ART BASEL 2018 (Basilea): remarkable sales across all levels of the market

Outstanding presentations from the world’s premier galleries lead to remarkable sales across all levels of the market

The 2018 edition of Art Basel in Basel closed on Sunday, June 17, 2018, amid reports of significant sales to private collections and institutions by galleries across all market sectors. Once more, Art Basel drew in a particularly strong turnout of both established and new collectors, from over 100 countries, with especially robust attendance from Europe and Asia. The show took place at Messe Basel from June 14 to June 17, 2018 and attracted an attendance of nearly 95,000 and once again proved to be a pivotal meeting place for the international art world.

Art Basel Basilea 2018

The show, whose Lead Partner is UBS, brought together 290 premier galleries from 35 countries, presenting extraordinary contemporary and Modern works by over 4,000 artists. Leading private collectors from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and the Middle East attended this year, as well as representatives from over 400 museums and institutions, including: The Bass, Miami Beach; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Centre Pompidou Foundation, Paris; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Norval Foundation, Cape Town; Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai; Serpentine Galleries, London; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate, London; and Yuz Museum, Shanghai.

Galleries exhibiting in all sectors of Art Basel expressed their delight at this year’s show: ‘This has been our most successful fair in the history of the gallery.’

Stefan von Bartha, Director, von Bartha, Basel, S-chanf

‘Our participation at Art Basel in Basel this year represents our first presentation in the Galleries sector, which allowed us to present our program in depth and bring very strong artworks by our best artists. The response was great — we met new people and we had many visits from important institutions on the first day. This is clearly the best fair in theworld!’

Thiago Gomide, Owner, Bergamin & Gomide, São Paulo

‘Overall it was a great show: focused on the first two days; steady and serious crowd;mannered and methodical buying at a steady pace. Connoisseurship reigns.’

Tim Blum, Owner, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo

‘Art Basel has provided a confident platform to advance our gallery’s mission ofexpanding the canon of contemporary art.’
Alexander Gray, Owner, Alexander Gray Associates, New York

‘I love the diversity of the platform, and the art is full of pleasant surprises. I have also been really pleased with the attendance and the level of interest we have been receivingin the two artists from India and China, Nilima Sheikh and Qiu Zhijie. Reception from European collectors and museums have been particularly encouraging.’

‘We had a fantastic experience this year at Art Basel in the Statements sector, where we exhibited work by Doreen Garner, introducing her work to many incredible collections in Europe, Asia and America. We placed the centerpiece of the booth with an amazing collection here in Europe, and look forward to the coming months and the opportunitiesthat come from what began here in Statements.’

Jasmin Tsou, Founder and Owner, JTT, New York

‘I continue to be impressed by the very serious old and new European buyers, includingmany museums. You can tell there is trust in Art Basel as the original art fair that can only be built over time. The excellent museum shows such as Bruce Nauman at Schaulager, and Bacon-Giacometti at Fondation Beyeler held visitors’ attention around the city as well, and we’re pleased with the works we placed in institutions in the US, Europe and Asia. It was a great year for women artists—Mary Corse, Lee Bul, Teresita Fernández all had major sales.’

Rachel Lehmann, Co-Founder, Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong

‘We began the week with our John Baldessari show at the gallery during Zurich GalleryWeekend, which was extremely successful. Things kicked off very well at Art Basel, andwe have made sales throughout the week, including the weekend.’
Victor Gisler, Owner, Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich

‘We were thrilled to be at Art Basel 2018 with two very strong and distinct presentations, including a solo presentation of works by the Brazilian artist Paulo Bruscky and an important work by Paul Ramirez Jonas in Unlimited. Galeria Nara Roesler is proud to continue in our support of these two artists, and there is no better forum for us to do sothan among the international audience of art lovers at Art Basel.’

Alexandre Roesler, Partner and Senior Director, Galeria Nara Roesler, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, New York

‘This year’s Art Basel stands out as one of the most successful for Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in our history of participating at this pre-eminent fair. Even before the fair opened, we noticed that the interest and enthusiasm for what we were bringing to the fair was at an all-time high, and there was a sustained palpable excitement of both the discerningcollectors and the significant number of important institutions on our stand.’

Thaddaeus Ropac, Owner, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, Paris, Salzburg

‘We are always very happy at Art Basel. There is a great audience, great managementand we met new collectors.’
Rüdiger Schöttle, Owner, Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich

‘Art Basel is a barometer for the art world, and it’s interesting to see collectors enthusiastically returning every year, looking for new works by our artists. I was especially pleased with the number of institutions and museums that visited the fair and our booth; and to see Marwan get the attention that he deserves and some of his works join prestigious collections.’

