Kobel's Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 25 2023

Fair coverage is often limited to summaries of jubilant press releases or summaries, especially for events as confusing as Art Basel. One of the few exceptions is Anny Shaw's analysis in The Art Newspaper, which at least dares to admit that the situation is complex: "By the end of Tuesday, confirmed sales amounted to a conservatively estimated $245m worth of art-though this figure will also include works pre-sold to collectors in the weeks preceding the fair. Six of the top galleries accounted for at least $175m of that total, with Hauser & Wirth alone reporting a minimum of $57m in sales.[...] Despite Art Basel's energetic opening-described by Gagosian's chief operating officer Andrew Fabricant as 'the busiest in years'-there are obvious signs of strain on the market. Just last week, reports broke that the eurozone has slipped into recession, while the US central bank raised interest rates to the highest level in 16 years last month. But the impact of these headwinds on the art trade is complex, as the many loosely related sub-markets that make up the 'art market' seem to be reacting differently."

Philipp Meier reflects on art prices in general and at Art Basel in the NZZ: "Art and its interpretation regularly suffer shipwreck in the structure of speculation, above all of a pecuniary nature, that an art fair represents: at least this is a kind of enlightenment. It's a good way to go home. And if you want more peace and seriousness, go to the Fondation Beyeler."

Jens Müller correctly points out in the Tagesspiegel the sales character of the art fair, only to then draw the comparison with institutional exhibitions: "Let no one claim that Art Basel is apolitical. Although, of course, that's exactly what it is - not a Documenta or a Biennale, but a fair and ergo a sales event. So the major gallery owners place what they have in their assortment in the booths of Hall 1. For example, the top dog Gagosian presents a typical sculpture by Jeff Koons made of (supposed) inflatables and monobloc stacking chairs right next to a Picasso. Ah, Picasso - the appearance of the noble Fondation Beyeler is already more original, which has left one of its two Picasso paintings in the transport box that has just been opened."

Marcus Woeller has looked for and found socially engaged art in various places in Basel for the WeLT: "Art Basel is not exactly known as a critical art association, but the "Unlimited" curator Giovanni Carmine has now sent a clear signal. Until Sunday evening, tens of thousands will see the work of the Algerian-born Frenchman Adel Abdessemed (presented by Galleria Continua from San Gimignano). Among them many wealthy collectors and investors, museum people, artists and dealers. On Instagram, the pictures have already gone around the world. The image of the boat and the burning question of how long to fold one's arms in the face of the humanitarian catastrophe is something you can't get out of your head so quickly. And that's saying something at a fair with 284 exhibiting galleries from 36 countries, whose overabundance dulls even professional image viewers."

The fate of NFTs and other digital art at Art Basel is examined by Kate Brown for Artnet : "Given the uncertainty swirling in the art market in general [...], can anyone really be blamed for a bit more caution? A sense of risk-aversion was felt among buyers here-and crypto is especially risky. And yet, perhaps now that the froth of speculation has gone, the blockchain experiments that remain are more sustainable and meaningful. What we've learned is that an art fair is not necessarily the best place to debut an NFT,' said one gallery director who had previously brought NFT-based works to this fair. 'Transactions for them happen online, so if we do bring them it is to show them, not for a point-of-sale.'"

Deutschlandfunk is once again attempting to scandalise the art market. Having already asked a question at the press conference that was not very clouded by knowledge of the industry, Thorsten Jantschek accuses Art Basel of a lack of interest in climate protection in the programme Fazit (audio in German).

Christof Habres worries about the future of Art in Basel for the Wiener Zeitung: "A success that prompted prominent voices to call for the regular fair in the Swiss home town to be phased out in order to concentrate on Paris. Even if these Cassandra calls were not to be taken entirely seriously, they were an indication of the price excesses during the fair days in Basel. A momentum that put the management of Swiss Exhibition on the spot and agreed with the tourism association, among others, on a cooling-off period for prices in the hotel and catering industry."

I report from Basel for WELTKUNST (paywall) and Artmagazine.

In terms of journalistic perception, after a good decade of neglect, satellite trade fairs are also playing a role in reporting again. Tobias Langley-Hunt was at the Basel Social Club for the Tagesspiegel: "The content seems a bit thrown together. In the exhibition rooms, visitors come across performances, an ice cream stand, bars and food stalls and lots of art. Large-format paintings, sculptures like an oversized handbag or colossal fur slippers, installations, video works, photographs. Art to touch, art to participate in. The mood is relaxed, children scurry around. Sounds from more distant corners mingle in the aisles." For Artnet, Kate Brown has let herself be captured by the atmosphere of the non-art fair. In a feat of exertion, Lee Carter managed to produce a text of no less than 7,000 characters (around 2 pages) about Design Miami with its 26 exhibitors for Artnet. I visited several satellites for the Handelsblatt.

Immediately before Art Basel, the Zurich Art Weekend took place, which Annegret Erhard visited for die WeLT: "The date alone is well chosen. During the Zurich Art Weekend, the galleries and several institutions keep visitors and art lovers on their toes for the sixth time with over eighty exhibitions, theatre events, panels, performances, artist and curator talks. Before they are well attuned and sheerly ready to be overwhelmed by the great Art Basel. The top dogs rely on the tried and tested and the high-priced."

Zachary Small at Artnews sees a possible last flicker of the NFT market in the ostensibly successful auction from the bankruptcy estate of a bankrupt crypto firm: "After the founders of a crypto firm called Three Arrows Capital purchased a coveted Dmitri Cherniak NFT for $5.8 million in August 2021, they kept a printed version of the digital artwork in their Singapore offices - behind the billiards table and slightly to the left of the coffee creamer. That carefree attitude appeared to have extended to the doomed hedge fund's portfolio, as the world realised last year when Three Arrows Capital declared bankruptcy [...] On Thursday evening, some 40 digital artworks were offered in the second part of Sotheby's 'Grails' sale, dedicated to works owned by 3AC. Thursday's sale ultimately raised just under $11 million with buyers' fees, more than double the sale's high estimate of $4.8 million". The top lot thus probably netted considerably less than the purchase price.

Not Gagosian, as many had suspected, but Perrotin is the first major gallery to go to an investor, reports Anna Brady in The Art Newspaper:
"Emmanuel Perrotin is in the process of selling a 60% stake in his eponymous gallery to Colony Investment Management (Colony IM), a French real estate, credit and private equity business, in order to grow the company. [...] Perrotin will retain the remaining 40% stake in the contemporary art gallery, which is headquartered in Paris and currently has ten galleries in cities across the world including Hong Kong, New York, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Dubai and Los Angeles." The website https://www.colony-im.com/ of the real estate company Colony IM, consists of exactly one homepage and the imprint.

The Art Newspaper launches a Turkish edition, owned by the hotel entrepreneur, simultaneously owner and director of the Contemporary Istanbul fair, Ali Güreli. Reports The Art Newspaper.

News in the matter of Johann König vs. Die ZEIT reports Sören Kittel in the Berliner Zeitung: "The Hamburg public prosecutor's office is investigating three women on suspicion of having made a false affidavit. The women had made anonymous statements in the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, but had to reveal their names in the course of the proceedings under press law. Their affidavits contradict each other [...] In addition, the Hamburg public prosecutor's office announces that the proceedings for defamation against one of the Zeit authors, Carolin Würfel, will be resumed. It is about a text in the Zeit from 1 September 2022, which has determined the life of the gallery owner ever since. In the original version, women, most of them anonymously, claimed to have had unpleasant encounters with Johann König. Most of the allegations relate to parties in 2017, none of the allegations constitute a criminal offence, König denies them completely."