Art Basel Paris makes its mark at the Grand Palais

Since its launch, the Paris+ fair, unsurprisingly renamed Art Basel Paris, has continued to test “first times”: first time at the Grand Palais Éphémère for its inaugural edition mounted in six months, first time in this same place but with a whole year to prepare for it, and now for the first time at the renovated Grand Palais. All this in a context where the art market is holding up with difficulty, as evidenced by the declining New York auctions in May. “ Several markets coexist, between blue chips, emerging talents, established artists. Nearly 1,700 artists have made their public sale debut in 2023, so there is also a question of volume », puts Clément Delépine, director of the latest version of Art Basel, into perspective. “ A profusion that applies to exhibitions. So faced with this growing offer, collectors are choosing more precisely the events they go to. It’s up to us to tell them a precise and understandable story », he adds.

No copy and paste

In other words, there is no question of him copying and pasting the Basel, Miami or Hong Kong fairs in Paris. “ We must clearly distinguish the four fairs, their specific context. Art Basel Paris is part of a capital with a rich network of cultural institutions and creative industries, in fashion, design, cinema, etc. So there is a different card to play, new partnerships to forge, it’s a fascinating laboratory “, he continues. For now, Art Basel Paris has renewed its collaborations with major Parisian museums and private foundations, with the Center for National Monuments, with art schools and prestigious luxury brands.

« We are at the beginning of a broader conversation in the field of fashion, luxury and transdisciplinarity », Further specifies the boss of Art Basel Paris. With its official public program partner, Miu Miu, an exhibition is presented in dialogue with Art Basel at the Palais d’Iéna. Ruinart, official supplier of the lounge’s champagnes, is showing an installation by Pascale Marthine Tayou and Marcus Coates. Guerlain has created a perfume presented in a box signed by the artist Julie Beaufils. Paco Rabanne reveals a new generation of digital art creators rewarded by his Rabanne Arts Factory. BMW is exhibiting The Green Ray, a work by the BMW Art Makers winning duo, artist Mustapha Azeroual and curator Marjolaine Lévy…

Brand Strategy

Spaces like the one also occupied by Louis Vuitton under the nave, in addition to highlighting the brands’ collaborations with renowned artists, ” also make it possible not to increase the prices of stands for galleries too much », underlines Clément Delépine, aware that “ participating in Art Basel represents an investment » for merchants. If, “en terms of strategy with brands, we take care to protect the image of the fair and our galleries, because we have an institutional responsibility, for their part, brands compete to offer quality partnerships to artists “, he continues.

Besides, ” the median price of young artists having increased, I consider that there is a place in the fair for artists’ objects, editions, multiples, making it possible to address new collectors. Today, there is more porosity between fashion and art, between museums and galleries, etc. The commercial dimension is better accepted, like Cyprien Gaillard’s T-shirts at Lafayette Anticipations », Points out Clément Delépine.

Opportunities and constraints

While waiting to further refine all these possible partnerships, the main challenge of the fair this year remains logistics, because the spaces of the Grand Palais which have just been delivered bring opportunities, but also constraints. “ There is no more beautiful place in the world to host an art fair but for Art Basel, it is our only heritage place, so we discover it. It is also an additional cost compared to a convention center because we must respect the building, not hang anything from the ceiling, not drill into the floor, etc. », further notes Clément Delépine.

Art Basel Paris hosts 41 more galleries than at the Grand Palais Éphémère, especially since the Mini Palais restaurant was transferred to recover exhibition spaces. On the passageways, there is room for emergence with sixteen galleries, in connection with the Galeries Lafayette group and Lafayette Anticipations. ” HASIn total, we have 195 locations and we have received triple the number of requests, some of which are interesting but different from usual; this is why we created a space of great curatorial freedom, Premise, with works sometimes before 1900 that we would not have shown before: the Douanier Rousseau, Séraphine Louis… To respond to the public’s curiosity, we give to see neglected artistic practices, such as art brut, and we open ourselves to more geographical diversity, particularly towards northern Africa and the Middle East “, he continues.

Prices for exhibitors vary depending on whether they are under the nave or on the first floor to take into account architectural disparities, and the surfaces have increased: they are now 30 to 75 square meters. Petit Palais, Louvre, Tuileries, courtyard of the Hôtel de la Marine, gardens of the Palais-Royal, Place Vendôme, pedestrianized avenue Winston-Churchill, Institut de France, Beaux-Arts de Paris, Delacroix museum… the fair is everywhere. With the new president of the Grand Palais, Didier Fusillier who comes from La Villette, a center of multidisciplinarity, the dialogue is fluid and the idea is to think about an event to celebrate the public dimension of the fair with music, performance. But for now, Didier Fusillier remains focused on the work on the site, which is not finished.
Art Basel Paris 2024: Behind the scenes