Andrée Sfeir-Semler, Owner, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Beirut

‘For this year’s show, the gallery brought together a number of significant artists whoseworks have a timely political and social relevance to the current climate. At the same time, we showed George Condo, Sterling Ruby, Andro Wekua and Rosemarie Trockel in regards to the recent painterly discourse. It was a concept that the collectors really connected with that reflected in the sales. We were happy to have placed these importantworks in collections across Europe, Asia and the US, reaffirming Art Basel as the leadinginternational fair.’
Monika Sprüth, Co-Owner, Sprüth Magers, Berlin, London, Los Angeles

‘It is wonderful to see a growing group of friends from our part of the world make the annual pilgrimage to Basel. Collectors seemed to have noticed the recent biennales in Dakar and Berlin, based on the interest at the fair in the work of Portia Zvavahera, Meschac Gaba and Moshekwa Langa. All in all, this has been our best year yet.’Joost Bosland, Partner, Stevenson, Cape Town, Johannesburg

‘Art Basel in Basel has been fantastic. The most exciting aspect of this year’s edition hasbeen the fact that we sold works to many of our Asian clients, with whom we have been building relationships over the past several years by participating in Art Basel in HongKong.’

Lisa Spellman, Owner, 303 Gallery, New York

‘We are very pleased with the fair’s ability to attract new collectors. Of course we love tosee our returning clients each year, but we are also very excited to place works in different countries and in new collections. This year we met new clients from India, China,Russia, Turkey and Bangladesh and are thrilled to be sending our artists’ works out into the world!’

Evelyn Lasry, Owner, Two Palms, New York

‘It was a privilege to participate in the Galleries sector for the first time in Art Basel as
it definitely helped us promote our program dedicated to the arts of East Asia. The sales result was wonderful and it proved that the interest for modern and contemporary Asian art continues to grow among the collectors and institutions around the world.’Hozu Yamamoto, Gallery Owner,

Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, Beijing, Tokyo

‘It was magnificent to participate in the Feature sector this year. We met top museumcurators who also bought works from the stand. We are so happy that we could introduceMarinus Boezem, a conceptual artist from the 1960s, to a new audience.’
Martijn Dijkstra, Co-Owner, Upstream Gallery, Amsterdam

‘It’s been our honor to participate at Art Basel’s Basel show for the first time. Our presentations at both the Statements and the Unlimited sectors have received greatresponse from art institutions, curators and collectors. We’ve sold all the works on display.’

Zhang Di, Director and Partner, White Space Beijing, Beijing

Galleries

The main sector of the show presented 227 of the world’s leading galleries showing painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, photography, video and editioned works of the highest quality. Overall, the gallery sector was rejuvenated by ten galleries participating in Galleries for the first time. 47 Canal, Alexander Gray Associates, Bergamin & Gomide, Casas Riegner, Kadel Willborn, Kate MacGarry, KOW, Mendes Wood DM, mother’s tankstation limited and Tokyo Gallery + BTAP joined the main sector of the fair having previously exhibited in Feature and Statements. These additions reflected Art Basel’s efforts to steadily bring younger galleries and the next generation of Modern galleries into the main sector of the fair, where they can show the full range of their programs. For the full list of exhibitors in Galleries, please visit artbasel.com/basel/galleries.

Edition

The sector presented 14 global leaders in the field of prints and editioned works: Brooke Alexander, Inc., Niels Borch Jensen Gallery and Editions, Alan Cristea Gallery, mfc – michèle didier, Atelier-Editions Fanal, Gemini G.E.L., Sabine Knust, Lelong Editions,

Carolina Nitsch, Paragon, Polígrafa Obra Gràfica, Susan Sheehan Gallery, STPI and Two Palms. In addition to its stand presentation, Alan Cristea Gallery was selected to present ‘Land 0 ̊ – 135 ̊ and Sea 0 ̊ – 135 ̊’ (2009) by Jan Dibbets on the Spotlight wall facing the Rundhof, which forms part of the Edition sector. For the full exhibitor list for Edition, please visit artbasel.com/basel/edition.

Feature

31 galleries presented ambitiously curated projects by both historical and contemporary artists in the Feature sector, with six galleries completely new to the show. Highlights from the sector included: Jef Geys at Galerie Max Mayer, Lubaina Himid at Hollybush Gardens and Nil Yalter at Galerist. For the full exhibitor list for Feature, please visit artbasel.com/basel/feature.

Statements

Showcased by 18 exciting young international galleries, solo presentations in Statements offered visitors and collectors the opportunity to discover quality work by emerging artists. The sector welcomed ten galleries exhibiting at the Basel show for the first time: Sandy Brown, Carlos/Ishikawa, Croy Nielsen, Essex Street, Freedman Fitzpatrick, Jan Kaps, Antoine Levi, Madragoa, mor charpentier and White Space Beijing. For the full exhibitor list for Statements, please visit artbasel.com/basel/statements.

