It’s that time of the year again: Basel turns into a big art stage, presenting the finest artworks from many of the world’s leading galleries. The exhibitions and fairs will be welcoming art lovers and collectors all throughout the city.
VOLTA Basel also returns and opens its door to the public tomorrow, on Monday 13th of June. The 2022 edition features international galleries from Argentina, Columbia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Peru, Republic of Korea, the UAE, as well as a strong line up of Swiss galleries.
This year’s fair will also welcome 3 galleries from Basel and I had a chance to visit them and have a sneak-peek in their booths, right before the start of the fair. Make sure you stop and see the inspiring artworks exhibited by our own leading local galleries. More info on them below.
GALERIE KATAPULT
Galerie Katapult was founded in June 2008 by Julia Meyerhans-Soto. Since then, the gallery has represented contemporary art in group and solo exhibitions, bringing customers, curators and critics closer to the careers and works of the artists. The gallery exhibits works by established and (still) lesser-known contemporary artists from Latin America, Switzerland as well as other European provenance on an exhibition space of 200 m2. This creates an interesting dialogue between cultures. In addition, the exhibitions are accompanied by a supporting program of events with artists, including performances.
Galerie Katapult at Volta 2022 at Booth A18:
The gallery will be showing works by Monica Vaccari, Silvia Strobos, Sara Sepulveda, Francesco Cusumano and Pedro Blas.
The curation shows how artists have dealt with the consequences of the pandemic: the isolation, the confrontation with oneself and the fragility of the networks to which they became so accustomed. A dialogue emerges between the challenges of our contemporary reality and the opportunities that can arise from them.
ARTSTÜBLI
Philipp Brogli’s Artstübli, located at Steinentorberg in Basel, is the creative hub of the Swiss urban art scene. Started in 2004, Philipp has created a platform – known as Artstübli – that depicts all the contemporary facets of urban art and culture from graffiti to street art. In 2014, Artstübli became sedentary and moved into its 125 m2 premises belonging to one of Basel’s main landmark, Markthalle. In his exhibition and project space, in addition to self-curated exhibitions, Philipp arranges and coordinates façade paintings, room design, events, guerrilla campaigns and installations, and even guided tours in public spaces.
Artstübli at Volta 2022 at Booth D1:
It’s Artstübli’s first time at Volta Art Fair and the exhibition is focused on artworks by the Swiss contemporary glass artist Simon Berger. He speaks a singular plastic language, exploring the depth of his material, the glass that he pounds and cracks with a hammer. The frame becomes a support for impact. The closer and briefer the blows, the stronger the contrasts and the shades. In his hands, the hammer is not a tool of destruction, but rather an amplifier of effects.
SELENE ART MEDIA
Selene Art Media is based in Japan, but has a little satellite place in Basel (who are aiming to expand their Basel site later this year – I will keep you posted on that). The gallery’s focus is to explore the relationship between art and tradition. Founded in 2019, the gallery picks mainly emerging Japanese artists and promotes them by producing exhibitions and art fairs.
Selene Art Media at Volta 2022 at Booth B5:
The gallery presents two artists in a dialogue: Souun Takeda who is a calligraphy artist who brings traditional Zen mentality and handcraftsmanship of rice paper into Art and Kohei Kyomori who builds his own visual language by reinterpreting the ornament in the Asian sculptures of all ages. The aim is to show the close relationship between Art and Tradition. Both elements are relative and are necessary to enrich our world.
I am a huge fan of Japanese art and this booth is one of my favourites at this year’s VOLTA fair.
You can visit this year’s VOLTA Basel from Monday 13th of June until Sunday 19th of June.
Book your tickets HERE.
This blogpost was written in colaboration with Volta Art Fairs. All opinions are authentically my own.
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