Developed in close dialogue with galleries, Basel Exclusive is a new initiative conceived to strengthen one of Art Basel in Basel’s defining qualities: the opportunity to encounter outstanding works in person, and at the moment they are first brought to market.
Participating exhibitors from Art Basel’s main sector – Galleries – will reserve at least one major work, a focused selection of works, or in some cases an entire presentation from all pre-fair previews, online viewing rooms, and pre-sales activity, unveiling them publicly for the first time at the fair’s VIP opening on Tuesday, June 16, during the First Choice Preview hour. These works will be prominently presented within booths and clearly identified on-site as part of the initiative.
Launching with a first wave of participating leading international galleries, Basel Exclusive reasserts the primacy of the live fair moment at a time when market activity increasingly begins earlier and across multiple channels. By concentrating fresh material at the opening of the show, the initiative heightens anticipation, strengthens the value of first access, and creates renewed momentum for galleries, collectors, and institutions alike.
On the launch of Basel Exclusive, Vincenzo de Bellis, Chief Artistic Officer and Global Director of Art Basel Fairs, said:‘Basel has always set the benchmark for quality, ambition, and market leadership. Basel Exclusive builds on those strengths in a way that reflects how collecting habits and sales cycles are evolving today. By creating a concentrated moment of first access at the opening of the fair, the initiative supports our galleries in presenting works with maximum impact, strengthens the experience for collectors and institutions, and reinforces Basel’s position at the center of global art market.’
A first selection of participating galleries in Basel Exclusive includes a distinguished group of leading international galleries, including Galerie Chantal Crousel, Gomide & Co, Massimodecarlo, Van de Weghe, Sadie Coles HQ, Galleria Continua, Lévy Gorvy Dayan, Mennour, Hauser & Wirth, Pace Gallery, Gagosian, David Zwirner, Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, and Xavier Hufkens, with additional presentations to be announced in the lead-up to the fair.
Unlimited is Art Basel’s pioneering platform for works that transcend the traditional art fair booth and remains one of the defining experiences of the Basel show. Since its inception, the sector has provided galleries and artists with an unrivalled stage for works of exceptional scale, complexity, and ambition.
The 2026 edition brings together 59 major projects presented by 66 international galleries. Curated for the first time by Ruba Katrib, Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at MoMA PS1, this year’s edition foregrounds artists whose practices engage urgently with the political, social, ecological, and spatial conditions of the present. The presentation re-examines conventional understandings of scale by considering how major sculptural and spatial works can be encountered more directly, intentionally, and with less mediation than in other settings.
Ruba Katrib, Curator of Unlimited, said:
‘This year’s Unlimited brings together art historical heavyweights alongside new works, some created specifically for the section. Spanning the postwar period to the present, the artists respond, across varied aesthetic registers, to political and social upheavals. Their works reveal the canny ways artists attune to details, subtleties, and conditions that often become legible only in retrospect. The resulting dialogues are revealing and, at times, unexpected.’
Art Basel’s Unlimited Night will return on Thursday, June 18, providing visitors the chance to experience the sector alongside a special performance during extended opening hours.
Spanning monumental sculpture, immersive installation, moving image, performance, and large-scale environments, Unlimited offers visitors a rare opportunity to encounter some of the most ambitious artistic production of our time.
Parcours, Art Basel’s acclaimed public art sector, returns in 2026 under the curatorship of Stefanie Hessler, Director of Swiss Institute (SI), New York. Dedicated to site-specific installations, sculptures, interventions, and performances situated in public spaces and historic locations within the close vicinity of Art Basel, the 2026 edition will bring together 21 projects presented by 30 galleries.
Through installations, interventions in public space, and site-responsive commissions unfolding across outdoor venues, empty apartments, shops, and historic sites., Parcours augments the city-wide engagement of Art Basel in Basel and the fair’s longstanding commitment to presenting contemporary art beyond the conventional exhibition format.
