“I don't trust people who don't laugh.” - Carlos Cruz-Diez
The days are getting longer, the sun is getting hotter ànd Art Basel is done and dusted so we know that the contemporary art world will slowly go into “hibernation”. Or as the Instagram meme explains: “gallery directors excuse themselves to go spend the entire summer in St. Tropez to ‘develop clients’”.
Last week I covered my 4 favourite artworks at the fair. If you haven’t read the article yet, here is your chance to do so! This week I want to tackle the cool and unique sector of Unlimited. It is Art Basel’s exhibition platform for projects that transcend the classical art fair stand. The space is gigantic! 16000 m² to be exact. It includes large-scale sculptures, wall paintings, video projections, photographic series, installations, and live performances.
In this edition 76 projects were installed in the space (all of them also up for sale!). It was very challenging to make a selection, but I managed to make a shortlist. I categorised the four projects in two continents and I deliberately embedded pictures of the installations with people or myself into them so you can imagine their enormous scales! It was such a fun and entertaining experience. The big smiles in the pictures are a testimony of that.
Latin-America
Jesus Rafael Soto (1923-2005, Venezuela)
Soto was one of the strongest voices in op-art, an art movement in the 60’s that played with optical illusion. Soto made ‘kinetic’ sculptures, meaning that they move and even make sounds when wind is gushing through them. Sometimes it seems as if you can see right through the artwork, but from a different angle, the ball of metals becomes solid. Definitely check out the video below to experience this ‘magic’.
Carlos Cruz-Diez (1923-2019, Venezuela)
The op-art movement had another strong voice in Venezuela: Carlos Cruz-Diez. The artist was fascinated with how different colours influence our moods and also impact each other. In this immersive artwork in Unlimited, you become part of the geometric art installation: you can sit on the cubes and even play with the gigantic balloons that bounce around in the room filled with blacklight beams.
Africa
Yinka Shonibare (1962, Nigeria)
The African Library is a tribute to the fight for independence across the African continent. It celebrates the achievements since liberation. The installation also includes a website where you can learn more about the people named on the covers of the books who were instrumental in achieving independence in their country. Thousands of books are covered in fabrics symbolising African identity and they highlight the aspirations of a new, independent and unified Africa.
Serge Attukwei Clottey (1985, Ghana)
And last but not least, I loved the installation by the young Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey who uses every-day kinds of materials to create his art including gallons, car tyres and wood. For his installation Sea Never Dries, the artist (together with the support of the local community) cut up yellow gallon containers and bound them back together to create these gigantic tapestry waves. The containers are normally used to collect and transport water and car fuel. Both resources are very limited in his country. I think it is really fascinating how he links the concept of shortage with the abundance of the sea.