Art Basel 2025: A Fair in Flux

This year’s Art Basel opened with a clear message: adapt or risk irrelevance. At the Unlimited sector’s entrance, “First Choice” visitors faced a market-defining choice—veer left to Félix González-Torres’s 1991 performance work priced at $16 million or right to Yu Nishimura’s €375,000 triptych. The contrast captures the fair’s new reality: collectors want flexibility, lower prices, and curator-driven narratives.

Art Basel is leaning into agility, with global expansions like its upcoming Doha fair and a new “Premiere” sector in Basel focused on ultra-contemporary work. The goal is to maintain relevance despite shaky market confidence.

Danh Võ’s In God We Trust—a wall of chopped wood and steel stars—was acquired for an institutional-quality collection and exemplifies the kind of ambitious work on offer in the Unlimited sector. Though large-scale installations remain popular—such as Kippenberger’s $3M U-Bahn replica or Arlene Shechet’s $1.2M Midnight—story and provenance are becoming more important than size alone.

Curatorial innovation stood out. Gagosian’s booth, curated by Francesco Bonami to mark its 30th year at the fair, featured works by Cattelan, Stingel, Fischer, and Currin. The presentation aimed to merge curatorial thinking with a commercial format. Collectors responded to this contextual approach, with notable attention drawn to Piero Golia’s kinetic Still Life (Rotating device).

Art Basel continues to concentrate the global art world like no other event. While visitors don’t travel to Basel for its culinary scene or views, the fair remains a magnet for decision-makers. In a discreet city where status is muted, bold choices stand out.

By mid-morning on opening day, with drinks already in hand, visitors crossing Katharina Grosse’s spray-painted plaza signaled that Art Basel 2025 had achieved more than just sales. It had positioned itself as a proving ground for the future of the art market.

Photos: André Volk