Art 42 Basel 2011 Preview Highlights

With less than a week to go, until the doors open on what is arguably the worlds most important art fair, here is the lowdown of what you can expect, in some of the most interesting sectors of the fair.

Art Film Program

The Art Film program at Art 42 Basel again features a varied program of films by and about artists, screened at the Stadtkino Basel. The nightly program from Tuesday to Sunday, curated by film scholar Marc Glöde (Berlin), presents films by artists including Jennifer Bornstein, Anna Gaskell, Anthony McCall, Nathalie Djurberg, Agnieszka Polska, Huang Ran, Lawrence Weiner and Sam Samore. On Wednesday evening, This Brunner, the Zurich film connaisseur, will present the Swiss premiere of the feature-length 3D documentary film’The Cave of Forgotten Dreams’ (2010) by Werner Herzog. Another highlight will be the Swiss premiere of Lawrence Weiner’s film ‘Dirty Eyes’ (2010) on Friday, followed by a conversation with Lawrence Weiner.

Art Parcours

This year’s Art Parcours sector for Art 42 Basel will present artworks at various historical locations in the city of Basel. After the introduction of Art Parcours in 2010 on the Münsterhügel, the 2011 edition will use different venues in the St. Alban Tal area along the Rhine. From Wednesday, June 15 until Sunday, June 19, ten locations will be transformed by site-specific artworks and performances created by a number of renowned international artists including Ai Weiwei, Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Anne Chu, Federico Herrero, Chris Johanson, Joan Jonas, Kris Martin, Yinka Shonibare, MBE and Gabriel Sierra.

This array of high-calibre works, curated by Jens Hoffmann, Director of the CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, will engage with Basel’s past and present, weaving artistic interventions into the fabric of the city. Venues in Basel’s St. Alban Tal area include fishing houses along the river, a large cargo ship, sections of the old city wall, the Haus Zum Hohen Dolder (known for one of the oldest mural depicting the myth of Wilhelm Tell), the St. Alban church, and the Brunnenwerk St Alban, an old water reservoir, as well as various public sites throughout the area.

Art Parcours is newly open to the public and free of cost from Wednesday June 15 until Saturday June 18, from 2pm to 10pm daily, (from 2pm to 7pm on Sunday, June 19). On Thursday June 16, from 8pm to midnight, the new ‘Art Parcours Night,’ featuring various performances and concerts, will be held on the river bank. Food and drinks will also be served. Chris Johanson’s band, ‘Sun Foot,’ (Ron Burns, Brian Mumford) will be performing on a stage specially designed for the purpose. The program will be complemented by the dance performance “bodies in urban spaces” by Willi Dorner in cooperation with Kaserne Basel and with a special event featuring bands and DJs in connection with the Henrik Olesen exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art. www.artbasel.com/parcours.

Ai Weiwei  Will be exhibiting as part of This year’s Art Parcours
Fairytale People, 2007
Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing – Lucerne; neugerriemschneider, Berlin
Courtesy: Leister Stiftung, Erlenmeyer Stiftung, Meile Kunst AG
Old City Wall

Art Unlimited: 62 ambitious, large-scale art projects

This year’s Art Unlimited features 62 projects. The artists showing at this exhibition of ambitious contemporary art represent a cross-section of leading figures from the international art scene, with works by artists of five different decades. Many pieces have been created especially for Art Unlimited.

In the 17,000-square-meter exhibition hall, Art Unlimited offers artists and galleries a platform for works that exceed the possibilities of the conventional gallery booth, showcasing outsize sculptures, video projections, installations, wall paintings, photographic series, and performance art.

Since its launch in 2000, many of the world’s leading contemporary artists have exhibited in the Art Unlimited sector, which is generously supported by UBS. The design of this year’s exhibition, drawn exclusively from proposals by the show’s gallerists, has once again been devised by the Geneva curator Simon Lamunière.

This year, works by long-established artists – such as Carl Andre, John Baldessari, Daniel Buren, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Dan Flavin, Mona Hatoum, Anish Kapoor, Robert Rauschenberg, Thomas Schütte, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Cerith Wyn Evans – are joined by pieces from younger and emerging stars such as Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Jacob Kassay, Robert Kusmirowski, Mark Leckey and Sarah Morris.

A separate limited-edition catalog (costing 40 Swiss francs) accompanies the exhibition and includes descriptive texts about each artwork presented in Hall 1. Alongside Art Unlimited, the Art Statements section (see previous press release) presents 27 one-person  shows of young artists this year. Hall 1 will also host Artists Books, Artists Records, the Stampa bookshop and the auditorium for the Art Basel Conversations and Art Salon talks.

Art Statements: Solo shows by emerging artists

For Art 42 Basel the Art Statements sector spotlights 27 solo projects by young artists. Selected by the Art Basel Committee from more than 300 applications, the participating artists come from 14 different countries.

The Art Statements sector has promoted young artists for over 10 years now, offering them a special platform that brings them to the eyes of an international audience of curators, collectors and art critics. Many previous participating artists have been awarded major first exhibitions as a result of being discovered at Art Statements.

All projects on show will be created especially for Art 42 Basel. The participating artists come from Brazil, China, England, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey and the United States.