Stefanie Hessler, Curator of Parcours, said:‘Public space – from the commons to architectures of civic life – is central to conversations around how we live together. This year’s presentation explores the promise and complexity of “conviviality” through artistic interventions that extend into the fabric of the city of Basel. Bringing together a majority of new and recent works with key historic positions, the sector addresses ecology and labor, artistic community and intergenerational transmission, mythologies and systems of valuation underpinning economic and political formations through a multifaceted urban choreography.’
For the full list of presentations, please visit this link.
Spanning early modern masters to newly produced contemporary works, the presentations reflect Basel’s distinctive ability to bring together historical depth, curatorial rigor, and market relevance in a single setting.
From avant-garde material to postwar landmarks, a number of galleries present tightly curated selections of historically significant works, including:
Across the halls, galleries present new work and cross-generational dialogues that reflect some of the most closely watched practices today. Highlights include:
Opening in close proximity to the 61st Venice Biennale, Art Basel in Basel extends the momentum of the global art calendar, creating a dynamic exchange between institutional discourse and the market.
A number of artists representing national pavilions and special presentations in Venice will be visible across the fair. These include Lubaina Himid (United Kingdom, Hollybush Gardens), Yto Barrada (Morocco, Sfeir-Semler Gallery), Sung Tieu (Germany, Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Emalin, Trautwein Herleth), Oriol Vilanova (Spain, Galería Elba Benítez), Chiara Camoni (Italy, Andrew Kreps Gallery; SpazioA), Dana Awartani (Saudi Arabia, Lisson Gallery), Isabel Nolan(Ireland, Kerlin Gallery), and Ei Arakawa-Nash (Japan, Taka Ishii Gallery). Additional overlaps extend to artists such as Abbas Akhavan (Canada, Catriona Jeffries), Otobong Nkanga (Nigeria, Lisson Gallery), Wangechi Mutu (Kenya, Gladstone Gallery; Victoria Miro), Nolan Oswald Dennis (South Africa, Goodman Gallery), Maja Malou Lyse (Denmark, Nicolai Wallner), Sara Flores (Peru, White Cube), and Ranti Bam (Nigeria, James Cohan), further reinforcing the strong alignment between institutional presentations in Venice and the gallery landscape in Basel.
This dialogue is underscored by the presence at Art Basel of numerous artists participating in the Biennale’s main exhibition, including Zoe Leonard, Carrie Yamaoka, Kader Attia, Álvaro Barrington, Nick Cave, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Sohrab Hura, Michael Joo, Dan Lie, Guadalupe Maravilla, Tammy Nguyen, Kaloki Nyamai, Walid Raad, Guadalupe Rosales, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Kennedy Yanko, and Gala Porras-Kim, among others.
Together, these intersections highlight Art Basel’s role as a key platform where the narratives introduced in Venice continue to unfold, offering audiences the opportunity to encounter leading contemporary artists across both institutional and commercial contexts.
For the full list of presenting exhibitors in Galleries, please visit this link.
Kabinett offers exhibitors in the main sector the opportunity to stage curated presentations within their booths, creating focused contexts for individual artists, historical positions, and tightly conceived thematic projects. This year, over 25 exhibitors will present artists spanning modern masters, overlooked historical figures, and cutting-edge contemporary voices, marking the largest edition of the sector to date, and reaffirming its role as a platform for connoisseurship, rediscovery, and concentrated encounters with exceptional works.
For the full list of presenting artists and galleries in Kabinett, visit this link.
Feature is Art Basel in Basel’s sector for rigorously conceived historical presentations, offering visitors concentrated encounters with twentieth-century artists whose practices continue to resonate today. Bringing together 16 exhibitors presenting 22 artists, the sector spans canonical figures, overlooked pioneers, and geographically expansive narratives that reflect the fair’s longstanding commitment to scholarship, rediscovery, and exceptional historical works. Five galleries join Art Basel in Basel for the first time in this year’s sector: Galería Guillermo de Osma (Madrid), Galerie Kaléidoscope (Paris), Galerie Cécile Fakhoury (Dakar, Paris), ML fine art (Milan), and Kotaro Nukaga (Tokyo).
For the full list of presenting artists and galleries in Feature, visit this link.
