(12 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Basel, Switzerland – 11 June 2024
1. Various of “Cash Crop” 1984 by Jean-Michel Basquiat, on display at Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Magnus Resch, art market expert:
"Art Basel is like the Super Bowl of the art world. This is really where everyone comes together. There are 300 art fairs in the world. Art Basel in Basel is by far the most relevant. The top collectors, top galleries, top artists, they all come together."
3. Visitors looking at “PUMPKIN” 2018 by Yayoi Kusama on display at Victoria Miro gallery
4. Pan left of visitors walking by art
5. Various of “This is How We Play Together” 2023 by Elmgreen & Dragnet at Massimo De Carlo gallery
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Maike Cruse, director of Art Basel:
"We are now on the second day of Art Basel and we have great people coming, great material in the in the galleries, and already a lot of sales happening. So, we’re very optimistic about this week."
7. Various of “Banc-Salon” 1070-2024 by Jean Dubuffet; visitors sitting
8. Various of “All of Our Days” 2023 by Gideon Appah
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Magnus Resch, art market expert:
"Right now, collectors are hesitant to put their best works on the market because they see that no record prices are broken so frequently as there were two years ago, so they’re holding back on this. It’s just a natural cleaning of the market, where good works are not on offer as frequently because people are hesitant."
10. Various of “Three musicians” 2024 by Tom Sachs
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sean Kelly, gallery owner:
"What you bring to Basel if you want to remain coming is the best of the best. And you keep it all year and you go to your artists, and you get the best work you can from them. You hold it back because that’s what you need to bring to Basel to compete with your colleagues, because everybody else is going to bring the best material."
12. Various of “Ramfeezled Shiggers” 1991 by John Chamberlain at Galerie Karsten Greve
13. Various of “Bloodydrivetrain” 2007 by John Chamberlain
14. Tilt up of “Coal Stack” 2023 by Brian Rochefort
15. Close of “Fixed, Fluid” 2022 by Shahzia Sikander
STORYLINE:
Thousands are flooding Basel’s Messe exhibition center for two days of VIP previews, before doors open to the public Thursday.
Indoors, halls are crammed with more than 280 international galleries, exhibiting everything from paintings and sculpture, to video installations and performance art.
"Art Basel is like the Super Bowl of the art world,” says art market expert Magnus Resch. “This is really where everyone comes together.”
But following two years of post-pandemic growth, a recent report found art market sales slowed in 2023, against a backdrop of high interest rates, inflation and political instability.
Published in March by Art Basel and Swiss investment bank UBS, The Art Market Report 2024 found sales fell by 4 percent year-on-year in 2023, to an estimated $65 billion USD.
Both public auction and dealer sales decreased, with sales particularly thinner at the top end of the market.
"We’ve seen a bit of a slowdown,” says UBS Global Wealth Management’s chief economist Paul Donovan. “Consumers are spending a little bit less this year, at least spending less aggressively.”
But there is still enthusiasm.
Despite a fall in value, the report found transaction volume grew in 2023, increasing by 4 percent on 2022. That uplift, the report said, was driven by sales at lower price levels.
“We have great people coming, great material in the galleries and already a lot of sales happening,” she says.
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