous art museums and
excellent private collections in and around Basel. Special exhibitions and events will once
again guarantee further attractions and meeting places during the next Art Basel. Once
again, about 50,000 visitors and more than 1000 media representatives are expected.
You will find further information, photos and a list of participants on the Internet page
www.Art.ch, where you may also subscribe on Art Basel's e-mailing list under "Key
Facts".
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