BASEL.- The 2022 edition of
Art Basel this June will bring together 289 leading international galleries to present the highest quality artworks across all media – from painting and sculpture to photography and digital works – by artists ranging from early 20th-century Modern pioneers to cutting-edge contemporary practitioners. A strong line-up of galleries from across Europe will be joined by new and returning exhibitors from around the world, including Africa, Asia, North and South America, and the Middle East.
19 galleries will join the show for the first time, including two first-time participants from Africa: Jahmek Contemporary Art from Luanda and OH Gallery from Dakar. Newcomers to the fair also include: Athr Gallery, with exhibition spaces in Diriyah, Al-'Ula, and Jeddah; Altman Siegel from San Francisco; Galería RGR from Mexico City; Proyectos Ultravioleta from Guatemala City; Gallery Sofie Van de Velde from Antwerp; Edouard Montassut from Paris; Veda from Florence; Ceysson & Bénétière, with spaces in Lyon, Paris, Saint-Etienne, Koerich, and New York; Mariane Ibrahim, with spaces in Paris and Chicago; Château Shatto from Los Angeles; Clearing, with spaces in Brussels, Los Angeles, and New York; Nicelle Beauchene Gallery from New York; Galerie Maria Bernheim, with spaces in Zurich and London; Laveronica arte contemporanea from Modica; Ivan Gallery from Bucharest; Nino Mier Gallery, with spaces in Brussels, Los Angeles, and Marfa; and PM8 / Francisco Salas from Vigo.
In recognition of the changing gallery landscape, this year Art Basel and its Basel Selection Committee relaxed its exhibitor application requirements, including the minimum number of exhibitions a gallery must hold per year, the need to have a permanent exhibition space, and the number of years the gallery must have been in operation. These changes in the requirements, which were first introduced for the 2021 edition of the show in Miami Beach, have now been adopted across all three of Art Basel’s shows, allowing the fair to welcome a broader range of first-time participants internationally.
‘We are looking forward to staging Art Basel's first June show since 2019, especially with such a strong line-up of galleries, including the return of many who were forced by the pandemic to take a hiatus last year,’ says Marc Spiegler, Global Director, Art Basel. ‘This year's quality and breadth of material will be on par with previous editions of our show – yet more diverse than ever before in terms of the galleries participating.’
Bringing together the fair’s physical and digital platforms, Art Basel Live will once again amplify onsite presentations in Basel to the broadest possible global audiences – transmitting the vibrancy and excitement from the show floor via a digital program comprising Online Viewing Rooms, virtual walkthroughs, and social media broadcasts.
The Basel show will return with compelling presentations across its special sectors: Unlimited, featuring large-scale installations that transcend the dimensions of traditional art-fair booths; Parcours, showcasing site-specific works throughout the city of Basel; Film; and Conversations, while the city’s Messeplatz will once again be activated with a site-specific intervention.
Galleries
The show's main sector features 234 of the world’s leading galleries, showcasing painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, photography, video, digital, and editioned works of the highest quality. Mariane Ibrahim, with spaces in Paris and Chicago, joins the fair for the first time this year. Additionally, eight galleries previously exhibiting in Feature or Statements will graduate into the main sector, showcasing the full range of their program: Balice Hertling from Paris, The Breeder from Athens, Ben Brown Fine Arts with spaces in Hong Kong, London and Palm Beach, Jenkins Johnson Gallery with spaces in New York and San Francisco, JTT from New York, Galerie Max Meyer from Düsseldorf, Labor from Mexico City, and Vedovi Gallery from Brussels.
