LISTE 08 - THE YOUNG ART FAIR IN BASEL

Magnus Arnason, Mucus, 2006. Gallery Dvergur (Gallery Dwarf). Reykjavik. Courtesy of the artist.

By: David Schmidt

For the 13^th time Basel welcomes LISTE, a fair focused on promoting young artists and new galleries. Each year, since its inauguration in 1996, LISTE has organized, parallel to Art Basel, a dynamic exhibition that offers space to artists 40 years of age or younger and galleries in existence for five years or less, thus opening the doors to the novel and the experimental.

Throughout its history, LISTE has defined trends in the panorama of contemporary art and has been a platform for many young creators from around the world, who, in this way, make their debut on the international art scene.

This year the fair will take place from June 3 - 8 and will include the participation of 64 galleries, from 22 countries, which were selected through a rigorous selection process. More than half of the 300 participating artists are making their international debut on this occasion. Galleries included are: Jocelyn Wolff (Paris), Peres Projects (Berlin / Los Angeles), Sorcha Dallas (Glasgow), Herald St. (London), among others. Of note is the exhibition of the Johann König gallery (Berlin), which presents artist, Michael Sailstorfer, who takes utilitarian objects and combines them, thereby producing other ironically dysfunctional forms. On this occasion he will exhibit “D-IBRB,” in which he assembled airline fragments and placed them in the branches of a tree as a reflection on the act of re-signifying and re-functionalizing. Francesca Kaufmann (Milan) will exhibit the pictorial work of Pierpaolo Campanini, in which the artist in a hyperrealistic way reproduces his strange sculptures, which were created by combining fragments of different types of objects in order to later faithfully reproduce them on canvas.

A dozen new galleries will appear for the first time at LISTE, among them, from Latin America, Traschi (Santiago, Chile) and Proyectos Monclova (Mexico). Also part of this group of debutants are: Elizabeth Dee (New York), Overduin and Kite (Los Angeles), Sandra Bürgel (Berlin), schnittraum/lutz becker (Cologne), Rodeo (Istanbul), Kelkx and Francesca Minini (both from Milan), ProjecteSD (Barcelona), Ancient & Modern (London) and Layr Wuestenhagen (Vienna), which will exhibit the beautiful sculptures of Tillman Kaiser. Kaiser appropriates materials usually considered non-sculptural like cardboard to create works filled with a moving poetic force.

LISTE will welcome three institutions as Special Guests in its 2008 edition: the center for electronic media [plug-in]; the dock project, which is an initiative of Kaskadenkondensator, a space that promotes local artists and Kunsthaus Baselland, an institution located in Basel focused on the promotion of contemporary artists through innovative experimental projects. The offering of [plug-in] stands out within the projects included in the Special Guest program with the presentation of the Japanese duo, exonemo, formed by Kensuke Sembo and Yae Akaiwa in 1996. Throughout its career, this duo has documented in depth the growing influence of electronics in our society. “DanmatsuMouse,” the piece that this duo of creators will exhibit on this occasion deals with the act of destroying a mouse through various means. The mouse leaves behind it a kind of posthumous declaration in the form of data recorded by a video camera and by a computer. The act of destruction can be repeated and simulated on any computer and the demo can even be downloaded from the Internet (http://exonemo.com/DanmatsuMouse/indexE.html), so that it can be witnessed on multiple occasions. Thus, as access to the piece is infinitely expanded, a somewhat morbid connection is created between the work and the viewer’s consumption of it.

Since its 10^th edition the fair has also included a curatorial project devoted to performance. The following artists or artists’ collectives will participate in this forum: cinemari from Brazil (comprised of Cinthia Marcelle and Marilá Dardot); Stefanie Trojan from Germany; the A Kassen group from Denmark (comprised of Christian Bretton-Meyer, Marten Steen Hebsgaard, Søren and Tommy Petersen); Falke Pisano (Holland); Reto Pulfer (Switzerland) and the collaborative project realized by the choreographer, Hideto Heshiki, and the Swiss saxophonist, Christoph Gallio, who will on this occasion present the piece, “Blow and Go.” Each artist will improvise in unison, exploring the boundaries that traditionally define space and free improvisation, as much in the realm of dance as in that of music. Magnús Arnason, from Iceland, is another of the participating artists in this forum. His work was able to be appreciated by the public in Miami, when his installation “Polymorph” was shown at Locust Projects in the Wynwood Art District, during the summer of 2007. His performative work features horror and mysticism; enigmatic characters are immersed in environments where strange creatures and organic fluids abound. It is a work that subliminally urges the spectator to confront his own phobias and fears.

With a varied program of activities and a novel offering of high quality, LISTE is an event that enriches Basel’s cultural panorama, along with other fairs that have followed in its footsteps like Scope Basel, Bâlelatina and VOLTA. Its location in the center of the city, very close to Art Basel’s facilities, makes LISTE a required stop for collectors, curators, museum directors and lovers of art from throughout the world who arrive seeking new talent. As is the case every year, this fair promises its visitors a fresh look at contemporary art and many valuable discoveries.