VOLTA Basel

Talent and significant artistic positions, regardless of the artist’s age or point in their career, set within an elegant and eminently navigable exhibition space.

First and foremost, our “Mother Galleries”, those who have a proven track record of nurturing their represented artists throughout their careers — via multiple exhibitions and extracurricular pursuits including residencies, monographs, museum shows and so on. In other words, galleries who have worked with and stayed with their artists for awhile, through thick and thin and as their practice has evolved and matured. Galleries from all across the globe, who are advancing their local artistic pool and providing a platform for diverse voices, are always a focus for us.

Prices range from around EUR 750 for a print or unique work on paper to upwards of high five figures. Buyers reflect this range, as we attract emerging collectors as well as representatives of institutions and individuals with significant private collections.

Guests to VOLTA Basel love art and relish discovering something new. They may be locals or, more often than not, they have driven or flown in for the fair week, and though their schedule may be heavy, they seek out our platform to invest in artwork and support the artists.

VOLTA occupies a rather large platform of creative potential between the opposing ends of Art Basel — the bluest of blue chip fairs — and Liste — the bleeding edge of cutting edge. Within this platform exists a bounty of artistic practice, of the under appreciated Talent whose careers catch fire much later in life, of those artists making great advancements “at home” but as of yet little known abroad. Our curatorial direction encapsulates this dazzling variety of new international positions, and yet VOLTA remains open and accessible, easy to navigate around and easier to immerse within.

I was delighted by June’s first iteration in Basel this last summer: it is collectively organized by over a dozen international contemporary galleries and it features some excellent colleagues showing for the first time in Basel.