Basel Social Club Wants You to Go Back to the Office

Art Basel in Basel 2026 18–21 June 2026

Basel Social Club—the alternative fair, exhibition and art world hangout that takes place each year during the Swiss edition of Art Basel—has announced its line-up of artists under the 2026 theme: Office. Among 106 participating artists, highlights include Marina Abramović, John Armleder, Cosima von Bonin, Allen-Golder Carpenter and Maurizio Cattelan, alongside Bernadette Corporation, Valie Export, Jeremy Deller, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger and Andy Warhol.

Works on display will include Abramović’s school bus and meditation capsule The Bus, which debuted at The World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, and an indoor golf course parodying the trappings of a modern workplace by Beni Bischof, titled Hole In One Culture. Meanwhile Alicia Framis’ The Walking Ceiling will see a group of professional women carrying a 2x3 metre glass plate—or glass ceiling—through the streets of Basel in a protest against the invisible barriers that continue to block women from positions of power.

This year’s incarnation of the fair will be held in a vacant multi-story building designed by the Basel-based architectural firm Diener & Diener. The space will feature functioning reception desks, HR departments, break rooms and co-working spaces, as well as “spatial hierarchies” and artworks that “trace the arc from the industrial office to the algorithmically managed gig economy”.

Organisers have said the edition “considers the workplace not as a site of production, but of critical reflection”. A statement on the fair’s website continues: “Unfolding vertically across the building’s stacked floors, the architecture becomes part of the curatorial framework.

“Spatial layers and circulation routes echo contemporary notions of the ‘underground’—as both a site of cultural resistance and a metaphor for the hidden structures and tensions of late capitalism.”

Thankfully, and in true office culture style, the space will also provide several fully functioning bars, including Valerie’s Snack Bar and Human Resources, organised by British and American artists Deller and Nick Doyle respectively. The former is an exact replica of a Manchester café, while the latter is a “friendly neighbourhood kink bar” where visitors can drink “blood”, “sweat” and “tears”. There will also be a Magnum Ice Cream Spray Station—which sounds fun, whatever it is.

The event’s choice of theme reflects on the changing nature of the office—once a crucial part of everyday life, now marked by a different reality. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the office has been changed by rapid digitalisation, automation and the erosion of barriers between labour and leisure. Basel Social Club plans to challenge these developments by exploring ideas around time, productivity and rest.

Founded in 2022, the alternative fair has become known for its nomadism and quirky, independent settings. Previous editions have featured eclectic and creative venues: a private villa in 2022, a former mayonnaise factory in 2023, 50 hectares of farmland in 2024 and, last year, a building that previously belonged to the private bank Vontobel. 

In 2025, Bank also served as the edition’s theme. Engaged directly with the building’s symbolic and material past, rooms offered unique experiences: a blood bank, an infrared sauna, a gambling table and host of performances and culinary experiences.

This year, Basel Social Club’s office building will be activated by more than 150 performers, while the space’s underground parking garage will be transformed into a nightclub. The fair will run from 14–20 June, and the building will remain continuously activated throughout the week, open daily from 4pm to 3am. A long day at the office indeed.