Feature
The sector will once again bring together ambitious, curated solo and duo presentations by 26 galleries, including eight first-time exhibitors. The sector will feature two joint booths: Altman Siegel and Bridget Donahue with a presentation of works by Lynn Hershman Leeson and Daniel Marzona and Gallery Sofie Van de Velde with works by Guy Mees. Further highlights from the sector include: abstract artist Nancy Graves’s compelling and formally rigorous paintings at Ceysson & Bénétière; Texas-born artist Hugh Hayden’s installation of sculptures which address ideas of America’s creation, the colonization of Africa, and the formation of personal identity at Clearing; Galerie Knoell's retrospective exhibition of Meret Oppenheim, which coincides with the major survey of her work in Bern, Houston, and New York; a curated solo show at Galleria d'Arte Maggiore G.A.M. exploring the theme of landscape in Giorgio Morandi's work; Garth Greenan Gallery’s presentation of paintings by Native American artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith that reflect the artist’s poetic, curious, and profound interpretations of America’s particular forms of bigotry toward Native peoples; a curated selection of paintings by artist, writer, gallerist, and collector William N. Copley which focuses on his formative period in France presented by Kasmin; Mignoni’s Sol LeWitt solo booth presentation; Polish sculptor and performer Jerzy Bereś’s large-scale wooden sculptures at Galeria Dawid Radziszewsk; and Galería RGR’s booth dedicated to Oswaldo Vigas, a central figure of Latin American modernism, focusing on his abstract work from the 1950s.
Statements
Dedicated to emerging artists across the globe, this year Statements will feature 18 solo presentations and welcome 10 new entries. Highlights from the sector include: ‘ESF’, a new immersive, multi-channel video work by Sara Sadik presented by Galerie Crèvecoeur; a new site-specific installation by Zimbabwean artist Kresiah Mukwazhi presented by Jan Kaps; ‘The Brother, the Sister and the Pied Pipe,’ a 45-minute puppet show by Peruvian artist Daniela Ortiz presented by Laveronica arte contemporanea; Chapter NY’s solo presentation by artist Tourmaline, featuring the debut of her new film ‘Pollinator’; South African artist Helena Uambembe’s site-specific installation at Jahmek Contemporary Art; Château Shatto’s solo presentation by New York-based artist, writer, and curator Aria Dean; and artist Aliou Diack’s evocative installation at OH Gallery which conjures up the landscape and atmosphere of the Senegalese bush.
The 23rd Annual Baloise Art Prize, comprising a cash prize of CHF 30,000 per winner, will be awarded to up to two artists exhibiting in Statements, with recipients to be announced at Art Basel's media reception. In addition, the Baloise Group will acquire works by the selected artists for donation to two leading European museums, which will hold solo exhibitions of the artists’ works.
Edition
Spread throughout both floors of Hall 2, the sector will feature 11 leading galleries in the field of prints and editioned works: Niels Borch Jensen Gallery and Editions, Cristea Roberts Gallery, mfc-michèle didier, Gemini G.E.L., Galerie Sabine Knust, Carolina Nitsch, Paragon, René Schmitt, Susan Sheehan Gallery, STPI, and Two Palms. Two Palms will showcase ‘Measurement: 24’ by Mel Bochner on the Spotlight wall facing the Rundhof.
Unlimited
Unlimited, Art Basel's unique platform for projects that transcend the limitations of a traditional art-fair stand, will take place in Hall 1 and will be curated for the second year by Giovanni Carmine, Director of the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen. This year, Art Basel will host a dedicated Unlimited Night for the first time on Friday, June 17, inviting visitors to explore the sector during extended hours.
Parcours
Featuring site-specific installations and performances throughout the city center of Basel, Parcours will once again be curated by Samuel Leuenberger, founder of the non-profit exhibition space SALTS in Birsfelden and Country SALTS in Bennwill, Switzerland. After a brief hiatus Art Basel will host again the Parcours Night on Saturday, June 18.
Film
Screened at Stadtkino Basel, 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. In addition, film curator Marian Masone will select an outstanding film portrait of an artist to be screened during the show week.
Conversations
The Conversations program offers audiences access to first-hand information on the international art world and is programmed by Art Basel. The panels are open to all and free, taking place in the auditorium.
