Bombon- Eva Fàbregas, Sheddings, 2021, Silicone, Variable dimensions
WORDS
REPORTING
TAG
BROWSING
Facebook
WhatsApp
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Email
twitter X

The latest developments and trends in contemporary art at Liste Art Fair Basel 2023

Liste Art Fair Basel supports new galleries with a commitment to sustainability. Friends of Liste provides financial support to selected galleries for elaborate presentations

Founded by Eva Presenhuber and Peter Kilchmann, Liste Art Fair

Founded in 1996 from an idea by Eva Presenhuber and Peter Kilchmann, Liste Art Fair is a well-known event in the Basel calendar, and it’s part of the art scene of the city, as with its 40 museums and many Arte-related fairs and events, Basel owes its reputation as Switzerland’s cultural capital.

The event filled a gap in the market, being an international platform for a younger generation of gallerists from all over the world, who are representatives of the latest developments and trends in contemporary art. «Liste Art Fair Basel is synonymous with experiencing international artistic waves that focus not only on the present but also on new aesthetics, media, and values». Being a reference point for gallerists, since 1996 Liste developed a community that put gallerists, critics, artists, and visitors in touch, ranging from a high-caliber professional audience to anyone interested in art.

Discover new voices in contemporary art at Liste

When asked about the selection criteria to attend Liste as a gallerist, Kamm explains: «our international committee, consisting of curators, gallerists, and artists, selects the galleries under the premise of promoting young artists and players. The committee members have the expertise and reflect the global and diverse contemporary art world, which guarantees that galleries beyond the established art centers also have a significant presence at the fair. Ultimately, the quality of the art and the gallery program is always decisive».

Liste opens the door to the international art world for young artists and young gallerists. Collectors, curators, and art lovers from all over the world go to Liste to discover new voices in contemporary art. This means that, with an appearance on Liste, they can become internationally visible, which is significant: «Liste makes them visible on an international level. An appearance on Liste can be the first step to making things in motion, get exhibitions, and so on».

Liste Art Fair Basel 2023 Announces Participating Galleries and Artworks

Liste Art Fair Basel 2023 has announced the galleries participating in the event, with a total of 88 galleries from 35 different countries set to welcome visitors to Hall 1.1 at Messe Basel from June 12 to 18. The galleries will showcase artworks from over 100 artists, including 66 solo presentations, 18 group presentations, and two joint stands, featuring contemporary art from the latest voices in the field. According to Joanna Kamm, director of Liste, the artists have moved away from inward-looking gazes in recent years, and this year’s exhibition sees a reversal to outward-facing gazes.

The artworks include immersive installations, time-based media, AI and computer-generated images, and strong positions in painting and photography, highlighting how the world is seen differently under various perspectives, conditions, and places. A full list of exhibitors is available on the media release. The release also includes additional information about the participating galleries, the digital edition of the fair, Friends of Liste support circle, and the new initiative to make Liste as sustainable as possible.

Liste Art Fair Basel Welcomes New Galleries to Showcase their Programs to a Global Audience

Liste Art Fair Basel is committed to providing a platform for new galleries to showcase their programs to a global audience. This year, 20 galleries are exhibiting for the first time, including Eli Kerr from Montreal, Petrine from Paris, and Ginny on Frederick from London, among others. In addition, 68 galleries that have previously exhibited at the fair will be returning, such as Nova from Bangkok and ROH Projects from Jakarta. Notably, two galleries from Kyiv, The Naked Room and Voloshyn, as well as the Ukrainian collective Understructures, will be returning after exhibiting at Liste last year as part of the solidarity support.

Friends of Liste Provides Financial Support to Selected Galleries for Elaborate Presentations

Friends of Liste, a support circle for the Liste Art Fair Basel, has selected twelve galleries for financial support in presenting particularly elaborate exhibitions.

The chosen galleries include Gianni Manhattan with Barbara Kapusta, Parc Offsite, Eli Kerr with Simon Belleau, Gallery Vacancy with Chen Ting-Jung, Tabula Rasa with Tant Yunshu Zhong, Petrine with Lennard Giller, E.A. Shared Space with Mariana Chkonia and Sophie Jung, PHD Group with Sasaoka Yuriko, Clima with Valerio Nicolai, Crisis with Gala Berger, wanda with Hanna Antonsson, Filip Rybkowski and Understructures from Ukraine, The Ryder with Patricia Domínguez, The Naked Room from Ukraine with Anna Zvyagintseva, Voloshyn from Ukraine with Mykola Ridnyi and Daniil Galkin, Laurel Gitlen with Katz Tepper, and Theta with Elizabeth Englander. Additionally, Friends of Liste will provide financial support to the Ukrainian exhibitors.