Introduced in 2025 and expanded for 2026, Premiere is Art Basel in Basel’s sector dedicated to recent artistic production, offering exhibitors a platform for tightly curated presentations ranging from solo projects to thematic presentations of up to three artists. The sector is designed to give greater visibility to galleries operating in the dynamic middle of the market, enabling them to foreground artists with growing institutional recognition, established mid-career practices, and significant new bodies of work for the fair’s global audience. This year, Premiere grows from 10 to 17 exhibitors, with 34 artists represented, underscoring the sector’s strategic relevance and the strong commercial and institutional traction it has generated since its debut.
Premiere also welcomes three first-time exhibitors to the fair: Magenta Plains (New York), Öktem Aykut (Istanbul), and Galería Ehrhardt Flórez (Madrid). Selma Feriani Gallery (London, Tunis) and Lars Friedrich (Berlin) return to the sector following its participation in the inaugural 2025 edition.
For the full list of presenting galleries and artists in Premiere, visit this link.
Statements is Art Basel in Basel’s sector dedicated to bold solo presentations by emerging artists, offering collectors, curators, and institutions concentrated encounters with some of today’s most compelling new practices. Long established as a launchpad for artists at pivotal moments in their careers, it foregrounds ambitious commissions, immersive installations, and sharply defined individual positions. This year, nine of the 18 exhibitors make their Art Basel in Basel debut, reflecting Statements’ continued role as a key point of entry for the next generation of international galleries.
For the full list of presenting artists and galleries in Statements, visit this link.
Spread across both floors of Hall 2, Edition brings together seven leading international galleries and publishers dedicated to editioned works, prints, and multiples, underscoring the enduring vitality of printmaking as a site of experimentation, collaboration, and access within contemporary art.
This year’s sector spans postwar masters and contemporary practices, with presentations by galleries including knust kunz gallery editions, Cristea Roberts Gallery, STPI, Gemini G.E.L., Carolina Nitsch, Susan Sheehan Gallery, and René Schmitt. Highlights include Gemini G.E.L.’s 60th anniversary presentation, reflecting decades of collaboration with artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Julie Mehretu; Carolina Nitsch’s cross-medium program featuring Louise Bourgeois and Simone Leigh; and Susan Sheehan Gallery’s focused selection of rare postwar works on paper by figures including Helen Frankenthaler and Jasper Johns.
For the full list of presenting galleries in Edition, visit this link.
The Art Basel Awards – presented in partnership with BOSS – return to Basel, signaling the Awards’ longer-term ambition to not only recognize excellence but actively shape artistic production and discourse on a global scale. As part of the 2025 class, Gold Awardees Nairy Baghramian and Ibrahim Mahama will unveil two major new public works in Basel this June, marking the first time that commissions stemming from the Awards program premiere in the very city where their recognition first took shape.
Nairy Baghramian presents an elaborate site-responsive installation, Modèle vivant (S’empilant) (2026), on the Messeplatz. Conceived for the square’s fountain, the work unfolds as a rhythmic assembly of four large-scale sculptural groupings that extend her distinctive artistic language, combining biomorphic forms with geometric support structures. Abstract, yet highly allusive aluminum casts, painted in a soft lavender tone, appear stacked and precariously balanced on polished steel armatures traversing the fountain without interrupting its water features. Next to it stands a bench-like pedestal covered, like one of the armatures, by tiles and swarming with (photographic imprints of) flies. Evoking multipart bodies in a state of respite, suspension, and becoming, Baghramian’s intervention subtly reconsiders the relationship between sculpture, site, self and spectator within the dynamic context of Art Basel in Basel.
Ibrahim Mahama will present The God of Small Things (2026), an ambitious sculptural and spatial installation on Münsterplatz. Taking its title from The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, the work draws on rubber residues sourced from a factory established in Ghana during the post-independence. Rather than a singular monumental form, the installation unfolds as a constellation of suspended sculptural elements arranged to create an immersive spatial environment, transforming the historic square into a site of material and political reflection. Through its scale and physical presence, the project not only activates the public realm but also situates these histories within a broader global context, offering a powerful and timely intervention.
