A unique exhibition platform, Art Basel‘s Unlimited sector will this year feature 79 artworks, the largest number of projects to date. Curated for the second consecutive year by Gianni Jetzer, Director of the Swiss Institute in New York, Unlimited will showcase a strong selection of works, many of museum quality, including pieces by Carl Andre, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Lygia Clark, Michel Majerus and Gina Pane. Emerging talents – including Esther Kläs, Emil Michael Klein, Oscar Murillo and Amalia Pica – will be shown alongside established artists Ai Weiwei, Martin Creed, Thomas Demand, Theaster Gates, Antony Gormley, Susan Hiller, Walid Raad and Thomas Schütte.
Unlimited provides exhibiting galleries with an opportunity to showcase large-scale sculptures, video projections, installations, wall paintings, photographic series and performance art which cannot be displayed within the limitations of an art fair stand. Since first being introduced at Art Basel in 2000, Unlimited has become a key element of the show. This year, the sector, which is generously supported by UBS, will take over an increased exhibition space in Hall 1; the Statements and Magazines sectors and the talk’s auditorium will be relocated into the new extension of the hall, designed by Basel architects Herzog & de Meuron.
Highlights of Unlimited will include the largest painting ever exhibited within the sector: Two into One becomes Three, 2011 by Matt Mullican. Alison Jacques Gallery (London) will present a large-scale aluminium plate structure by Lygia Clark entitled Fantastic Architecture, 2013, first conceived in 1963, but realised for the first time at Art Basel. Galerie Daniel Templon (Paris) will show In Silence, 2002-12, an iconic installation by Chiharu Shiota, comprising a charred piano and two rows of chairs in a room ravaged by threads of black wool. Konrad Fischer Galerie (Berlin) will show Peter Buggenhout’s installation, The Blind Leading the Blind, 2009, while Gagosian Gallery (New York) and Massimo De Carlo (Milan) will jointly present Piotr Uklański’s monumental textile installation reminiscent of human anatomy, Open Wide, 2012. Mitchell-Innes & Nash (New York) and Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris) will present Jessica Stockholder’s large-scale multimedia installation, Wide Eyes Smeared Here Dear, 2009, while Galerie Eva Presenhuber (Zurich), kamel mennour (Paris) and kaufmann repetto (Milan) will show Latifa Echakhch’s reconfigured circus merry-go-round, Horses and Figures, 2012.
This year’s performances include Strangers, 2008-11 by Argentinean artist Amalia Pica, presented by Herald St (London), in which two actors who, never having met before, hold a string of bunting for hours on end. Gavin Brown’s enterprise will present Work No. 850, 2008 by Martin Creed, which will see runners sprint as fast as they can every thirty seconds through the exhibition hall.
A growing number of artists from Asia and South America, will this year be represented in Unlimited, including Chinese artists Huan Yong Ping’s controversial installation Abbottabad, 2012, presented by Gladstone Gallery (New York), in which he replicates the compound in which Osama Bin Laden was found. Long March Space (Beijing) will show Chinese artist Liu Wei’s installation Library, 2012, in which anonymous urban landscapes shaped by familiar landmarks have been created out of books. Luhring Augustine (New York) will present Brazilian artist Tunga’s historical 16mm film installation Ão, 1981, while Nature Morte (New Delhi) and Chemould Prescott Road (Mumbai) will jointly exhibit Vendi, Vidi, Vici, 2013 by Indian artist L.N.Tallur, marking the first time the work will be shown outside of Asia. Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar’s cornerstone work on Africa, The Sound of Silence, 2006, will be presented by Galerie Thomas Schulte (Berlin). Fairytale Ladies Dormitory, 2007 by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will be presented by Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne (Beijing, Lucerne), while Victoria Miro (London) will show Carnívoras, 2012 by Barzilian artist Adriana Varejão.
Art Basel, 13 until 16 June, MCH Swiss Exhibition, Messeplatz 10, 4005 Basel, Switzerland. www.artbasel.com
Credits:
1. Galerie Daniel Templon, Chiharu Shiota, In Silence, 2008. Courtesy the gallery and the artist.
2. Air de Paris, François Curlet, Speed Limit, 2013. Courtesy the gallery and the artist.
3. Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Latifa Echakhch, Horses and Figures, 2012. Courtesy the gallery and the artist.
