When the Californian art historian Elena Filipovic moved to Basel some nine years ago to take up a new role as director of Switzerland’s oldest institution of contemporary art, Kunsthalle Basel, she was pleasantly surprised by the city. “I am an urban person—I have lived in Los Angeles, Paris, Brussels, Berlin—and so I was terrified when my dream came true, and I got the job,” she says, mentioning that Basel is the size of “an American village.”
But the small city, which is located at the border where Switzerland meets France and Germany, has much to show for itself. “The richness of the cultural offering is so stupendous that it makes you feel like you’re in a huge metropolitan city,” she adds. “If one is interested in culture, this is a place where every single day you have extraordinary artists in town, a really interesting local art scene and museums.”
With almost 40 revered museums and countless galleries, Basel has become the go-to destination for art lovers worldwide. “Every city has the thing that it’s famous for,” says Filipovic. “In Basel’s case, it’s not watches or chocolate, but culture.” Basel is particularly known for its long-standing art institutions, including The Kunstmuseum Basel, which, when established in 1661, became one of the first collections of art accessible to the public in the world. “Even before the Louvre was opened to the public, there was the Kunstmuseum,” she says. The Fondation Beyeler, which features modern and traditional art in Riehen near Basel, is also one of the most visited museums in the country. And Kunsthalle Basel celebrated its 150th anniversary last year; since its opening, Filipovic says, it “has been the kind of place where the young, and the young at heart, gather.”
Since Art Basel began in the city in 1970, it has attracted a wide range of people that transform the city each year. “[Basel] has taken over in a way that can never happen for Frieze New York, Frieze LA, or Paris+ par Art Basel,” Filipovic says. “Those cities are so big, and so many people are doing so many other things, whereas, in Basel, every single citizen is somehow swept into this beautiful vortex of art.”
People also attend the international art fair to see the burgeoning side of the art world, especially at Liste Art Fair Basel, which takes place every June at the same time as Art Basel and predominantly showcases the newcomers in the scene globally. “It’s the place with the youngest galleries, and thus some of the youngest artists get shown,” Filipovic says, noting that, while many of the galleries are still maturing, they are outstanding in uplifting the next generation. “Liste is a really important platform for that and is the feeding ground for the galleries that will grow up to be the big players in Art Basel one day.”
Last year saw the first edition of Basel Social Club, which took place at the Beverly Holz, a 1930s villa in Bruderholz, a suburb-like neighbourhood in the southeast of the city. The project created an environment where professionals could relax by the pool, eat and socialise with others while surrounded by the work of over fifty international and local artists exhibited over three floors and throughout the venue’s garden. This year, the second edition will occur at Franck Factory, a former produce factory ten minutes from the fair showcasing more artists, musical acts, performances and food.
According to Filipovic, even seasoned professionals like herself are surprised by the Basel art scene—and they often find themselves astonished that some items for sale at Art Basel are not already in public collections. “Whether you are an emerging collector, or a curator looking to prospect future artists, or you are simply curious about what the art world is, the very best place you could come to understand these things is Basel,” she says, “It becomes a microcosm of the whole art system.”
