ART FAIRS:Art Basel 2016-Unlimited, Part II

Since first introduced at Art Basel in 2000, Unlimited has become a key element of the show, providing galleries with a unique opportunity to showcase large-scale works and Performances that cannot be exhibited in a gallery booth at an art fair. A unique platform for galleries, Unlimited provides an impressive overview of both Modern and Contemporary Art, across 16,000 m² of exhibition space.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Art Basel 2016 Archive

This year Unlimited, Art Basel’s platform presents 88 projects from galleries showcasing a strong selection of works by renowned international artists including: AA Bronson, Ai Weiwei, El Anatsui, Kader Attia, Gretchen Bender, Pablo Bronstein, Elmgreen & Dragset, Tracey Emin, Isa Genzken, Dan Graham, Mike Kelley, William Kentridge, Jannis Kounellis, Joseph Kosuth, Louise Lawler, Sol LeWitt, Laura Lima, Paul McCarthy, Pamela Rosenkranz, Martha Rosler, Dieter Roth, Frank Stella and James Turrell. Highlights of Unlimited include El Anatsui’s “Gli” (2010), comprised of five hanging curtains made of recycled materials, which come together to create an immense yet contemplative intervention within the space. Stan Douglas’ presents “Luanda-Kinshasa” (2013) is set within a reconstruction of the legendary Columbia 30th Street Studio in Midtown Manhattan. Featuring a band of professional musicians improvising together, the work is a documentation of a fictitious recording at the famous studio in the ‘70s. Davide Balula’s “Mimed Sculpture” (2016), is a performance with mimes tracing the invisible presence of art-historically significant sculptures. Gretchen Bender’s monumental 24-monitor multi-projection screen installation, “Total Recall” (1987), the work explores the accelerated image flow of television and exemplifies Bender’s concept of ‘electronic theatre’, in which she aims to infiltrate the corporate domain of mass media representation by overloading the viewer with information. “Blue Runs” (2016), furthers Rosenkranz’s ongoing experiments with liquid forms and consists of a continuously recycled thin blue water stream flowing through the faucet of a ceramic sink. “Zoom Pavilion” (2015) by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in collaboration with Krzysztof Wodiczko, is an interactive installation that consists of an immersive projection. The piece uses facial recognition algorithms to detect the presence of people within the exhibition space and record their spatial relationship. Tunga’s sculptural installation “Eu, você e a lua” (2014), relies on the repeated use of symbolic forms. Welded, cast, and made of clay, objects are paired with evocative geological and organic materials, exploring the relationships between language, image and object. Unlimited once again features a number of significant historical works, including: “Damascus Gate, Stretch Variation I” (1970), a seminal work by Frank Stella, Robert Grosvenor’s “Untitled (yellow)” (1966), a recreation of a sculpture by the artist first shown in a survey exhibition of “‘American Sculpture of the Sixties” in 1967, and is emblematic of the artist’s early installations, in which he presented monumental sculptures that were cantilevered and suspended in space. “Titled (Art as Idea as Idea)” (1968), Joseph Kosuth’s first ever gallery installation of what has become his dictionary definition series, in this case 10 different definitions of the word ‘nothing’. In 1973, Dieter Roth began a long-term project known as “Flacher Abfall/Flat Wast” (1975-1976/1992), for which he collected food packaging and other found scraps, before subsequently encasing them in over 600 binders and filing them in bookshelves, the work addresses Roth’s artistic role as collector, cataloguer and archivist.

Info: Curator: Gianni Jetzer, Art Basel 2016, Messeplatz 10, Basel, Days & Hours: Thu (16/6)-Sun (19/6) 11:00-19:00, Admission: Day Ticket CHF 50, Evening Ticket (after 17:00) CHF 28, Two-Day Ticket CHF 85, Permanent Ticket CHF 120, Reduced Day Ticket (Students/Seniors) CHF 38, www.artbasel.com