This year marked the 20th anniversary of the Baloise Art Prize, which was awarded toSuki Seokyeong Kang at One and J. Gallery and Lawrence Abu Hamdan at mor charpentier. A jury of international experts awarded CHF 30, 000 to each artist, and their works were acquired by the Baloise Group and donated to MUDAM Luxembourg and the Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin.

Unlimited

This year Unlimited took place on the upper floor of Hall 1. Art Basel’s unique platform for large-scale projects, the sector once again offered galleries the opportunity to showcase monumental installations, sculptures, video projections, wall paintings, photographic series and performance art that transcend the traditional art fair stand. Curated for the seventh year by Gianni Jetzer, Curator-at-Large at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.both historical and contemporary works were represented, celebrating renowned masters as well as emerging artists, including: Matthew Barney, Yto Barrada, Daniel Buren, Horia Damian, Camille Henrot, Jenny Holzer, Mark Leckey, Lee Ufan, Inge Mahn, Lygia Pape, Jon Rafman, Michael Rakowitz, Nedko Solakov, Martine Syms, Barthélémy Toguo and Yu Hong. Once again, galleries reported strong sales from the sector. For the full exhibitor list for Unlimited, please visit artbasel.com/basel/unlimited.

Parcours

Reflecting on the political potentials of storytelling and seeking to investigate what stories can tell us about our lives, this year’s Parcours was curated for the third consecutive year by Samuel Leuenberger, Director and Curator of SALTS in Birsfelden, Switzerland. The sector presented 23 site-specific artworks displayed throughout Basel’s historic center by:Silvia Bächli & Eric Hattan, Nina Beier, stanley brouwn, Julian Charrière, Keren Cytter, Simon Denny, Elmgreen & Dragset, Georg Herold, Pierre Huyghe, Hilary Lloyd, Mark Manders, Caroline Mesquita, Rivane Neuenschwander, Marina Pinsky, Julian Rosefeldt, Nedko Solakov, Simon Starling, Jessica Stockholder, Thomas Struth, Paloma Varga Weisz and Hannah Weinberger. From June 11 to June 17, 2018, Parcours was attended by about 12,000 people. For the full artist and exhibitor list of Parcours, please visit artbasel.com/basel/parcours.

During Parcours Night on Saturday, June 16, all project venues stayed open late with special live performances featuring artists Keren Cytter, Jean-Pascal Flavien, Ad

Minoliti, Venuri Perera and Luke Willis Thompson. In addition, Thomas Struth presented two music performances by Maurizio Grandinetti and Walter Fähndrich.

Film

Consisting of 16 film and video works presented by the show’s participating galleries, Art Basel’s Film program was curated for the fourth year by Cairo-based film curator Maxa Zoller. This year’s program sought to attribute new meanings to found footage within filmmaking and brought together leading artists from across the world, with a strong focus on South Africa. The Art Basel Film program was screened at the Stadtkino Basel and was attended by about 600 visitors. For the full program, please visit artbasel.com/basel/film.

Conversations

Art Basel’s renowned talks series brought together leading artists, gallerists, collectors, art historians, curators, museum directors and critics from across the world. Programmed for the fourth year by Mari Spirito, Founding Director of Protocinema, Istanbul, the program featured 25 talks and served as a platform for dialogues and discussions on current topics such as sexism in the art world to blockchain technology, and offered perspectives on producing, collecting and exhibiting art. This year’s Premiere Artist Talkwas devoted to Michael Rakowitz. Conversations was free and open to the public and attended by almost 3,000 people.

Messeplatz

‘Basilea’, a Creative Time project commissioned by Art Basel for this year’s Messeplatz, was curated by Elvira Dyangani Ose, Senior Curator at Creative Time, and brought together the artists Lara Almarcegui, Isabel Lewis and Santiago Cirugeda-led architecture studio Recetas Urbanas. The project aimed to create awareness of the active role we, as citizenry, have to intervene and alter any given urban environment, at an individual and collective level, encouraging discussions about the use and ownership of public space.

