Behlül Kalfa | 13. Juni 2016

Art Basel Bucket List – daily updated

There is a lot going on during the Art Basel Week and it’s a strain managing to take part at every single event. Below is a list where you can see day by day some of the openings and events coming up.

Sun 19 June

While some of the fairs have already been ended, for most today is the last day, so check our list with the next ending events in Basel. Also Conversations and Salon program have their finals: The Artist and the Gallerist (Conversations, 10-11:30), a discussion on Video Collection Evolution (Salon, 13-14), Civic and Art Collaborations (Salon, 14-15, with Samuel Leuenberger, new curator of Parcours), artist talk by Massimo Minini with Ariel Schlesinger (Salon, 15-16) and finally a discussion on African Art in Contemporary Collections (Salon, 16-17).

Some of the Satellite Fairs and other exhibition spaces are also worth seeing – have a look at our suggestions (in German).

Be aware that due to construction works at Aeschenplatz quite a few of the tram lines are diverted or have replacement services with buses for certain sectors. There are leaflets available in the trams and also on the Basel Public Transportation website.

Enjoy the last day and see you next year!

Sat 18 June

Today from 11am-7pm Olafur Eliasson’s Green light – An artistic workshop will be presented @Messeplatz on June 18 and 19. This presentation will take place within Zome Alloy. Conceived by Eliasson as a metaphorical green light for refugees and migrants in Europe and beyond, Green light testifies to the agency of contemporary art and its potential to initiate processes of civic transformation. The Green light project, initiated at TBA21–Augarten in Vienna in spring 2016, is a model for further action and represents, for Eliasson, a methodology for responding to a situation of great urgency.

Today is the last day of The Solo Project, VOLTA and I never read fairs – don’t wait if you want to visit them, tomorrow it will be too late!

From 2-7pm there is a a new immersive sound installation by Swiss artist Zimoun at the Ostquai (Hafenstrase 25). Discover the three-dimensional sound composition Zimoun created as the first artist in Sennheiser´s Future Audio Artist Program.

A must see: Art Basel | Parcours Night – Special evening program from 6pm til midnight with live performances at a variety of unique locations on and around Münsterplatz. Many museums and all venues presenting Parcours projects have extended hours.

Again a special screening by Timothy Merinan and Richard Dewey: Burden. From his controversial performances of the early 1970s to his most recent sculptures and installations, Chris Burden’s work has consistently raised questions about the limits and nature of art. Using unprecedented access to Burden’s archive as well as candid footage filmed with the artist in the final years of his life, this documentary film is a revealing portrait of the man behind some of the most thought provoking and influential artworks of the past 50 years. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Timothy Marrinan, Richard Dewey and Marian Masone. (Access: Tickets are CHF 17. Free access with Art Basel VIP card or show ticket. Limited seating, please email [email protected] for advance ticket reservation.)

Fri 17 June

Today we will make some suggestions where you can also go and enjoy arts beside the fairs and events. We begin with the great installation @Messeplatz Zome Alloy. Reflecting on the potentials of cross-pollination of disciplines, people and ideas, Ephraim Ebertshäuser and Julia Leitmeyer – both students in the Masterstudio Design programme – together with Thomas Lommée, a Brussel-based designer and guest lecturer, present their works within the Zome Alloy structure under the title of A Kind of Jazz, which will start at 11am.
@Ausstellungsraum Klingental from 12-6pm there is work being showed of an art collective, which has become a social form of gang since experimenting together. With the title Die Bande performing the White Cube Hotel, they decided to create a functional hotel space within the exhibition premises using simple tents and other makeshift forms of infrastructure. The spectator will encounter a space filled with seemingly functional objects of the daily hotel routine. These objects create a narrative that cannot be verified, which lets the space and the objects within oscillate between the evoked fictional narratives as well as the real offer placed on a public lodging platform.
@Projekraum 54, PING-PONG 2016 presents artists from Basel, Miami, Los Angeles and Berlin. The exhibition is located in an old factory building close to the Messeplatz. Ping Pong is an independent exhibition project for contemporary art to cultivate artistic exchange between the different cities. The exhibition brings together heterogeneous artistic positions which move in the subject area of the city and urbanity. Happy hours from 2-8pm, daily performance (Be boy Be girl) from 6-8pm, only during Art Basel Week!
Again in France, from 7pm-onwards you can join the cocktail reception of the exhibition Le Meilleur des mondes @La Kunsthalle Mulhouse, which brings together three artists engaged with the evocation of a floating space-time. Shuttle bus available at 6:15pm, from Art Basel (on Isteinerstrasse). Don’t miss it!

Thu 16 June

Today we are exited about the start of the public days of Art Basel @Hall 1/2, at 11am. Get close to the action!
But at the very outset, how about starting the day with a talk about „How Cultural Institutions Respond to Migration?“ at the Art Basel Conversations? Recent years have seen a mounting refugee crisis that has had a profound impact from North Africa across all of Europe. The crisis poses a challenge of almost unprecedented magnitude to institutions of all kinds – including cultural institutions. How are artists, art schools, art groups and museums responding to this challenge? The talk will begin at 10am.
From 2-5pm there is a a new immersive sound installation at the Ostquai by Zimoun. Discover Swiss sound artist Zimoun’s three-dimensional sound composition he created as the first artist in Sennheiser´s Future Audio Artist Program.
Once in Switzerland why not visiting the neighbouring country? At a charming Garden Party @CRAC Alsace, starting 7.30pm, eventhough it’s probably going to be a wet “summer“ party! Celebrating the opening of the solo exhibition by German artist Natalie Czech curated by Elfi Turpin, Director, CRAC Alsace. Shuttle busses available!
@Theater Basel there will be a performance called Bound to Hurt from the Turner Prize-winning artist Douglas Gordon, who stages with his performance a dark musical journey into a world of an emotional state of emergency. Using a compilation of popular cover songs as a basis, one of the world’s most influential video and installation artists has developed a stage work about domestic violence in collaboration with British composer Philip Venables.

