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Hidden behind the scaffolding and construction containers, the iconic building of Basel's "Globus" department store has been undergoing reconstruction for several years now. The front facing the Marktplatz has already served as a screen of a kind - last year we could see here Claudia Comte's "Waves, Cacti and Sunsets," the first installation of a series of art projects done in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler. What is in store this year?  Preparations for another large-scale artwork are going on. An intervention into the public space of the Marktplatz will take place from 8 June until 6 Oct 2024. Created by the Swiss artist Julian Charrière, "Calls for Action" is to "connect visitors across vast distances, bridging mountainous Switzerland with a Western Indian Cloud Forest in Ecuador ..." You can read more about it here: www.fondationbeyeler.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/Presse/Medienmitteilungen_E/en2024/EN_MM_GLOBUS_FB_Julian_Charriere.pdf
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In the City Lounge rain continues to fall through the large oculus, leaving an oval mark on the pavement below. Stacks of wooden elements, protected by a roof, are ready to be assembled into sitting platforms.  The same wooden platforms, made of Douglas fir, are being reused every year. Designed by "INCH Furniture" and set up for the first time for Art Basel in 2016, 12 free-form elements function as islands on which one can sit or lie down. To find out more, see www.inchfurniture.ch/en/projects/public-places/-50
It's been raining in Basel for quite a while, and though many are unhappy about it, an outdoor artwork now being set up on the Messeplatz, can only benefit from all the water it gets. An extensive field of wheat is being planted on wooden pallets, atop a large asphalt square that teems with people during Art Basel, but is mostly empty during the rest of the year.  Wheat stalks have started to take over one of Basel's largest squares, growing into what promises to be one spectacular artwork ! Honouring Wheatfield – A Confrontation (2024) is going to be a Swiss adaptation of Agnes Denes's famous environmental work staged forty-two years ago in Manhattan.
For more info on the project and an interview with the artist Agnes Denes, see www.artbasel.com/stories/ecology-pioneer-american-artist-agnes-denes-basel-messeplatz-wheat-field-climate-change-awareness |
About:Art Basel 2024 takes place at the Messe / 13 - 16 June / Preview Days 11 - 12 June. At the same time it presents an expanded, city-wide program. Here, we chronicle changes taking place at some of the venues.
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