ART FAIRS:Liste Art Fair 2021

For 25 years, Liste has been the place for young galleries from all over the world to present the most important emerging artists to an international audience in Basel. These new voices in the international art discourse try not only to understand our present but also help create it. This makes it all the more important, in times of the local and virtual, to give these artists the best possible international platform beyond a physical presence at the fair. For this reason, in addition to specially tailoring 2021 fair, Liste Art Fair Basel, had decided to expand the digital format Liste Showtime Online and to forge ahead with the creation of a new research forum, Liste Expedition Online.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Liste Art Fair Archive

From 2021, Liste will consist of three formats: Liste Art Fair Basel, Liste Showtime Online and Liste Expedition Online. The decision to postpone Liste Art Fair Basel 2021 to the autumn was made in close consultation with Art Basel and the previously announced location of Messe Basel for the 2021 fair remains in place for the new dates. The digital platform, Liste Showtime Online, will run parallel to the fair in September. The uncertain prognoses for the further development of the pandemic in the early summer months and the prospect that the vaccinations will improve travel conditions considerably by autumn prompted the Liste team to take this step. As Liste Art Fair Basel presents galleries from over 35 countries the in-ernational audience in Basel, it is of the utmost importance that the exhibitors and visitors are able to make secure plans as well as have the safest and best possible conditions to travel to, participate in and visit the fair. In Liste 2021, 84 galleries from 35 countries will present the latest voices in contemporary art at Liste’s new location for this year’s edition of the fair. With 111 artists being presented, 50 solo and 20 group shows, and 20 first-time exhibitors, there will be much to discover. New this year are 7 joint stands, each featuring two galleries exhibiting together, reflecting the desire for collaboration and solidarity that became so important during the pandemic. A new place for art at Liste Art Fair Basel is the centrally located “Sculpture Piazza”, which is enclosed by our circular exhibition architecture. Although inside the exhibition hall, the Sculpture Piazza is based on the idea of a public square, where 12 large-format sculptures and various seating arrangements create a place for meeting, exploring and resting. Every year, Liste Art Fair Basel invites institutions, magazines, initiatives and artist projects to present the Special Guest Programme within the context of the fair. This approach expands Liste’s mission to highlight the latest developments in contemporary art. The special guests for Liste Art Fair Basel 2021 are the Paris-based artist duo Jacent; the Institut Kunst at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst FHNW in Basel with three of their graduates, Michael Etzensperger, Katrin Niedermeier and Jodok Wehrli; and Liste’s long-time guest, the Haus der elektronischen Künste (HeK) in Basel.

A digital art fair for discovering the newest voices in contemporary art, presented by international galleries and project spaces of the younger generation the digital platform Liste Showtime Online visitors can discover over 100 emerging artists and find inspiration in the diversity and quality of the participating galleries and project spaces from more than 40 countries. Each participant has the opportunity to present one artist in-depth, thereby not only offering works for sale but also providing deeper insight into the featured artist’s individual practice. Liste Expedition Online will be a research forum with a continuously growing index of artists who represent new positions in contemporary art. The artists will be selected by galleries and project spaces participating in Liste Art Fair Basel and Liste Showtime Online. For 25 consecutive years, Liste has been known for providing an international overview of the latest developments and trends in contemporary art to a global audience. This collected knowledge will now be transformed from a temporary presentation into a permanent digital research forum. With extensive categories and filter functions, a curated programme and collaborations, Liste Expedition Online will become a dynamic source for discovering and familiarizing oneself with international positions in contemporary art. Publicly accessible to anyone anywhere, the research forum will evolve year-by-year and it will be a lively virtual place for contemporary art year-round.  For Liste Discourse, 14 young writers and curators have each selected a term that they think best reflects the present moment in contemporary art. Between the 14th and 20th of June 2021, we presented their chosen terms through texts and video clips, which have become an impressive document of the times. Come September, the terms will act as filters to guide visitors through Liste’s digital fair, Liste Showtime Online, in a highly topical way, both thematically and in terms of content.

Photo: Dastan’s Basement: Daddy Sperm, Installation view, City Prince/sses, Palais de Tokyo, 2019. Courtesy of the Artist

Info: Liste Art Fair 2021, Messe Basel, Hall 1.1, Entrance behind Art Unlimited, Maulbeerstrasse / corner Riehenring 113, Basel, Switzerland, Duration: 20-26/9/2021, Days & Hours: Mon (20/9) 11:00-18:00 (Preview) & 18:00-20 (Public Opening); Tue-Sat (21-25/90 12:00-18:00, Sun (26/9)11:00-16:00, www.liste.ch