From NFTs, to virtual reality experiences, to enormous installations, what's on offer at this year's Art Basel?
ADVERTISEMENTArt Basel is underway and artworks are already on display in public spaces throughout the eponymous host city.
In spite of inflation and the war in Ukraine, art industry experts are confident that this year's edition of the art show in Switzerland won't see a decline in sales.
Art Basel is the world’s leading fair in the international art market - where galleries from around the world showcase modern and contemporary works.
This year 200 leading galleries and more than 4,000 artists will present their work in and around Basel.
What's on display this year?
One of the most unique installations this year can be found in an underground car park - which has been turned into a gallery space.
The car park features an installation by artist Simon Starling named A-A’, B-B’.
The title of Starling's artwork refers to two cuts, made approximately two hundred years apart, through two very different objects – Giambattista Tiepolo’s The Finding of Moses painting and a blue Fiat 125 Special.
The back of the Fiat is chopped-off and a replica of a Giambattista Tiepolo’s painting also has a missing piece.
"It goes back to a story back in the time when this original painting was actually cut in its dimension that we see it here. And two thirds of the painting went to the Glasgow Museum of Art and the other little part went to the Fiat's owner on the early interim. And this is why this connection was made between Agnelliy the Fiat producer and his collection and the Glasgow Museum," says Samuel Leuenberger, Curator of Art Basel Parcours.
Leuenberger's personal favourite is an artwork by Oscar Murillo, a London-based Colombian artist.
The piece is titled Social Cataracts and is made up of two installations that touch on theme of community, labour, and collectivity.
The first installation featured 100 mannequins wearing multi-coloured, elaborately decorated outfits. All the patterns used on these outfits were created by children in schools. The artist then printed them onto the fabrics.
The middle of the room is home to Murillo's second installation, which features 50 vacant white plastic chairs with paintings attached to them. The chairs appear to be holding the paintings as if they were protesting with placards.
Showcasing the future of art
Art Basel is also hosting an NFT stand where people can view NFT artworks on screens.
Such as an exhibition titled 'Chance Encounters in New Mediums: Generative Art' presented by Tezos, which lets visitors co-create a new generative artwork that is automatically minted as an NFT and gifted to attendees in real-time.
Virtual Reality artworks can also be viewed by visitors.
Vive Arts, a company owned by VR headset maker HTC, is screening two VR films, including one entitled "A mighty mass emerges" by Wu Tsang.
The film puts the viewer in the perspective of a whale and surrounds them with jellyfish underwater, and seagulls at the surface.
ADVERTISEMENT"This is a poetic meditation from the whales perspective. So we have been really interested in this ongoing artistic project re-imagining Herman Melville's Moby Dick. And we were very pleased to support with Sang at Venice Biennale this year," says Samantha King, Head of programme, Vive Arts.
Art Basel will open to the public from 16 June and will run until 19 June.
Check out the video for a preview of what's on display at Art Basel 2022
