The 2022 edition of Art Basel will feature 289 leading galleries from across the globe presenting the highest quality of works across all media, from rare and historical masterpieces to new works by today’s emerging artistic voices. In addition to showcasing exceptional art within its Galleries, Feature, Statements, and Edition sectors, the fair will present 70 large-scale artworks in Unlimited; 20 site-specific projects in Parcours; a largescale floor installation titled ‘Out of Sight’ in homage to American conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner; an ambitious Film program; as well as Conversations, the fair’s renowned talks series.
‘This year our Basel show returns to its traditional June dates with full-scale programming across the city, from Lawrence Weiner’s participatory floor installation at the Messeplatz, to site-specific interventions and performances in Parcours and our dedicated Film program showcasing artists working with moving image at the Stadtkino Basel,’ says Marc Spiegler, Global Director, Art Basel.
Unlimited
Unlimited, Art Basel’s unique platform for large-scale projects, provides galleries the opportunity to showcase expansive installations, monumental sculptures, vast wall paintings, extensive photographic series, and video projections that transcend the traditional art fair stand. Taking place in Hall 1, Unlimited will again be curated by Giovanni Carmine, Director of the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen.
Highlights include:
- Yael Bartana‘s video work ‘Malka Germania’ (2021), presented by, Galleria
Raffaella Cortese, Annet Gelink Gallery and Petzel;
- Stano Filko‘s immersive installation ‘Environment S.FILKLINIC.DEATHS.F’ (2006), presented by Layr;
- A mural installation by Theaster Gates, ‘Hardware Store Painting’ (2020/2022), presented by Gray;
- The first-time presentation of Anna Maria Maiolino’s two-channel video work
‘Twice: X & Y’ (1974/2022), presented by Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Hauser & Wirth, and Galeria Luisa Strina;
- Thomas J Price‘s sculptural installation ‘Moments Contained’ (2022), presented by Hauser & Wirth;
- A large-scale painting from the iconic 1970s ‘Lampblack’ series by Mary Lovelace
O’Neal, presented by Jenkins Johnson Gallery;
- A set of 21 individually signed drawings by Gerhard Richter, ‘Untitled (Drawings for SDI)’ (1986), presented by Sies + Höke;
- ‘Bilongue’ (2020) by Barthélémy Toguo, a 45-wood panel installation presented by Galerie Lelong & Co.;
- A large-scale, suspended hanging sculpture especially created for Unlimited
2022 by Kennedy Yanko, ‘By means other than the known senses’
(2022), presented by Vielmetter Los Angeles; and
- Andrea Zittel‘s ‘A-Z Personal Uniforms, 2nd Decade: Fall/Winter 2003– Spring/Summer 2013’ (2003-2013), comprised of 76 ensembles designed and hand-crafted by the artist from 2003 to 2013, presented by Regen Projects.
‘This year’s Unlimited is both highly ambitious and unprecedented in its diversity, offering our broadest-ever range of artists, many with perspectives that were long-marginalized in the artworld,’ says Marc Spiegler, Global Director, Art Basel.
Giovanni Carmine said: ‘Unlimited 2022 is decidedly intense, no less a reflection on the contradictory era in which we live. A powerful expression of this is the polymorphous chorus of artistic voices in this exhibition, singing in protest against isolation, loneliness, and indifference. The chants are becoming louder and ever-more discernible.’
On Thursday, June 16, Art Basel will for the first time host Unlimited Night, offering visitors the opportunity to explore the sector with a program of special performances by Ari Benjamin Meyers and Nora Turato during extended opening hours.
Parcours
Under the theme ‘How to Grow in Times of Change,’ Art Basel’s public sector Parcours will return to Basel’s city centre with 20 site-specific installations and performances. Curated by Samuel Leuenberger, founder of the non-profit exhibition space SALTS in Birsfelden and Country SALTS in Bennwil, this year’s Parcours will take place across civic and private spaces, as well as new venues in the city centre. Access to all Parcours sites is free to the public.
