ART FAIRS:Art Basel 2020 Online Viewing Rooms

Art Basel has canceled the upcoming edition of its flagship art fair in Basel. The premier international art fair had initially been postponed from its usual June slot to mid-September. The next edition of Art Basel in Switzerland is now scheduled to take place June 17-20, 2021. Since then, Art Basel has instead offered virtual “online viewing room” fairs to provide its exhibitors with a needed platform to make sales, with the first taking place in March and the second taking place this month.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Art Basel Archive

The second edition of Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms features an international lineup of 281 galleries from 35 countries and territories. The second iteration of the Online Viewing Rooms provides a platform to connect galleries with new and existing collectors worldwide during the COVID-19 crisis. Featuring premier galleries from Europe, North and South America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, the June edition promises an extensive overview of the diverse art scenes across the world. Like a physical fair, the second iteration of the Online Viewing Rooms is structured into sectors, each with a particular focus. Sectors include: Galleries, the main sector showing painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, photography, video, and editioned works of the highest quality; Edition, dedicated to prints and multiples; Feature, showcasing curated presentations of works by 20th & 21^st Century artists; and Statements, focusing on emerging voices. While no digital platform can replace the experience of seeing art in real life, Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms will provide an additional opportunity to stay connected across continents at a time when international travel is nearly impossible. For that reason, a digital events program will accompany the upcoming edition of Online Viewing Rooms. Several Galleries present thematic viewing rooms reflecting on the current paradigm and the impacts of the pandemic, including: Jack Shainman Gallery’s “Reach out and touch me”, featuring works that highlight the power of physical intimacy in a time marked by a retreat from the public sphere and the decline of casual interpersonal contact; works by Simryn Gill, Mrinalini Mukherjee, and Anwar Jalal Shemza at Jhaveri Contemporary that explore the abiding role of nature as an inspiration as it reclaims urban spaces in extended periods of lockdown; and Jan Mot’s “I’d Like to Hear Your Voice”, a group exhibition reflecting on current circumstances by elaborating on different dimensions of voice. The vital themes of racial equality and justice is addressed in various presentations. Select highlights include: Sikkema Jenkins & Co.’s presentation, which will include works by Deana Lawson that explore representations of the body within the context of contemporary Black diasporic life, as well as a new work on paper by Kara Walker, a monumental quadriptych from her 2019 “Fons Americanus” archive, addressing the power systems of white supremacy that comprised the trans-Atlantic slave trade within Europe and America; “Personas” by Yancey Richardson Gallery, featuring a selection of works by Zanele Muholi, Mickalene Thomas, and Tseng Kwong Chi, whose photographs explore race, gender, and personal identity through portraiture; a sculpture by Yinka Shonibare CBE that seeks to break with established Western canons of knowledge at Goodman Gallery. Some galleries will use their exhibition spaces in parallel to their participation in the Online Viewing Rooms. Over 20 galleries in Berlin are taking part in the “BaselbyBerlin” project where they are physically installing works from their online booths in their own galleries, so that collectors can see in person the works featured on the Art Basel platform. The second edition of the Online Viewing Rooms offer new features, such as the capability for users to ‘like’ and share their favorite works. Videos can now be embedded for every artwork, allowing galleries options such as close-up shots or short clips of artists talking about their own works. An events program hosted by the participating galleries accompanies the Online Viewing Rooms, including Sanford Biggers in conversation with Franklin Sirmans, Director of Pérez Art Museum Miami, presented by Marianne Boesky Gallery; Rana Begum in conversation with Kate MacGarry in her studio with works exhibited in the Online Viewing Rooms; and Goodman Gallery’s digital representation of Yinka Shonibare CBE’s “The African Library” installation, as well as an online program of Shirin Neshat’s preeminent films. Hans Op de Beeck presents his newest creations in an intimate tour of his studio with Galleria Continua.