Liste Art Fair Basel ventures a promising new beginning

The Liste Art Fair has been an annual international discovery fair for contemporary art since 1996 and has helped many young artists and galleries to make their breakthrough. In the presentation and mediation of the participants and their works, the fair addresses both the professional audience and all art enthusiasts across the board.

In addition to the well-known Liste Art Fair, the Liste Showtime Online, an innovation from 2020, will permanently complement the fair. For the first time, in parallel to the 84 galleries from 35 countries participating on-site, other galleries will be able to present themselves online, giving the fair a much wider digital reach. Each online participant will have the opportunity to present one of their artists exclusively and offer works for sale. Additionally, from December 2021, the Expedition Online list will be available, a non-commercial research forum on contemporary art and artists that can be visited throughout the year. The Liste will consist of these three formats from 2021 onwards.

Also new are seven collaborative stands, each staffed by two galleries, responding to the desire for collaboration and solidarity that has become so strong in the pandemic. This year, Liste Art Fair is not opening in the former Warteck brewery, but in Hall 1.1 at Messe Basel, right next to Art Basel, which is taking place at the same time. Director Joanna Kamm can allay fears that this proximity to the big competition will be a disadvantage for up-and-coming artists: Everything will be done to preserve the character of the Liste Art Fair. The changed exhibition venue is only due to the hygiene concept, which would not have been feasible in the cramped rooms of the Warteck, and is therefore a one-off.

Furthermore, you can look forward to the Sculpture Piazza, which is not only designed as an exhibition space for 12 large-format sculptures, but also as a meeting and discussion space. At this point, we should also mention the tried and tested Special Guests Programme, to which guests with cutting-edge approaches to contemporary art are invited by the fair. This year, these are the artist couple Jacent, the Institut Kunst HGK FHNW and the HEK - Haus der Elektronischen Künste.