The art world is starting to stage in-person events again. Hence, Art Basel has come up with the announcement of its galleries. It will participate in its upcoming Marquee Swiss Fair. This one will be the first in-person fair. Art Basel will stage this fair. Since 2019 the fair is bringing together at least 273 of the galleries from the various 33 countries at the Messe Basel.
The Marquee Swiss Fair will be open to the public from 24 – 26 September. It will have three VIP preview days which will begin on September 21.
For this particular Edition, the fair will bring along a similar number of galleries as it did back in 2019. At its Hong Kong fair in May, Art Basel relied on a hybrid format. The Swiss Edition will include the satellite booths which the locals will operate for the gallerists.
For this 2021 edition, 24 galleries will participate in the fair for the very first time. The galleries include Paris’s High Art, Hong Kong’s Edouard Malingue Gallery, London’s Union Pacific. Also, it includes Pristina’s LambdaLambdaLambda, Cardi gallery of Milan and London, and the Aires’s Walden Gallery. The New York enterprises will be the first-time participant along with Company Gallery, Garth Greenan Gallery, Bodega, Bridget Donahue, Queer Thoughts, and Kasmin.
Along with the last Edition, a number of the mega galleries and the blue-chip outfits will also participate. The names include Hauser& Wirth, David Zwirner, Gagosian, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Victoria Miro, Spruth Magers, Jack Shainman, and Jeffrey Deitch.
This fair will be divided into four sections. The sections will include the galleries with 221 participants, Feature for single or duo artist’s presentations from the 24 galleries, 18 solo presentations. Also, there will be the Edition which will have the 10 galleries focusing on print and the editioned works. The other section of the fair includes the Parcours, Unlimited, and Film.
Switzerland recently relaxed its travel-related restrictions for a few countries. There is again a rise in coronavirus cases.
In a statement the director of Art Basel Global, Marc Spiegler, said, “While the pandemic has been a time of resilience and innovation, it has not always been one of discovery—patrons have often not been able to discover the work of new artists; likewise, galleries have not had ample opportunities to meet new collectors who can start to engage with and then later sustain their programs. That’s why it’s so important to be able to stage our show again in person, while at the same time building upon the digital innovations of the past year to continue engaging the broadest possible audiences worldwide.”
