Basel Basel: Der Zweite Tag (The Second Day)

Art Basel has the formula down. After all, if it works (and it does), why fix it? Many galleries have the same booth location in the fair, year after year, often showing the same combination of artists. Just as constant, the raclette stand is always there on the second level, serving pungent melted cheese on potatoes with sliced gerkins. For variety, a fresh handful of emerging galleries are sprinkled around the periphery in the Feature section (described by the fair as “precisely curated projects”) or in Statements (“projects by young, emerging artists”). This being a Venice Biennale year, many of the artists showing in Italy are also showing here, as galleries capitalize on the Biennale’s gold-plated endorsement. The normally staid Art Newspaper’s brought this complicated, sibling-like relationship out into the open in its Basel edition, declaring that dealers were “selling well at the other major art fair this summer—the Venice Biennale.” 

• Switzerland