Design by Hauser, Schwarz

VOLTA9 // Basel’s cutting-edge art fair for new and emerging art

VOLTA9

June 10–15, 2013

Dreispitzhalle
Helsinki-Strasse 5, Gate 13
CH-4142 Münchenstein / Basel

Preview: Monday, June 10, 10 am – 2 pm (by invitation only)

Hours: Monday, June 10, 2 – 7 pm;
Tuesday, June 11 – Saturday, June 15, 10 am – 7 pm

www.voltashow.com

VOLTA, Basel’s platform for cutting-edge art and emerging international talent, lights up the industrial Dreispitz Areal in its ninth edition this June. 74 exhibitors stage contemporary projects of compelling distinction, representing Europe and the Americas, plus the Middle East, South Africa, and East Asia, with 58 galleries returning from previous VOLTA incarnations.

Solo presentations frame VOLTA9‘s focused format, with a third of exhibiting galleries spotlighting a single artist from their rosters. Selections include: Sami Al Turki (Athr Gallery, Jeddah), whose evocative photography was featured at Edge of Arabia (London) and Institut du Monde Arabe (Paris); Manor Grunewald (Galerie Fortlaan 17, Ghent), an upcoming artist-in-residence at Frans Masereel Centrum (Kasterlee) and participant in Young Flemish Masters at Hermitage Amsterdam; Debra Hampton (Gallery Poulsen, Copenhagen), whose mythical collaged drawings are included in the Museum of Modern Art, New York’s permanent collection; light alchemist Leo Villareal (CONNERSMITH., Washington DC), whose grandest-scale-to-date project The Bay Lights dazzled the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge’s 75th anniversary this March as the world’s largest LED light sculpture; Satoru Tamura (TEZUKAYAMA GALLERY, Osaka), whose machine assemblages engaged visitors to Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts (Utsunomiya) and Zachęta National Gallery of Art (Warsaw); and Uzbekistani installation and performance artist Said Atabekov (Laura Bulian Gallery, Milan), featured in the 2011 Venice Biennale (Central Asian Pavilion), Ostalgia at the New Museum (New York) and Migrasophia, the debut curatorial exhibition and public program at the Maraya Art Centre (Sharjah).

Hamish Fulton (espaivisor – Galería Visor, Valencia) creates a signature Limited Edition for VOLTA9. The London-based “Walking Artist” has participated in numerous museum and gallery exhibitions throughout his illustrious career, including Ends of the Earth (MOCA, Los Angeles, touring to Haus der Kunst, Munich) in 2012, and A Trip From Here to There, currently on view at MoMA, New York. In Fulton’s own words: “my self-imposed rule is: I only make art about the particular walks that I have experienced. This means: every artwork I make must include a walk text. Why words? Words can exist in any size and are independent of any one medium or language. Walks are the kilometre stones of my life. Each walk marks the flow of time between birth and death”.

Several special projects contribute an additional layer of dynamism to VOLTA9‘s curated booth concepts. HilgerBROTKunsthalle (Vienna) unveils Advertising Tombstone Wall (no. 3, Tell Me Everything), Cameron Platter‘s carved Jacaranda wood monolith outside the front entrance of Dreispitzhalle. The engraved lettering of this weighty sculpture mimics cheaply made paper pamphlets advertising promises of healing, simultaneously foregrounding and satirizing societal values in his homeland KwaZulu-Natal. Platter is participating in the South African Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale. Targeting South African economics, first-time VOLTA exhibitor SMAC Art Gallery (Stellenbosch/Cape Town) selected their solo artist Ed Young to design a bold, text-based mural MY OTHER RIDE IS YOUR MOM for the fair entryway. The irreverent slogan recalls bumper stickers adorning government Hummers and private recreational vehicles in South Africa, a sense of fiscal pride for certain citizens, and accents Young’s works in SMAC’s booth.

The Schaulager, Münchenstein/Basel’s open-warehouse contemporary art museum designed by renowned Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, reopened in March with British video artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen‘s expansive mid-career survey. A 10-minute walk from Dreispitzhalle on Ruchfeldstrasse, the Schaulager signals another must-see destination for VOLTA9 visitors this June.

VOLTA9 at Dreispitzhalle is connected by direct, complimentary shuttles running to and from Art Basel and LISTE, for effortless transit between fairs. Plus, VOLTA9 is only 7 minutes from the central train station SBB by public transport, 9 minutes via the Tram 10 or 11 from Bankverein (Kunsthalle/Kunstmuseum), or 5 minutes by car. With a 450-place car park one block away, parking is trouble-free. All travel information can be found on our website.

VOLTA was founded in Basel in 2005 by dealers Kavi Gupta (Chicago), Ulrich Voges (Frankfurt), and Friedrich Loock (Berlin).

more. www.voltashow.com