World’s top contemporary art fair paints a portrait of a troubled planet
- Last updated: June 24, 2025 | 09:58
This year’s Art Basel, the world’s top contemporary art fair, painted a portrait of a troubled planet, with works embodying the relentless pursuit of happiness and the fragility of democracies. The four-day event in the northern Swiss border city of Basel, which closed on Sunday, featured more than 280 galleries presenting works by around 4,000 artists.
The monumental works section featured an 85-metre-long installation entitled “The Voyage — A March To Utopia”. Created by the studio of Dutch artist Joep van Lieshout, it featured 80 large sculptures forming a procession of absurd objects, where “everybody walked in the same direction... on their way to a happy place”, the artist said.
The journey begins with a team of oxen, followed by all means of getting to that better world, including a walking stick, a cart, a toilet on wheels, a wheelchair and a mobile surgical theatre for those struggling to keep up. Next came objects representing everything the convoy was carrying, followed by sculptures of ghosts symbolising those who didn’t make it to the end. It ended with machines set to destroy the road behind them, so that “there was no going back”, the artist explained.
A stone’s throw away, Spanish artist Jaume Plensa presented a work composed of 21 aluminium doors engraved with the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. Entitled “Forgotten Dreams”, it invited viewers to contemplate collective aspirations and not forget the horrors of the past.
Vietnam-born Danish artist Danh Vo had installed a huge US flag made from hundreds of logs and 13 steel stars, referencing the first version of the flag from 1777.
Reconstructed at Art Basel, “In God We Trust” was first created in 2020, during the presidential election campaign between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. The logs were removed one by one and burned in fireplaces, gradually causing the flag to disappear. The work served as an allegory of the fragility of US democracy.
Art Basel is above all a commercial event, where artists and galleries come to meet wealthy collectors. But the fair is also very popular with art lovers who come for the simple pleasure of browsing the works on show. Its “Unlimited” section brings together monumental pieces intended for museums and major collections.
It included recent as well as older works, including a performance created in 1991 by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a US artist from Cuba who died of AIDS in 1996. Called “’Untitled’ (Go-Go Dancing Platform)”, it featured a man dressed in silver shorts dancing on a podium for a few minutes, twice a day.
“It was an interesting moment to revisit it,” said the “Unlimited” section’s curator, Giovanni Carmine, recalling that the artist created the performance shortly after the death of his partner from AIDS, “in a context that was also very reactionary”. Gonzalez-Torres responded with “a very political gesture” with a performance that is “a celebration of life”.
The “Unlimited” hall featured 67 works, including three angels by German sculptor Thomas Schutte, which foster “a certain ambivalence”, said Carmine. With “their wings resembling razors”, are they “protective angels or angels of the apocalypse?”, he asked.
Japanese artist Izumi Kato brought a touch of poetry with his stone structures, painted with enigmatic faces, drawing on the Japanese tradition that each stone contains a spirit.
US artist Arlene Shechet played on contrasts, with a heavy orange abstract sculpture designed to give an impression of lightness despite its weight. “The current political situation is dark and so bringing light and colour and joy and spirit and art is very meaningful,” she said.
A fixture since 1970, Art Basel is widely viewed as a key barometer for the health of global art sales. Works by over 4,000 artists are on show, including a Pablo Picasso painting valued at over $30 million shown by US gallery Pace. Global art sales fell 12% last year, the second annual decline in a row, according to a report by UBS.
The drop was particularly sharp at the top end — defined as works selling at auction for over $10 million — where sales tumbled by 39%. “It’s true the galleries are bringing material that is in a different price point to what it used to be,” said Vincenzo de Bellis, Chief Artistic Officer and Global Director of Art Basel Fairs. “And it’s natural, there’s a different expectation.”
“We’ve seen a lot of European curators,” said Georgia Lurie, a director of the Pippy Houldsworth gallery. “But Americans are thin on the ground, both collectors and museum people.”
Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso died at the age of 93 in 1973 but seven years before that he fell in love with this cultural capital of Switzerland. For centuries, Basel has been the perfect place to embark on a fascinating journey through the world of art. An exceptional density of museums, the world’s largest art fair and a lively, young art scene make Basel a vibrant city of culture with an appeal that reaches well beyond Europe. But this is not the only reason that Picasso fell in love with this beautiful city. Tunisian art expert Amina Debbiche, who co-founded digital art platform The Open Crate alongside Nora Mansour, shares her top artworks from Switzerland’s Art Basel contemporary art fair, which concluded on Sunday. The Open Crate allowed clients to digitalize their entire collection, whether it be artwork, design objects or luxury items.
Agencies