ART BASEL | CONVERSATIONS

Art Basel’s Conversations series presents stimulating panel discussions on topics concerning the global contemporary art scene. Prominent members of the international artworld – artists, gallerists, curators, collectors, architects, critics, and many other cultural figures – each offer unique perspectives on producing, collecting, and exhibiting art. Curated

by Mari Spirito, Founding Director of Protocinema, Istanbul/New York.

Videos of the panels will be available after the show on our website at artbasel.com/basel/conversations

Wednesday, June 13 to Sunday, June 17

10am onwards in Hall 1.1. auditorium, free public access.

From Friday to Sunday, the 1pm panels take place on Messeplatz as part of this year’s Messeplatz Project.

Wednesday, June 13

10am to 11:30am
Premiere Artist Talk | Michael Rakowitz

Michael Rakowitz Artist, New York
Chus Martínez Curator and Head of the Art Institute HGK FHNW, Basel

Iraqi-American artist Michael Rakowitz discusses his work with curator and art historian Chus Martínez. Rakowitz is best known for conceptual work conceived to exist outside a gallery context and has exhibited worldwide.

3pm to 4pm
Museum Talk | Museums in a Global Narrative

Manuel Rabaté Director, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Richard Armstrong Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York

Moderated by Jane Morris Editor-at-Large, The Art Newspaper, Cultureshock, London

Increasingly, the world’s most respected museums have expanded their reach beyond their own homelands. This panel investigates what it means to bring an institution to new audiences across different cultures.

4pm to 5pm
Art World Talk Sexism in the Art World

Julieta Aranda Artist and Editor of E-Flux Journal, Berlin/New York Hannah Weinberger Artist, Basel Sandra Mujinga Artist, Malmö/Oslo

Moderated by Elvia Wilk Writer and Editor, Berlin/New York

This panel brings together a range of voices and perspectives on the issue of sexism in the art community, how it is emerging from the shadows, and constructive ways to move forward.

5pm to 6pm
Museum Talk | Focus – The Rise of the Single-Artist Museum

Stein Olav Henrichsen Director, The Munch Museum, Oslo Thomas Schütte Artist, Düsseldorf Nina Zimmer Director, Kunstmuseum Bern – Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern

Moderated by András Szántó Author and Cultural Strategy Consultant, New York

Directors from some of the world’s leading single-artist museums assess their legacy and debate their future.

Thursday, June 14

10am to 11:30am
Public/Private | What can a Biennial do?

Ralph Rugoff Artistic Director, 2019 Venice Biennale and Director, Hayward Gallery, London Zoe Butt Artistic Director, The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, and Co-Curator, Sharjah Biennial 14, Ho Chi Minh City

Eva González-Sancho Curator, Oslo Biennale 2019, Oslo Shwetal A. Patel Researcher and Writer, London

Moderated by András Szántó Author and Cultural Strategy Consultant, New York

Biennials provide a point of convergence for the artworld, expose large audiences to art, and catalyze interest in cities and regions with global aspirations. But along with their popularity also come questions and concerns, for example: How can such enormous events achieve impact and propose a strong curatorial point of view?

2pm to 3pm
Art Market Talk | Blockchain and the Artworld

Simon Denny Artist, Berlin Robert Norton Founder and CEO, Verisart, London Kelani Nichole Founder, Transfer and Director, The Current, New York

Moderated by Tim Schneider Art Business Reporter, artnet News, and Founder, The Gray Market, New York

Artists, curators, and visionaries come together to discuss the potential impact of blockchain on art, the art community, and the world overall.

3pm to 4pm
Artist Talk | Artists’ Philantropy and Social Responsibility

Emily Jacir Artist, Founding Director, Dar Yusuf Nasri Jacir for Art and Research Matteo Lucchetti Exhibitions and Public Program Curator, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, and Artistic Co-Director, Visible Project, Utrecht Zina Saro Wiwa Artist, New York

Moderated by Yona Backer Founding Partner, Third Streaming, LLC, New York

The number of artist-endowed foundations has grown rapidly in the past years. This rising impulse for artists to set up foundations and non-profits that support younger artists or their local communities today plays an ever more significant role in shaping cultural philanthropy.