Exhibitions in Basel

Visitors to Basel were offered a range of outstanding exhibitions by the city’s leadingmuseums. Major exhibitions coinciding with Art Basel included:

• Fondation Beyeler:‘Bacon-Giacometti’
•  Kunstmuseum Basel
  ‘Art. Money. Museum: The Picasso Story, 50 Years Later’ ‘Martha Rosler & Hito Steyerl: War Games’
  ‘Maria Lassnig: Dialogues’
  ‘Theaster Gates: Black Madonna’
  ‘The Music of Color: Sam Gilliam, 1967-1973’
• Kunsthalle Basel
  ‘Raphaela Vogel: Ultranackt’ ‘Luke Willis Thompson: _Human’
• Kunsthaus Baselland‘Naama Tsabar: Transition #4’
• Museum Tinguely
  ‘Gerda Steiner & Jörg Lenzlinger: Too early to Panic’
• Schaulager
  ‘Bruce Nauman: Disappearing Acts’

• Vitra Design Museum
  ‘Bas Princen: Image and Architecture’
  ‘Night Fever. Designing Club Culture 1960 – Today’

Organized by the Verein Basler Galerien, a group of galleries in Basel hosted a late evening open house on Monday, June 11, 2018. Participating galleries included: von Bartha, Galerie Carzaniga Basel, Graf & Schelble, Laleh June, Gisèle Linder, Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie, Stampa, Daniel Blaise Thorens Fine Art Gallery AG, Tony Wuethrich Galerie and Kunsthalle Palazzo.

Design Miami Basel

Design Miami/ Basel, the global forum for collectible design, ran from June 12 to June 17, 2018, with the Collectors Preview on Monday, June 11 (by invitation). The fair returned to Hall 1 Süd on Messeplatz. The 13th edition presented more than 45 galleries exhibiting historic and contemporary design alongside a robust cultural program. For more details, please visit designmiami.com.

Publications

Published by JRP|Ringier, Art Basel Year 48 reflects on the year 2017 in the art world and includes interviews with leading artists, gallerists, curators and museum directors. The publication is available for purchase at all Art Basel shows and at selected art bookstores across Europe, the United States and Asia. The Unlimited catalogue, published by Hatje Cantz, sold out by the end of the fair.

About Art Basel

Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition.

Art Basel’s engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through a number of newinitiatives. In 2014, Art Basel launched its Crowdfunding Initiative which catalyzed much- needed support for outstanding non-commercial art projects worldwide and helped garner pledges in excess of USD 2 million in support of around 70 art projects from around the globe – from Bogotá to Ho Chi Minh City, San José and Kabul. For Art Basel Cities, launched in 2016, Art Basel is working with selected partner cities to develop vibrant and content-driven programs specific to the individual city. Connecting them to the global art world through Art Basel’s expertise and network, Art Basel Cities supports its partners to develop their unique cultural landscape. For further information, please visit artbasel.com.

Partners

UBS, global Lead Partner of Art Basel, has supported the organization for more than 20years. As Art Basel’s global network expanded, UBS increased its lead partnership to include all three shows. In addition, UBS has a long and substantial record ofengagement in contemporary art: as a holder of one of the world’s most distinguishedcorporate art collections, as an active partner in global contemporary art projects such as the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative, and as a source of information and insights through the UBS Arts Forum and the art news-focused app ‘Planet Art’ app. Each year UBS and Art Basel co-publish the ‘Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report’ by Clare McAndrew.

‘This week we have shared our passion for art and collecting with thousands of clients visiting Art Basel from around the world. The quality and ambition of the presentations at the show has been incredible’ said Gabriel Castello, Executive Vice Chairman, Global Wealth Management at UBS. ‘As Global Lead Partner, we marked 25 years of successful partnership with Art Basel by launching the Art Collectors Circle, a global community of collectors and cultural philanthropists who are driven to contribute to the art world, to connect, share knowledge and to discuss best practice.’

Art Basel’s Associate Partners, supporting all three shows, are MGM Resorts International – one of the world’s leading entertainment companies with a longstandingcommitment to presenting and supporting art in public spaces; Audemars Piguet, whose expanding activities in contemporary art include the Audemars Piguet Art Commission; and NetJets – the world leader in private aviation. Art Basel is also supported globally by BMW, who has co-developed with Art Basel the BMW Art Journey, Ruinart, the Official Champagne Partner and La Prairie, the premier luxury skincare.

The Art Basel show in Basel has a partnership with Baloise Group, whose Art Prize is awarded to up to two artists exhibiting in the Statements sector, and AXA ART, the leading art insurance company. Joining Art Basel for the first time as a Partner is Sanlorenzo, the renowned Italian manufacturer of made-to-measure yachts. Further Partners of the Basel show are Davidoff, Vienna Tourist Board, ARVI and Vitra. Art Basel’s Media Partner is The Financial Times. For further information about partnerships, please visit artbasel.com/partners.

Upcoming Art Basel shows

Miami Beach, December 6-9, 2018 Hong Kong, March 29-31, 2019 Basel, June 13-16, 2019