Highlights include:
- Anna Hulačová’s new sculptural installation ‘Edible, Beautiful, Untamed’ (2022), presented by hunt kastner;
- Alicja Kwade’s‘SIÈGE DU MONDE’ (2022), comprising eight new bronze sculptures, presented by König Galerie;
- Matthew Lutz-Kinoy’s new paintings and site-specific installation, presented in the Lichthof at the Bau- und Verkehrsdepartement Basel-Stadt by Mendes Wood DM, kamel mennour, and Fitzpatrick Gallery;
- A new sculptural installation and performance by
Puppies Puppies (Jade Guarano Kuriki-Olivo), presented outdoors in Freie
Strasse in the city centre by Balice Hertling, Galerie Francesca Pia, and Galerie Barbara Weiss; and
• Tomás Saraceno’s cloud sculpture ‘Silent Autumn (AB Aur b/M+M)’ (2021), presented outdoors in the garden of Haus zum Raben by Tanya Bonakdar Gallery and neugerriemschneider.
Samuel Leuenberger said:
The artistic projects draw on a range of media and methods to consider what it means to respond to central challenges of our times and envisage new behaviors and ways of relating to one another. Some of the artists take on the role of the investigator to expose concealed truths; others act as guides, mediators, and provocateurs in their efforts to engage a broader public.
On Saturday, June 18, Art Basel will again host Parcours Night, a convivial evening of live performances at a variety of unique locations in Basel’s city centre. Museums and venues presenting Parcours projects will have extended opening hours to provide visitors a unique experience. For the full list of artists and galleries featured and further information, visit ArtBasel .
As part of Art Basel Live, Art Basel’s digital initiative amplifying its in-person shows to engage online audiences worldwide, Unlimited and Parcours presentations will be featured in dedicated Online Viewing Rooms specifically developed to give additional insight into these large-scale projects. Presentations will be contextualized with a curator audio guide.
Messeplatz
Basel’s Messeplatz will feature a participatory floor installation titled ‘Out of Sight’ by Lawrence Weiner, in homage to the artist who passed away in December 2021. Modeled on a hopscotch grid, the work aims to inspire and engage visitors through visualization, physicalizing positive thinking through the use of Weiner’s signature typographic texts.
‘A person coming in with whatever situation they find themselves in, the minute they have any thoughts about themselves going FROM HERE TO THERE, they will be able to stand in front of the marelle (French for hopscotch) and realize they first have to imagine themselves doing it, that is, assuming a position,’ said the artist, Lawrence Weiner.
Film
Screened at Stadtkino Basel from Monday, June 13 to Saturday, June 18, the Film program will again be curated by Filipa Ramos, Founding Curator of the online video platform Vdrome, Lecturer at the Arts Institute of the FHNW in Basel, and Director of the Contemporary Art Department of the City of Porto. The program showcases a selection of the most important artists worldwide working with moving images through dedicated surveys and short film evenings. This year’s highlights include surveys by Apichatpong
Weerasethakul, Sky Hopinka, and Tala Madani. In addition, Film curator Marian
Masone has selected an outstanding feature-length documentary film on AfricanAmerican art history – ‘Black Art: In the Absence of Light,’ directed by Sam Pollard – to be screened on Saturday, June 18. This will mark the Swiss cinematic premiere of the HBO documentary. For further information, visit ArtBasel Film
Conversations
Art Basel’s renowned Conversations series offers a platform for the exchange of ideas on topics concerning the global contemporary art scene. This year’s program features 46 speakers across 12 panels, bringing together leading artists, gallerists, collectors, curators, museum directors, and critics. They will discuss diverse issues from the changing roles and responsibilities of collectors in the NFT art market to the challenges facing museums when addressing climate change, as well as offer a perspective on decolonial and ecological life in collaboration with the 12th Berlin Biennale. Conversations is curated by Emily Butler, Conversations Curator, Art Basel and guest curator at Whitechapel Gallery.
Highlights include:
- Representing France and Switzerland respectively at the Venice Biennale in
2022, artists Zineb Sedira and Latifa Echakhch in conversation with Zoé Whitley, Director, Chisenhale Gallery, London about their pioneering practices, common interests, and shared friendship. In collaboration with Kunsthaus Baselland.
- Collectors and philanthropists Füsun Eczacıbaşı and Marguerite Hoffman discuss their contributions to their local art scenes in Istanbul and Dallas, respectively, with Jane Morris, Editor-at-Large, The Art Newspaper.
- Writer and filmmaker Manthia Diawara and artist Ellen Gallagher speak to their passions and concerns in the ‘Artists’ Influencers’ panel with Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London.
The Conversations program will run from Wednesday, June 15 to Saturday, June 18 in the Auditorium in Hall 1. All events are free to the public and will be streamed on Art Basel’s Facebook channel.
