VOLTA11
June 15–20, 2015
Markthalle
Basel
VOLTA NY
March 5–8, 2015
Pier 90
New York
info [at] voltashow.com
VOLTA, Basel’s renowned art fair for new art and its solo-project, invitational fair, VOLTA NY, is pleased to announce its 2015 schedule.
The application for VOLTA11, the eleventh edition of the fair that will take place during Art Basel Week from June 15 through 20, is now live.
Prospective and returning exhibitors are encouraged to follow Nigel Tufnel’s lead in the cult film This Is Spinal Tap and “Go to eleven!,” a motto reflecting VOLTA‘s desire to keep pushing boundaries. Now a fully fledged tween, VOLTA has retained its trademark relaxed character, yet is known as a show where being less formal does not translate into an art-school aesthetic. Maturing into its own skin, VOLTA11 continues to be a urbane, boutique event where discoveries spark for both new emerging artists as well as more mature positions hitherto overlooked by market forces.
VOLTA11 will return under the airy rotunda of Markthalle, the iconic domed building in Basel’s city centre that hosted the fair’s decade anniversary in 2014 to major acclaim, confirming its international regard as a dynamic hotbed for artistic discoveries. 2014 saw a renaissance of the Basel platform with highly regarded returning exhibitors and new additions, together bringing back a sizzling energy.
VOLTA NY is also cranking it up with a new location at Pier 90 in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. The fair will be held during Armory Arts Week from Thursday, March 5, through Sunday, March 8.
“Having celebrated our tenth anniversary in Basel by moving to a more mature and central venue, we felt that in New York it was also time to take the platform up a notch,” enthused VOLTA Artistic Director Amanda Coulson. ”I’m more than excited to announce that VOLTA NY is settling in comfortably alongside its sister fair into the more established and accessible venue of Pier 90, leveling the playing field and giving our galleries even better visibility and access to the crossover crowds already attending both fairs. As the scrappy baby in the family, however, we intend to maintain our different vision for presentations and layout and bring the inimitable VOLTA flair to the venue.”
The new venue positions VOLTA NY adjacent to The Armory Show, its sister fair and the focal point of Armory Arts Week. Moving to Pier 90 energizes a synergy between both fairs while retaining VOLTA NY‘s distinctive identity as New York’s established showcase for new and salient contemporary art positions within a curated, solo-project format—the foundation of VOLTA‘s mission since its 2008 stateside debut.
Single-artist booths functioning more closely to proper exhibitions rather than traditional art-fair presentations proliferate the contemporary art fair scene, from Independent Projects, the November edition of New York’s Independent art fair, to Frieze’s Focus section and solo sections at such international fairs as Art Brussels and ARCO Madrid.
VOLTA NY has made solo projects its mandate and foundation from its inception in 2008, and indeed the original VOLTA Basel fair continues to expand solo-artist projects within its overall curated booth backdrop. In both settings, at New York’s Pier 90 and Basel’s Markthalle, VOLTA endeavors to refocus the art fair experience back to its most fundamental point: the art itself.