The 2026 Art Basel Awards medalists will be celebrated at an event at Basel’s historic town hall, the Rathaus, during Art Basel’s Swiss edition. A selection of medalists will headline a public, artist-led Conversations series, offering audiences direct access to some of the most influential voices shaping contemporary culture today, including Arthur Jafa, Maria Magdalena Campos Pons, Mercedes Vilardell, and Precious Okoyomon.
For more information about the 2025 Art Basel Awards Gold Medalists, follow this link.
For the full list of recently announced 2026 Art Basel Awards Medalists, please visit this link.
The Art Basel Shop offers a curated extension of the show, bringing together artist-designed products, limited editions, and exclusive collaborations that reflect the spirit and creativity of the global art world. Conceived as both a destination and a point of discovery, it invites visitors to engage with Art Basel beyond the exhibition halls.
Now in its third edition, Zero 10—Art Basel’s global initiative dedicated to art of the digital era—makes its debut at Art Basel’s flagship fair with an expanded, open format curated by award-winning artist Trevor Paglen and digital art strategist Eli Scheinman. Located in the Event Hall on Messeplatz, alongside Art Basel Conversations, the initiative will feature its largest presentation to date, with 20 exhibitors showcasing a compelling selection of artists at the forefront of digital artistic practices.
Zero 10 reflects Art Basel's ongoing commitment to artistic practices shaped by digital culture and their growing significance to the contemporary art landscape. Following successful editions during Art Basel Miami Beach 2025 and Art Basel Hong Kong 2026, its European debut in Switzerland expands the initiative’s curatorial scope while deepening dialogue among artists, institutions, collectors, new and existing audiences, and digitally native communities.
Trevor Paglen, 2026 LG Guggenheim Award recipient and MacArthur Fellow, joins digital art strategist Eli Scheinman to co-curate Basel's edition of Zero 10 around the anchor theme The Condition. Examining life in a world saturated by digital imagery, computational systems and artificial intelligence, the presentation brings together historical and contemporary voices across digital, generative, and media art.
Noah Horowitz, CEO, Art Basel, said: “The art market is expanding, and the audiences driving that expansion are digitally native, globally connected, and looking for platforms that speak their language. Zero 10 at our Swiss flagship is our most ambitious answer to that challenge yet – a clear signal of our commitment to digital art as a cornerstone of our go-forward strategy — not a trend to observe, but a direction to lead. We are particularly honored to inaugurate Zero 10 in Basel hand-in-hand with Trevor Paglen, a pioneering artist trusted equally by the institutional art world and digital communities.”
Trevor Paglen, Co-curator, Zero 10, Art Basel 2026, said: “Looking across the last 50 years of instruction-based and computational work, from postwar experimentalism through today’s generative practices, I see a continuous thread: a body of work that understands the digital as a medium with its own properties, possibilities, and demands. The showcase becomes an intergenerational conversation about what it means to be alive in the digital era, led by artists who were thinking seriously about these questions long before the rest of the world caught up.”
Zero 10’s third edition features 20 exhibitors, among them long-standing Art Basel galleries Hauser & Wirth (Zurich, New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Somerset, St. Moritz, Gstaad, Basel, Menorca, Chillida Leku, Monaco, Hong Kong), Marian Goodman (New York, Paris, Los Angeles), Andrew Kreps Gallery (New York), Max Estrella (Madrid), Almine Rech (Brussels, Paris, New York, Shanghai, Monaco, Gstaad), Esther Schipper (Paris, Berlin, Seoul) and Sprüth Magers (Berlin, London, Los Angeles, New York); and leading exhibitors with dedicated digital art programs, including ArtMeta, Art Blocks, Asprey Studio (Kent), bitforms gallery (New York), eastcontemporary (Milan), Fellowship (London, Marrakech, Porto Cervo, Los Angeles), Gazelli Art House (London, Baku), Interface Gallery (Breda), OFFICE IMPART (Berlin), Galerie Oniris (Rennes), Upstream Gallery (Amsterdam) and Nguyen Wahed (New York, London); as well as the first-time participation of a leading research institution: HEK (Haus der Elektronischen Künste; House of Electronic Arts) (Basel). Together, these presentations extend the dialogue beyond the traditional booth model and broaden the range of artistic voices, historical interpretations, technological mediums, and experiential formats through which digital culture is approached today.