Wed 15 June

We were really overwhelmed by the great works at Unlimitied yesterday and captured just some of the works for those who haven’t seen it yet. Check out our blog entry Art Basel Unlimited with the photos taken by our photographer Claudius Krucker, who is our photographer during the Art Basel Week. What’s more, below is the program for today:

• 10-11 @Hall 1/2: Start of Art Basel Conversations
• 11-20 @Hall 1/2: Preview of Art Basel, 15-20 Vernissage by invitation
• 18-22 @Kaserne: Vernissage of I Never Read

At the Baloise Art Forum the works of the Berlin-based contemporary artist Jenni Tischer are being showed in an opening reception. Tischer won the Baloise Art Prize in 2013. Also from Germany is Anne Imhof with her performance Angst. The practice of Imhof in sculpture, sound and installation is combined with a live element at Kunsthalle Basel, creating an exhibition that is also an opera of sorts. For those, who want to take part at an Artist Talk with the theme Future’s dialect @Kunst Raum Riehen, featuring American artist Martha Rosler and Hungarian-Syrian artist Róza El–Hassan. Special guests include Barnabás Bencsik, Curator, Author and Director, ACAX, Budapest; and Catherine David, Deputy Director of Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris.
Furthermore, das Esszimmer – space for art+ takes over the Outer Space (in German: Weltraum) during Art Basel and invites you to the OFF-Space. Lounge, with drinks, food, Art and more. The WELTRAUM transforms for 3 day and nights into a Pop-Up Gallery of selected artist’s from Basel, Switzerland, Europe and the rest of the world. Opening Party today at 10pm!
Again, we have two highly recommended movies @Stadtkino, which is a part of Art Basel Film. The first one starting at 8.30 is a film by Fiona Tan with the title History’s Future. After that at 10.30 the movie Where is Rocky II? will be showed and the screening will be introduced by Pierre Bismuth. Starting point for the story is the search for a mysterious object: an artificial rock that artist Ed Ruscha hid in the vast California desert in the 1970s. ‘Where is Rocky II?’ is at once a documentary, a crime thriller and a work of art – and ultimately something else entirely. Pierre Bismuth leads the audience on a wild goose chase through reality and fiction, until it is impossible to tell them apart. Tickets are CHF 17. Free access with Art Basel VIP card or show ticket. Limited seating, please email [email protected] for advance ticket reservation. Enjoy your day + night!

Tue 14 June

After the VIP openings and previews on the first day, some of the fairs are now starting with their public days, while others are still in „VIP mode“. So, what’s up today:

• 16-19 @Clarahuus: VIP vernissage of Scope
• 18-22 @Hall 3: Public vernissage & award ceremony of Swiss Design Awards
• 18-22 @Volkshaus: Preview of photo basel

Beside the fairs and shows there is also the opportunity to explore some great works in the Basel-based galleries and enjoy the calmness of the art city by walking around. The Open House at the gallery spaces is starting at 8pm and will last until 10pm. Don’t miss it! Furthermore there is a short movie in the evening, starting at 8pm @Stadtkino, which is a part of Art Basel Film and curated by Maxa Zoller. Karl Valentin’s famous phrase ‘Art is beautiful, but it takes a lot of work’ (‘Kunst ist schön, macht aber viel Arbeit’) is the inspiration for this program of short films by contemporary artists on the relationship between work and value. And if you still have some energy left and want to hit the floor then don’t miss the Summer Party to celebrate the Campus of the Arts Basel. The party starts at 8.30pm and there are shuttle busses available from Art Basel at 7 and 8pm. The late night party @HeK starts at 11pm, for detailed information check HeK. Have fun!

Mon 13 June

Today is the first „openings day“ – it seems that there are more public openings happening, and they are starting earlier every year. Beside some VIP and First Choice events at Art Basel and Design Miami/Basel, there are also many events open to the public:

• 14-19 @Markthalle: Public vernissage of VOLTA
• 15-19 @Dreispitzhalle: Public vernissage of The Solo Project
• 17-21 @Warteck PP: Public vernissage of LISTE
• 19-22 @Münsterplatz: Art Basel Parcours opening
• 19-22 @Hall 4, Messe Basel: Award ceremony and public opening of Swiss Art Awards

And as always, after 22 folks meet at Volkshaus for the Vernissage party. Or as an alternative, we recommend Art Basel’s Parcours Bar from 20 till late @Spira Popstore (Freie Strasse 42, Basel) in the Münsterplatz neighborhood, where Basel-based exhibition spaces are invited to present their artistic evening programs in a bar. Tonight, it’s DEUXPIECE’s turn…

Or, if you don’t feel like dancing yet, you can join the first session of the Art Basel Film program with an exclusive preview of ‘Where is Rocky II?’, the first feature-length fiction film by French artist Pierre Bismuth, from 22 @Stadtkino Basel (Klostergasse 5, Basel). Starting point for the story is the search for a mysterious object: an artificial rock that artist Ed Ruscha hid in the vast California desert in the 1970s. ‘Where is Rocky II?’ is at once a documentary, a crime thriller and a work of art – and ultimately something else entirely. Pierre Bismuth leads the audience on a wild goose chase through reality and fiction, until it is impossible to tell them apart. (Tickets are CHF 17, free access with Art Basel VIP card, limited seating, please email [email protected] for advance ticket reservation)