48th Edition of Art Basel

This year's feature of Art Basel was the very first of its kind for BAAB as we teamed up with French Suisse photographer Emilien Schenker and explored the offerings that the fair had in Basel, Switzerland.

In attendance this year were 95 000 people from all over the world to witness the expedition of 291 galleries from 35 countries presenting contemporary and modern works by over

4 000 artists.

Representing the continent from South Africa were Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg & Cape Town), Stevenson Gallery (Johannesburg & Cape Town) and from Egypt Gypsum Gallery (Cairo)

Sales were incredibly robust, highlighting a growing interest in our global program, including artists of the diaspora and the African continent. This is always one of the most important moments of the year for us as a gallery, and we are thrilled with the mix of collectors, curators and scholars with whom we had the opportunity to connect with this year in Basel.’ Liza Essers, Owner and Director, Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg, Cape Town)

Venturing into the space Art Basel was divided into different sectors that had themes of which BAAB explored Feature, Conversations, Film, Design Miami Basel

and an all time favorite Unlimited.

Unlimited consisted of 76 works and was curated for the sixth year by Gianni Jetzer, curator-at-large at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.

Conversations panel that BAAB attended consisted of artist Abraham Cruzvillegas (Mexico City), architect and designer Bernard Khoury (Beirut) and director of Culture of Onassis Foundation Afroditi Panagiotakou (Athens)

moderated by Editor-in-Chief of ArtReview Mark Rappolt.

Culture for Urban Identity was a coin term in which an ongoing topic of where museums have become a cemetery for artists simply from society's perception of their identity. The musuem has no longer become a space for community to relate to his/her culture and find everyday life being projected from socio-political and environmental identity instead it has become a space for status appeal.

Having ended on 18 June 2017 the world's premier show for modern and contemporary works had exceptional sales across all sectors an experience that BAAB is willing to go through all over again.

Special thanks to Emilien Schenker for being a gem on the lens.

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