Art Basel’s Conversations series presents stimulating panel discussions on topics concerning the global contemporary art scene
Art Basel in Basel 2026 will present a dynamic and artist-led Conversations program, offering unprecedented access to some of the most inspiring voices in visual art and beyond. Centered on direct dialogue and critical exchange, this year’s program foregrounds artists and cultural leaders in intimate and thought-provoking formats.
Highlights include a series of one-on-one interviews with the Art Basel Awards 2026 medalists, featuring Arthur Jafa, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Farah Al Qasimi, Diego Marcon, Kulapat Yantrassast, and Precious Okoyomon. These conversations provide rare insight into the practices and perspectives of some of today’s most influential artists.
The program also features a special Artist Premiere with Nairy Baghramian in conversation with Kunstmuseum Basel Director Elena Filipovic, coinciding with Baghramian’s Messeplatz project. Additional artist dialogues include Lawrence Abu Hamdan in conversation with philanthropist and Art Basel Awards medalist Mercedes Vilardell.
Addressing key industry questions, the panel “What is the secret behind gallery longevity?” brings together leading gallerists Márcia Fortes of Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Claes Nordenhake of Galerie Nordenhake, and Karen Jenkins-Johnson of Jenkins-Johnson. Moderated by Ben Luke, host of The Art Newspaper’s The Week in Art podcast, the discussion will explore how galleries sustain and evolve over time.
For 2026, the Conversations program will take place in a new auditorium located in the Eventhalle, providing an enhanced setting for dialogue and exchange.
On Saturday, 20 June 2026, 10:00-17:00 in Hall 1.1 of the fairgrounds, art.klub presents Warehouse Artefacts, an immersive experience by Thomas Bangalter, Julian Charrière and Rampa, staged as a deconstructed dance floor that brings together transmissions from both political history and underground culture. From 18:00-23:00, the installation unfolds into a rave with a DJ set by Rampa and Special Guest. The night continues from 22:00-06:00 with after.art.klub at Nordstern Basel, with music by Desiree, Jimi Jules, and Yare. Warehouse Artefacts is produced by Nordstern Basel, and presented in cooperation with Art Basel and Fondation Beyeler.
Tickets for the evening program (18:00-23:00) are available now at https://www.artklub.ch/
Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager presents the guest performance Das Weinen (Das Wähnen) based on texts by Dieter Roth, directed by Christoph Marthaler at the Schauspielhaus of Theater Basel from June 17 to 21 (guest performance Schauspielhaus Zurich/Weiterspielen Productions).
The Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager presents the guest performance Das Weinen (Das Wähnen) at the Schauspielhaus (Theater Basel) on five successive evenings during Art Basel week, from Wednesday, June 17, to Sunday June 21. In this production, Christoph Marthaler brings texts by the German-Swiss artist Dieter Roth (1930–1998) to life in a pharmacy setting, where they touch the heart, kidneys, stomach, and intestines - even the tear ducts are affected, as Roth wrote what he called a “sea of tears.” Now, in a decidedly unsentimental manner, five fabulous pharmacists and a wondrous customer base in this sea. The prescription they write for life is a poem.
Works by Dieter Roth form a focal point in the collection of the Emanuel Hoffmann Foundation, which is housed at Schaulager. This includes the chocolate and sugar icing installation Selbstturm; Löwenturm (1969–1998), presented in the artist’s former studio space and maintained by Schaulager.
