Art Basel is one of the most famous and expensive art events in the art world. This year the best galleries from 35 countries presented the works of about 4000 artists from XX-XXI century. The art fair took place from June 12-17, but on Tuesday and Wednesday one could visit this event only by a special invitation for VIP guests. Specifically on the first day and even in the first few hours the most expensive sales for the whole duration of the fair took place (more than a million dollars for a work of art).
On May 13, the opening day of “Transformation” exhibition in Freiburg (Germany) there were displayed works of a sculptor from Berlin – Karl Menzen. The exhibition opening was supported with music by Holst quartet, followed by the sculptor who shared with the viewers some details of his work.
Museum Fondation Beyeler in the town of Riehen (Switzerland) holds an exhibition of two outstanding representatives of the modernism era: Alberto Giacometti and Francis Bacon.
I distinctly remember the first time that I saw an installation from the Polish artist Alicja Kwade at Art Basel in 2016. I walked around her work for a long time, surprised by the simultaneous static and dynamic of her work “Out of Ousia”. This installation literally was pushing familiar boundaries of reality that were changing and forming together with the movements of the viewer. Relatively simple structure, consisting of a concrete wall, two-sided mirrors, stones and tree branches, shows four dimensions of an object and its reflection in the mirror. Depending on location of the viewer, one can see only one or two ‘sections’ at the same time, and even realizing that the other sides of the objects exist we will never be able to see and perceive this work as a whole.