Friday June 15

10am to 11:30am
Art World Talk | Society, Politics, and the Art System

Lauren Bon Artist, Metabolic Studio, Los Angeles
Laura Raicovich Curator, New York
Ahmet Öğüt Artist, Berlin

Moderated by Stephanie Bailey Editor-in-Chief, Ocula, London/Hong Kong

In a moment of great societal change, where growing numbers of artists across the globe are making art about social justice, this conversation focuses on social justice in the art system itself. How are the roles of patrons, museum directors, and curators shifting to support voices for social change and where might they be falling short?

1pm to 2pm
Conversations on Messeplatz | Self-Construction, Self-Governance

Santiago Cirugeda Architect, Recetas Urbanas, and ‘Basilea’ Artist, Sevilla David Juárez Latimer-Knowles Architect, Founding Member of Straddle3, Barcelona Patti Anahory Architect, Cape Verde

Moderated by Baharak Tajbakhsh Architect, Basel

The panelists discuss the active role we have as citizens to intervene, reflect upon, and transform a given environment.

2pm to 3pm
Art Market Talk | The Impact of Data on the Market

Dr Clare McAndrew Founder, Art Economics, Dublin
Josh Baer Advisor and Publisher, Baer Faxt, New York How have major shifts in art market studies and data distribution affected art-market growth and fluidity? What effects have yet to come? How do private collections access and use these new modes?

3pm to 4pm
Artist Talk | Lynn Hershman Leeson

Lynn Hershmann Leeson Artist, San Francisco Sabine Himmelsbach Director, HeK (House of Electronic Arts Basel), Basel

Moderated by Dr. Maxa Zoller Curator of Art Basel’s Film Sector, Cairo

Coinciding with Lynn Hershman Leeson’s first solo show in Switzerland at HeK (House of Electronic Arts Basel), this conversation takes on the artist’s long-term work and obsessions of biological progress, developments in artificial intelligence, and scientific research on antibodies.

4pm to 5pm
Creative Cities Talk | Sustainable City Development – The Role of Art

Cecilia Alemani Director and Chief Curator of High Line Art, and Artistic Director, Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires, New York
Anita Dube Artist, and Curator, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2018, New Delhi
Joanna Warsza Artistic Director, Public Art Munich 2018, Munich

Moderated by Elke Buhr Editor in Chief, Monopol Magazin, Berlin

Artists and art professionals are working on new forms of urban growth to get ‘in front’ of change and participate in equitable possibilities. Is this realistic? Can art be part of community building in which the community is empowered and not displaced?

5pm to 6pm
Collector Talk |How to Buy Art

Philippe Charpentier Co-Owner and Director, mor charpentier, Paris
Monique Burger Owner, Burger Collection, Hong Kong
Herman Steyn Executive Chairman, Prescient Group, and Co-Founder, Scheryn Art Collection, Cape Town

Moderated by Alexander Forbes Executive Editor, Artsy, New York

Collecting art is as personal or public as each collector chooses to be. This conversation brings together views from both the buyer and the seller. What to look for? What commitments are made when buying art, and to whom? How to balance ‘buyer’s remorse’ and impulsive-buys, along with trusting intuition, and negotiating codes of ethics will also be discussed.

Saturday, June 16

10am to 11:30am
Artist Talk | Artists’ Influencers

Katharina Grosse Artist, Berlin
Sarah Sze Artist, New York Moderated by
Hans Ulrich Obrist Artistic Director, Serpentine Galleries, London

This series brings together artists Katharina Grosse and Sarah Sze, speaking about their own and each other’s work, and how Grosse’s work inspired and informed Sze. This conversation investigates the use of gesture and celestial scale to push towards potentially new ways of thinking.

1pm to 2pm
Conversations on Messeplatz |On Wastelands and Mineral Rights

Anne Minton Journalist, and Reader in Architecture at UEL, London
Manuel Herz Architect, Basel
Emily Scott Assistant Professor, History of Art and Architecture and Environmental Studies, University of Oregon, Portland/Zurich

Moderated by Lara Almarcegui ‘Basilea’ Artist, Rotterdam

What happens to an extraction site once it is no longer of use? Who is responsible for its development and its return to the community? The panelists reflect upon the decision- making and journey behind this transformation.