Kunstmuseum Basel‘Helen Frankenthaler’‘Cao Fei. Testimonies to the Near Future’ (including Isle of Instability, commissioned by Audemars Piguet Contemporary in 2020)‘The First Homosexuals. The Birth of New Identities 1869–1939’
Kunsthalle Basel‘Janiva Ellis’‘Shuang Li’
Kunsthaus Baselland‘Monira Al Qadiri: Annual Project’‘Mémoires voyageuses / Traveling Memories’
Museum Tinguely‘Labouring Bodies’‘La roue = c’est tout. Permanent exhibition’‘Nicolas Darrot. Fuzzy Logic’‘Angelica Mesiti. Reverb’
Vitra Design Museum‘Hella Jongerius: Whispering Things’
Vitra Schaudepot‘Verner Panton: Form, Colour, Space’
About Art BaselFounded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, Paris, and Qatar. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. Art Basel’s engagement has expanded through new digital platforms including Zero 10 and the Art Basel App, and initiatives such as the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report and Survey of Global Collecting, Art Basel Awards, and Art Basel Shop. For further information, please visit artbasel.com.
Art Basel is once again proud to partner with leading voices across art, design, fashion, finance, hospitality, technology, and media. Through their activations and commissions, these collaborators reflect the fair’s commitment to cross-industry exchange and cultural dialogue. Visitors can explore a vibrant program of installations, exhibitions, and experiences—both inside and beyond Messe Basel—that dynamically activate the show and the city of Basel.
Global Lead Partner of Art Basel, UBS has a long history of supporting contemporary art and artists. The firm has one of the world’s most important corporate art collections of contemporary art. UBS seeks to advance the international conversation about the art market through its global lead partnership with Art Basel, and as co-publisher of the ‘Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report’ and the ‘Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting’. UBS also supports some of the world’s most important arts institutions, events, and fairs. Through UBS Art Advisory, UBS provides UHNW clients and their family offices impartial advice and execution services across the whole lifecycle of a collection, from strategic development and governance to making an impact through philanthropy and the transition of collections into the next generation. For more information about UBS’s commitment to contemporary art, visit ubs.com/art.
Qatar Airways is Art Basel’s Premium Partner. Named the World’s Best Airline a record ninth time at the 2025 Skytrax World Airline Awards, Qatar Airways leverages its extensive network of destinations to connect people, places, and cultures. As Art Basel’s Premium Partner, the airline showcases its ability to be a catalyst for discovery and cultural dialogue, supporting all the fair’s prestigious global editions – including the newly launched show in Qatar.
Art Basel’s Associate Partners are Audemars Piguet, BMW and the Hong Kong Tourism Board. BMW has been partnering with Art Basel for over twenty years now as part of the company’s cultural engagement spanning more than half a century with hundreds of initiatives worldwide. Always guided by the belief that absolute creative freedom is as essential for artists to create meaning away from the bling-bling as it is for BMW’s engineers and designers to come up with the best solutions for individual mobility both today and tomorrow. Audemars Piguet believes that creativity feeds culture, connects people, and gives purpose to our lives. Through its dedicated contemporary art program, ‘Audemars Piguet Contemporary’, international artists are commissioned to create carte-blanche artworks across a variety of scales and media, enabling artists to explore new territories in their practice. Hong Kong is the international art hub in Asia, standing at the forefront of Asia’s cultural landscape, offering a dynamic blend of world-class art fairs, cutting-edge exhibitions, and vibrant creative districts. Through this collaboration, Hong Kong Tourism Board invites the world to discover Hong Kong’s dynamic art scene, East meets-West identity, and world-class lifestyle—from contemporary galleries to culinary artistry and luxury travel through its unique blend of culture, creativity, and sophistication.
Preview (by invitation only)
Tuesday and Wednesday, June 16–17, 2026
Public Opening Dates (access with ticket or invitation)
- Thursday, June 18, 2026: 11am–7pm, followed by Unlimited Night from 7pm–10pm
- Friday, June 19, 2026: 11am–7pm
- Saturday, June 20, 2026: 11am–7pm
- Sunday, June 21, 2026: 11am–7pm
Venue
Messe Basel, Messeplatz 10, 4058 Basel, Switzerland
Upcoming Art Basel Shows
Basel, June 18–21, 2026
Paris, October 23-25, 2026
Miami Beach, December 4–6, 2026
Qatar, January 28–30, 2027
Hong Kong, March 25–27, 2027