Since 1999, the Baloise Group has awarded its annual Baloise Art Prize to two outstanding Art Statements projects; last year the CHF 30,000 Baloise Art Prize was awarded to Simon Fujiwara and Claire Hooper. This year’s jury is composed of Daniel Birnbaum, Director, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Thomas Olbricht, Olbricht Collection, Berlin; Karola Kraus, Director, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna; Petra Roettig, Director of the Contemporary Gallery at Hamburger Kunsthalle and Martin Schwander, Chairman of the jury.

The company also acquires works by the award-winning artists and donates them to important European institutions. This year, the institutions are the Hamburger Kunsthalle und the MUMOK Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation in Vienna.

Every year, curators invite Art Statements artists to take part in future solo exhibitions, works are acquired by distinguished collections, and pieces are placed in well-known museums and galleries. Among the artists who made their appearance at Art Statements before going on to gain worldwide acclaim are Ghada Amer, Kader Attia, Vanessa Beecroft, Pierre Huyghe, William Kentridge, Ernesto Neto, João Onofre, Jorge Pardo, Manfred Pernice, Elisabeth Peyton, Ugo Rondinone, Hans Schabus, Gregor Schneider, Kara Walker and Gary Webb.

Art Statements: Solo shows by emerging artists

For Art 42 Basel the Art Statements sector spotlights 27 solo projects by young artists. Selected by the Art Basel Committee from more than 300 applications, the participating artists come from 14 different countries.

The Art Statements sector has promoted young artists for over 10 years now, offering them a special platform that brings them to the eyes of an international audience of curators, collectors and art critics. Many previous participating artists have been awarded major first exhibitions as a result of being discovered at Art Statements.

All projects on show will be created especially for Art 42 Basel. The participating artists come from Brazil, China, England, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey and the United States.

Since 1999, the Baloise Group has awarded its annual Baloise Art Prize to two outstanding Art Statements projects; last year the CHF 30,000 Baloise Art Prize was awarded to Simon Fujiwara and Claire Hooper. This year’s jury is composed of Daniel Birnbaum, Director, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Thomas Olbricht, Olbricht Collection, Berlin; Karola Kraus, Director, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna; Petra Roettig, Director of the Contemporary Gallery at Hamburger Kunsthalle and Martin Schwander, Chairman of the jury.

The company also acquires works by the award-winning artists and donates them to important European institutions. This year, the institutions are the Hamburger Kunsthalle und the MUMOK Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation in Vienna.

Every year, curators invite Art Statements artists to take part in future solo exhibitions, works are acquired by distinguished collections, and pieces are placed in well-known museums and galleries. Among the artists who made their appearance at Art Statements before going on to gain worldwide acclaim are Ghada Amer, Kader Attia, Vanessa Beecroft, Pierre Huyghe, William Kentridge, Ernesto Neto, João Onofre, Jorge Pardo, Manfred Pernice, Elisabeth Peyton, Ugo Rondinone, Hans Schabus, Gregor Schneider, Kara Walker and Gary Webb.

Art Feature: 20 gallery-curated Projects

The Art Feature sector at Art 42 Basel focuses on precise curatorial projects from artists of many generations. It is located alongside the Art Galleries sector on both floors of Hall 2 and presents 20 projects. With over 200 applications to choose from, the Art Basel Committee and the sector’s experts selected galleries from 12 countries on three continents. The projects chosen promise unexpected and provocative solo presentations and juxtapositions, as well as solo presentations featuring works by artists representing different cultural backgrounds, generations, and artistic approaches.

Art 42 Basel: The Premier International Art Show

This year, the 42nd edition of Art Basel takes place in Basel, Switzerland, from June 15 through June 19, 2011. As the premier annual art show, Art Basel marks the summer reunion of the international artworld, hosted by the city of Basel, which has been a cultural capital for centuries.

More than 300 galleries from 35 countries on six continents will show works by over 2,500 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. A frequent site of discovery by those seeking emerging artists, Art Statements features 27 one-person stands from rising galleries worldwide. Furthermore, exhibitors will present more than 50 ambitious works in the Art Unlimited sector. Bringing the show into the city, the site-specific projects and performances in the Art Parcours sector will transform a variety of locations throughout the St. Alban neighbourhood.

Complimenting Art Basel’s extensive offerings, the city’s museums and institutions once again stage fascinating exhibitions, featuring the artists Constantin Brancusi,
Richard Serra, Francis Alÿs, R.H. Quaytman, Konrad Witz and Henrik Olesen.

Founded by a group of local gallerists, the first Art Basel took place in 1970 and the event has long ranked as the most prestigious annual art show worldwide. The quality and diversity of the artworks exhibited regularly attracts more than 60,000 artists, collectors, gallerists, museum directors, curators, and art enthusiasts. Art 42 Basel showcases every form of artistic expression, including paintings, drawings, editions, sculptures, installations, photography, performances, and video art. Inexpensive works by emerging artists are on offer, alongside museum-quality masterpieces priced in the millions.

More than 300 of the world’s leading galleries exhibit at Art Basel, selected from more than 1,000 applicants by the Art Basel Committee, an international jury of renowned gallerists. These include 73 from the United States; 50 from Germany; 32 from Switzerland; 31 from Great Britain; 23 from France; 20 from Italy; 8 from Belgium; 7 each from Japan and Spain;
6 from Austria; 4 each from Brazil and Poland; 3 each from China, Denmark, India, Norway and the Netherlands; 2 each from Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Portugal, Sweden, South Africa and Turkey and 1 each from Argentina, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Lebanon, Russia, Slovenia, South Korea and Thailand. See a full list of exhibitors at www.artbasel.com/galleries.

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