Published on 10.06.2024
Art Basel, the world’s largest art fair, begins Monday in Basel with preliminaries for VIP guests. Despite a slightly weakened art market last year, those responsible for the fair are very optimistic for this edition.
The art market declined by 4% in 2023, according to the latest Art Market Report from Art Basel and UBS. This is an expected consolidation after the post-pandemic recovery, the report highlights. For the director of Art Basel, Maike Cruse, the 2024 edition will serve as a benchmark to measure the current state of the market.
Maike Cruse is very optimistic. The gallery program is excellent and many collectors have registered, she told the Keystone-ATS agency.
285 selected galleries
Art Basel remains the most important art fair in the world, with its variations in Miami Beach, Hong Kong and Paris. This year, Art Basel has selected 285 galleries from 40 countries, 22 of which are present for the first time. “It is important to me to actively ensure generational change,” emphasizes Maike Cruse.
The director of Art Basel attaches great importance to the fair’s strong roots in the city of Basel. She considers the intimacy and affinity with art to be a great asset of Basel. It’s “a combination that you normally only see every two years at the Venice Art Biennale and every five years at the Documenta in Kassel,” she explains.
The official opening of Art Basel takes place on Wednesday. The fair will be open to the general public from Thursday to Sunday. From Monday morning, the public can visit the free Art Parcours exhibition which extends from the Mittlere Brücke to the fairgrounds.
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