Solo exhibitions, temporal works and media presentations that take an active, outward-looking approach to our post-pandemic era – these are the key themes of this year’s Art Fair Basel List, which returned for its 28th edition on Monday.
Opening at 11 a.m., just hours before the much-anticipated VIP preview of Art Basel Unlimited at 4 p.m., List immediately attracted a crowd ranging from seasoned collectors and industry professionals to young people visiting the Swiss city for the first time. As they flocked to Hall 1.1 of Messe Basel, adjacent to where the main fair takes place, happy chatter and merry meetings were heard in the gallery booths and along the aisle. The upbeat mood is at least partly due to the fact that this year’s Basel week is the first for many East Asians since the pandemic hit, as the region had travel restrictions a lot stricter rules which were only relaxed at the beginning of this year.
This year’s List sees 88 galleries from 35 countries showcasing over 100 artists, mostly young emerging artists. Twenty galleries are new to the fair.
The paintings may have been hot on the market and sought after by collectors and buyers, but many of the pieces on display are three-dimensional or media works, which promise to challenge collectors. Joanna Kamm, director of Liste, said she appreciated the gallerists’ determination to take risks, welcoming that this year’s show was the best edition of the fair since she took over as director in 2018.
Japanese artist Sasaoko Yuriko during her video installation “Gyro” presented by PHD Group. Photo: Vivienne Chow.
The fair offers a glimpse of a new, young generation of artists from around the world. It is dominated by solo exhibitions, with 75% of booths dedicated to one artist, according to Kamm.
More than 30 galleries showcase time-based art, and works that incorporate performative elements – perfume, AI, sound and digital components – also have a strong presence, according to the fair’s director. “It’s a good sign for the art market,” Kamm said, as it proves galleries are confident the market has a big appetite, including for these more complicatedly presented works.
“We’ve noticed that artists are moving from looking inward, which could probably be driven by the pandemic, to looking outward,” Kamm told Artnet News. “There are more social/political presentations. Some are really risky, commercially.
Among the highlights, a stand of PHD Group, from Hong Kong. The young avant-garde gallery was founded in 2021, and List is its first art fair. The stand is a solo presentation by Japanese artist Sasaoka Yuriko, born in 1988, who was featured in a solo exhibition at the Hong Kong gallery in September. Titled “Gyro,” the immersive video installation revolves around a colorful video work of the same name featuring hand puppets, painted body parts, and digitized images created in 2018 in response to the 2011 tsunami in Japan. Paintings of the characters from the video installed on a Japanese screen are also part of the installation. The works on the stand cost between $10,000 and $18,000, and several works had already sold out before the fair opened.
Foro.Space from Colombia presents the solo exhibition “Soft Porn” by Berlin-based Colombian artist Juana Anzellini. The brush text installation works were sold out within the first hour after the opening of the fair. The show is inspired by the artist’s secret family history of his involvement in the distribution of Italian porn magazines in Colombia. Photo: Vivienne Chow.
Willem Molesworth, co-founder of PHD Group, told Artnet News that List is the best platform for galleries working with emerging artists. “We hope to meet more collectors. European collectors are highly educated and have a keen eye,” he said.
Another Hong Kong gallery, Blindspot, which has long been a regular at Art Basel Hong Kong and Frieze London, is also a newcomer to List. The gallery is hosting a solo presentation by Hong Kong-born Berlin artist Isaac Chong Wai, showcasing new works on paper and installations responding to socio-political imagery, as well as a video work. Parts cost between $5,400 and $15,000.
Some galleries use List to showcase the art scene from home, which might otherwise be less known to international audiences. Bangkok’s Nova Contemporary gallery, participating in person for the first time, offers a solo presentation by Thai artist Tada Hengsapkul. The 25 exhibited works including works on paper and installations are offered between 2,500 CHF and 8,600 CHF. Several works have been reserved by European collectors. The gallery said that although Thailand has a strong reputation for tourism, it hopes to showcase the country’s artistic talents to the world.
Anna Mari Livrand, lucky charm i (2023), exhibited at the Kogo Gallery, List 2023. Photo: Vivienne Chow.
Warsaw-based Wschod presents a mini-retrospective of Polish artist born in 1987 Cezary Poniatowski. Gallery founder Piotr Drewko said the market for avant-garde contemporary art in Warsaw is almost non-existent, and therefore List, known for its experimentation and surprises, has been a suitable platform for the gallery. . It returns to the show for the third time this year. The works on display are sold between €6,000 and €10,000 and one of them has already been sold to the collection of the Céline fashion house.
Kogo Gallery, Estonia, also returning to List for the third time, presents a solo exhibition by 30-year-old Estonian artist Anna Mari Liivrand. Entitled “Whispers of Unfurling Tears”, the stand showcases a wide range of delicate Gothic-inspired architectural sculptures around themes of change, transformation, anxiety over loss and hope for a new beginning. Some of the pieces include the artist’s own wisdom tooth, shards of his burnt skin, and his cat’s fur. The prices of the works are between €1,200 and €8,000 and several have already been reserved.
“Those of us from the Baltic states, we are between Scandinavia and Western Europe,” Selda Pukite, international project manager and gallery curator, told Artnet News. “We have a vibrant art scene and strong female artists. People find us slowly, but we want to bring these artists to the international stage.
The Ukrainian galleries The Naked Room and Voloshyn are also back on List this year. Both said the situation in Ukraine had been difficult recently, amid catastrophic damage to the Kakhovka dam, but they still managed to bring art to List to maintain their presence at the fair.
Meanwhile, Kamm also had good news for the coming years: the fair will remain at Messe Basel, a place favored by exhibitors, after reaching a consensus with Art Basel, she confirmed to Artnet News.
The list runs until June 18.
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