June 16–21, 2014
Preview by invitation only: Monday, June 16, 10am–2pm
Public vernissage: Monday, June 16, 2–8pm
Public Hours:
Tuesday, June 17–Saturday, June 21, noon–8pm
Closed on Sunday
Markthalle
Viaduktstrasse 10
Basel
VOLTA celebrates its decade edition as Basel’s renowned art fair for new and emerging art from June 16 to 21. VOLTA returns to Markthalle, the historic domed landmark situated in the heart of Basel and former venue of VOLTA5 in 2009. This year, beneath Markthalle’s recently renovated rotunta, 68 exhibitors from six continents converge to mount a compelling discourse of contemporary projects, including over 50 galleries from previous Basel editions and featuring some of VOLTA‘s distinguished ‘alumni’ galleries.
Two returning exhibitors have participated in every VOLTA Basel edition, along with VOLTA NY‘s debut 2008 fair: Galería Enrique Guerrero (Mexico City) delivers an of-the-moment survey of new works from its international program, including Colombian sculptors Daniel Gómez and Miler Lagos, plus Czech figurative alchemist Richard Stipl and Mexico City-based photographer Daniela Edburg; while David Risley Gallery (Copenhagen) stages a summary of gallery greats, including Swedish narrative painter Anna Bjerger, effusive Pop scavenger Alex Da Corte, and the inimitable Keith Tyson, winner of the 2002 Turner Prize.
Plus, other ‘graduated’ and recurring exhibitors from pre-Markthalle iterations each contribute salient selections to VOLTA10: Galerie Jochel Hempel (Leipzig/Berlin, VOLTA1) juxtaposes 17th-century masterpieces from the Rusche Collection with new works by six gallery artists shown at VOLTA over the years; Pierogi (Brooklyn, VOLTA2) conceives a multigenerational dialogue in four voices, anchored by expressive drawings by downtown iconoclast Kim Jones—whose expansive career includes Pacific Standard Time (MoCA, Los Angeles), the 2010 Biennale of Sydney, and the 2007 Venice Biennale’s curated group exhibition—along with works on paper by David Scher, photography by young Berlin-based artist Nadja Bournonville, and Patrick Jacobs‘ signature mesmerizing lenticular vitrines; new paintings from Op Art pioneer Bridget Riley focalizes Green on Red‘s (Dublin, VOLTA2) project, which also features Irish talent Caoimhe Kilfeather, Caroline McCarthy, and esteemed lens-based installation artist Gerard Byrne, who represented Ireland at the 2007 Venice Biennale; as well as salient statements from galleries Michael Janssen (Berlin/Singapore, VOLTA4), Ethan Cohen New York (New York, VOLTA2), Samsøn (Boston, VOLTA4), Kleindienst (Leipzig, VOLTA4), AKINCI (Amsterdam, VOLTA2), V1 Gallery (Copenhagen, VOLTA3); and Cokkie Snoei (Rotterdam, VOLTA2), who stages a solo presentation by young Dutch artist Kim van Norren, whose current color geometric abstraction series intermingles ‘light’ and ‘dark’ quotations.
Solo projects and two-artist dialogues form the foundation for VOLTA’s platform as a boutique and focused art-viewing experience. Highlights at VOLTA10 include Brenna Youngblood (Honor Fraser, Los Angeles), whose mixed-media solo survey Loss Prevention recently opened at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; a vibrant discourse on form, figure, and color between young Berlin-based artist Peter Feiler and New York’s Ryan McGinness (presented by Galerie Ron Mandos, Amsterdam); Athi-Patra Ruga (WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town), who performed The Elder of Azania in conjunction with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s current group exhibition Public Intimacy: Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa and co-represented South Africa in the nation’s pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale; Frohawk Two Feathers (Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York), presenting an illustrated retelling of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus within his critically lauded Frenglish Empire narrative; a pairing of London-based video artist Greta Alfaro with young Peruvian Conceptualist Andrea Canepa (winner of Fundación Caja Madrid’s 2014 Premio Generación Award) by Rosa Santos (Valencia); Farley Aguilar (Spinello Projects, Miami), featuring new ink-on-mylar compositions from the self-taught Nicaragua-born, Miami-based artist’s dynamic series “The Veil”; new carved-wood portraiture by Congolese powerhouse Aimé Mpane (NOMAD, Brussels), winner of the 2012 Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Prize and recipient of the 2006 DAK’ART Biennale’s critics award; and life-size Japanese urushi lacquer and nihonga pigment figurative sculpture by Tomotaka Yasui (MA2 Gallery, Tokyo), headliner of Meguro Address: Artist in Urban Life at Meguro Museum of Art (Tokyo).
VOLTA10 at Markthalle is located steps from Basel’s main train station SBB and is five stops from Art Basel and LISTE (Tram Line 2, direction Binningen). Additionally, several underground public car parks are located within proximity to Markthalle. All travel information can be found online.
VOLTA was founded in Basel in 2005 by dealers Kavi Gupta (Chicago), Ulrich Voges (Frankfurt), and Friedrich Loock (Berlin).
A full list of exhibitors can be viewed online.