2pm to 3pm
Artist Talk |The Alberto Burri Case

Bruno Corà President, Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri, Monte Santa Maria Tiberina, Italy
Luca Massimo Barbero Director of the Institute of Art History, Giorgio Cini Foundation, Venice
Philip Rylands Emeritus Director, Peggy Guggenheim Collection Venice, Venice

Moderated by Dr. Thomas Marks Editor, Apollo Magazine, London

Key figures specializing in the work and life of Alberto Burri (1915–1995), come together to speak on his emotive and groundbreaking work, discussing views from intimate firsthand accounts as well as academic perspectives on his existentialist motivations and radical methods.

3pm to 4pm
Art World Talk | Activating Public Spaces

Isabel Lewis ‘Basilea’ Artist, Dancer, Electronic Music Producer, Berlin
Enrique Fontanilles Artist, Basel/Mulhouse/Cazalla de la Sierra, former professor at HEAD, Geneva
Senam Okudzeto Artist, Writer, and Lecturer, Basel/London/New York/Accra

Moderated by Elvira Dyangani Ose Senior Curator, Creative Time, and Lecturer in Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London, London

Three artists address the ways in which their lives and practices create awareness of the active role that we, as citizens, have to intervene within and alter any given urban environment.

4pm to 5pm
Art World Talk | Global or Local – For whom?

Fernanda Brenner Artistic Director, Pivô, São Paulo
Mari Spirito Founding Director, Protocinema, Istanbul/New York
Dana Whabira Founder, Njelele Art Station, Harare, Zimbabwe

Moderated by Alessio Antoniolli Director, Gasworks and Triangle Network, London

Three leaders of art spaces discuss their missions: local versus globalized focus of art spaces. Institutions often look to serve the needs of their local audience while also participating in an international dialogue. Is it more important for art spaces to put their resources behind local art community needs, or is the international discourse more valuable? Is it possible to do both well?

5pm to 6pm
Collector Talk | Starting a Collection

Tom Kümmeke Emerging Art Collector, Zurich
Uli Sigg Patron and Leading Collector of Chinese Contemporary Art, Mauensee, Switzerland

Moderated by Amy Binding Editor in Chief, Independent Collectors, Berlin During a frank conversation, emerging and established

collectors share their firsthand experiences with artists, gallerists, curators, and other collectors. They discuss different ways collections get started, how to navigate various stages of collection growth, and what they find rewarding in supporting artists.

Sunday, June 17

10am to 11:30am

Artist Talk | The Artist and the Gallerist

Kamel Mennour Owner, kamel mennour, Paris/London
Mohamed Bourouissa Artist, Paris

Moderated by Alexie Glass-Kantor Executive Director, Artspace, Sydney

A conversation about the unique relationship between the artist and gallerist. Kamel Mennour speaks with Mohamed Bourouissa about how they met, how they came to work together, and how their working relationship developed.

1pm to 2pm
Conversations on | Messeplatz Techne Techno Tech

Isabel Lewis ‘Basilea’ Artist, Dancer, Electronic Music Producer, Berlin
Claire Tancon Curator, Writer, Researcher, Sharjah Biennial 14 Curator, New Orleans
Catherine Wood Senior Curator International Art (Performance), Tate Modern, London

Moderated by Andrea Lissoni Senior Curator, International Art (Film), Tate Modern, London

This conversation with artist Isabel Lewis focuses on the meaning of contemporary rituals of gathering.

2pm to 3pm
Artist Talk | Different Histories, Different Futures

Nedko Solakov Artist, Sofia
Gianni Jetzer Curator of Art Basel’s Unlimited sector, and Curator-at-Large, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.

The installations in Art Basel’s Unlimited sector share untold stories from multiple perspectives to bring viewers alternate views. Artist and curator come together to discuss presented artworks and how reconsideration of history has the potential to shift the trajectory of our futures.

3pm to 4pm
Artist Talk | Haegue Yang

Haegue Yang Artist, Berlin/Seoul
Ylmaz Dziewior Director, Museum Ludwig, Cologne

A conversation between an artist and a curator on the occasion of Haegue Yang receiving the 2018 Wolfgang Hahn Prize and her first-ever survey exhibition and catalogue raisonné titled ‘ETA 1994–2018’, at The Museum Ludwig, Cologne.