Art Basel in Basel 2023: What’s Showing in Unlimited?
Art Basel has announced highlights of this year's fair in Switzerland, including the large-scale works in its most impactful sector.
Anne Imhof, Jester (2022). Two-channel video projection, colour, sound. 57 min. Installation view, Aichi Triennale 2022. © Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee. Courtesy the artist, Sprüth Magers and Daniel Buchholz. Photo: ToLoLo studio.
Art Basel returns to Basel from 15 to 18 June. In addition to presentations by 284 galleries, the fair will include conversations with artist Lubaina Himid and Liverpool Biennial 2023 curator Khanyisile Mbongwa, public art projects situated around Basel, curated exhibitions located inside exhibitors' booths, and large-scale installations in the fair's Unlimited sector.
Curated by Giovanni Carmine, Director of the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen in Switzerland, Unlimited will feature 76 literally and figuratively unmissable installations this year.
Among the highlights is Anne Imhof's Jester (2022), pictured top. The two channel video work features dancers moving violently at times and emitting inaudible screams. The work was presented at the shuttered Ichinomiya City Ice Skate Rink as part of the fifth Aichi Triennale (30 July 2022 to 10 October 2023).
Diamond Stingily's How Did He Die (2016) consists of a single channel projection of black and white footage showing young girls in a schoolyard playing call and response songs and dance routines. Projected floor to ceiling through a free-standing chain-link fence the installation has a classical severity, offset by the lyrical and strangely melancholic quality of the film. The work is presented by Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi and Cabinet.
Monica Bonvicini's Never Again (2005) is a collection of swings made of steel pipes, black leather, belts, and chains. Presented by Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Galerie Peter Kilchmann, and Galerie Krinzinger, the work incorporates research on psychoanalysis and sexuality to address how spaces dictate behaviour.
In Olaf Nicolai's Ménage de la maison (2022), people sweep with a plastic broom while speaking, humming, or singing. Presented by Galerie Eigen + Art, the performance invites visitors to more closely attend to what happens around them.
Presented by Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Khalil Rabah's Relocation, Among Other Things (2018) consists of assemblages addressing nomadism, of life suspended across different countries and homelands.
Firelei Báez's the vast ocean of all possibilities (19°36'16.9"N 72°13'07.0"W / 41°30'32.3"N 81°36'41.7"W) (2022) is part of an ongoing series in which the artist reimagines the archaeological ruins of the San-Souci Palace in northern Haiti. The work is presented by James Cohan.
Presented by Galleria Continua, Carlos Cruz-Diez's Environnement Chromointerférent (Paris) (1974) is an immersive environment, created with projections that are constantly in motion, that aims to reveal the ambiguous nature of colour.
On Thursday 15 June, Art Basel will hold Unlimited Night, when visitors can encounter the Unlimited works alongside performances during extended opening hours.
The full list of artists and galleries presenting in Unlimited can be viewed on Art Basel's website. —[O]