Liste Art Fair Basel Shows Commitment to Sustainability

As a member of the Gallery Climate Coalition, Liste Art Fair Basel is dedicated to making the event as sustainable as possible. The fair has taken several measures to reduce its environmental impact. Additionally, visitors can find tips on how to travel to the fair in a climate-friendly way.

Liste Art Fair Basel expresses gratitude towards all those who have supported the event, including their long-standing main partner, E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers. Their commitment has helped bring together exceptional galleries from all over the world to Basel for the past 27 years. The Stiftung Liste Basel also provides valuable support for the fair by subsidizing production costs for artists.

Special thanks go to the Eckenstein-Geigy Foundation, which has provided funding to support Liste’s sustainability efforts. Overall, Liste Art Fair Basel remains committed to promoting contemporary art while also reducing its impact on the environment.

Liste Art Fair: The 2022 edition

Rewriting our imaginations: a poster project

«We started a project called ‘Rewriting our Imaginations’» continues Kamm. For this project, every artist – selected among the different galleries that participated in the project – designed a poster. The subject was a time when life as we knew has been disrupted, and what had previously existed only in imaginations became a reality; «’Rewriting Our Imaginations’ showed what new imaginations and new futures might look like when what was previously fictional is transformed into something real». The project was also about exploring new modes of production, presentation, and distribution in a world where physical presence was not an option anymore: the works were then showcased on Liste Showtime in the online shop and could be purchased as PDFs or print. Additionally, ‘Rewriting Our Imaginations’ works as a virtual/moving exhibition, as the PDFs can be sent digitally and produced on-site as posters.

When it comes to finding new formats, Liste so far has held physical and digital editions: «in 2021, we invited 14 young curators and writers to try to define current contemporary art. These ideas then became filters, which could be used to guide through the digital fair by highlighting certain topics. We also developed Liste Expedition, a digital research forum that is non-commercial and publicly funded, which was launched in December 2021 presenting the world’s newest positions in contemporary art. It includes an artist index and curated programs and is available to everyone year-round» Kamm explains.

«These digital projects are complementary and supportive but cannot replace the physical fair, which has been held last year: the high number of applications from all over the world this year, strong signs are sent out by both visitors and exhibitors that everyone is longing for a physical Liste».

Sculpture plaza – where social exchange occurs

To reinforce the concept of community, Liste also features the Sculpture Plaza, a public square where to find a bar, a magazine stand, and an area for a video project: «The public square is a social place, and Liste had several terraces, bars, restaurants and spaces in the Werkraum Warteck pp, the original location. A lot of social exchange occurs there; it is the core place for networking. It has always been a part of Liste and we are trying to translate this into a hall with the Piazza».

Talking about the video, the original idea for the project was to present video works by artists from the galleries, with Martha Kirszenbaum, as curator of the project. However, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: «we decided to change the project: we are now planning a video project curated by Martha in cooperation with young Ukrainian curators, which will show film works by Ukrainian artists and give a platform to both the Ukrainian artists and the Ukrainian curators».

Werkraum warteck pp as the historical site

Back to the location, even if due to the pandemic, in 2021, the fair has not taken place in its historical site, but in a hall of the Messe Basel fairgrounds, Liste’s history cannot be told without Werkraum Warteck pp – where ‘pp’ means ‘permanently provisional’, synonymous with change and development. The former Warteck brewery, transformed into Werkraum Warteck pp in the Nineties, gathers many cultural projects and businesses. From 1996 through 2019, the tenants of Warteck vacated their spaces for the week of the fair, leaving them to the galleries and Liste Art Fair Basel. This innovation and growth mindset is part of this building, part of Liste, making it the ideal venue for the fair.

Discover new voices in contemporary art at Liste

When asked about the selection criteria to attend Liste as a gallerist, Kamm explains: «our international committee, consisting of curators, gallerists, and artists, selects the galleries under the premise of promoting young artists and players. The committee members have the expertise and reflect the global and diverse contemporary art world, which guarantees that galleries beyond the established art centers also have a significant presence at the fair. Ultimately, the quality of the art and the gallery program is always decisive».

Liste opens the door to the international art world for young artists and young gallerists. Collectors, curators, and art lovers from all over the world go to Liste to discover new voices in contemporary art. This means that, with an appearance on Liste, they can become internationally visible, which is significant: «Liste makes them visible on an international level. An appearance on Liste can be the first step to making things in motion, get exhibitions, and so on».

Liste Art Fair Basel

Since 1996 Liste Art Fair Basel has been the international fair for new discoveries in contemporary art. A younger generation of galleries exhibits artists who are outstanding representatives of the latest developments and trends in contemporary art. For all visitors Liste is synonymous with experiencing international artistic positions that are not only focused on the present but are also creating it – with new aesthetics, media and values.

Maria Bellotto

Liste Art Fair, Lampoon Media Partnership

The writer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article.

SHARE
Facebook
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Email
WhatsApp
twitter x