Volta 08
dal 1/6/2008 al 6/6/2008
Segnalato da
1/6/2008
Volta 08
Ultra Brag, Basel
A platform for presenting the vision of contemporary art galleries of global repute whose artists represent new and relevant positions for curators and collectors alike. Conceived to bridge a gap between Basel's pre-existing fairs, Volta showcases galleries - whether young or mature - that choose as their mandate to work with the most exciting emerging artists. The galleries are selected by an annually changing group of Curators to give each edition its own clear identity and to redirect focus back on the art producers as well as their representing galleries.
VOLTA is a platform for presenting the vision of contemporary art galleries of global repute whose artists represent new and relevant positions for curators and collectors alike. Conceived to bridge a gap between Basel's pre-existing fairs, VOLTA showcases galleries -- whether young or mature -- that choose as their mandate to work with the most exciting emerging artists. The galleries are selected by an annually changing group of Curators to give each edition its own clear identity and to redirect focus back on the art producers as well as their representing galleries.
After a brilliant debut of the Basel platform in NY with VOLTANY, the engines will not stop until next
landing in June in Switzerland. VOLTA, the cutting edge art fair, brings several positions in new and
emerging art from 63 galleries around the world. The ULTRA BRAG facility at the Basel harbour is
the place to be this next June during the Basel Art Week.
VOLTA’s debut past March in the New York Armory Week acknowledged an overwhelming
feedback, and brought the Basel platform to consolidate overseas. Now, a few weeks after VOLTA
announces the exhibitor list for the 2008 Edition, which will take place at the ULTRA BRAG premises
in the Basel Harbour for third time.
As already usual since 2006, VOLTA has been helped by its Curatorial Board to guarantee an
independence of the choices. The members of the VOLTA Curatorial Board are Christoph Doswald,
Art Critic, James Elaine, Curator, Hammer Projects, Francesco Manacorda, Curator, Barbican
Gallery, Chus Martinez, Director, Frankfurter Kunstverein, and Jasper Sharp, Curator and Writer.
VOLTA4—opening on June 2nd—announces auxiliary projects and events, including a return of last
year’s Outdoor | Sculpture Projects, introducing a works on paper section as well as supplementary
artists’ projects that include the Waterside Pavilion, designed by German artist team Wolfgang
Winter and Berthold Hoerbelt and the fair’s main entrance, The Gate of Woodoo, designed by Basel
based artistic duo, yummy industries. Also two special editions by this year’s Whitney Biennial
participants, Melanie Schiff and Eduardo Sarabia.
The VOLTA4 Outdoor Sculpture Project section will once again enliven the Ultra Brag area, with
large-scale works and performances, too difficult to show in a standard booth presentation. The
projects this year either address the location itself (using the water, the bridge, the grass hillside) or
emit light, so that in the evening the illumination changes the abandoned aspect of the harbour area
and lights up the pavilion where performances and collector dinners are to be staged.
The Pavilion itself—designed and constructed by Frankfurt-based artists Wolfgang Winter and
Berthold Hoerbelt with support by Nüssli, the company responsible for building the VOLTA fair—acts
as an architectural counterweight to the main hall, taking advantage of Ultra Brag’s area situation
next to the Rhine. Featured inside the Pavilion is the large-scale Winter/Hoerbelt work Mensa, a long
steel table, out of which the silhouette of 120 place settings have been cut. All the “unnecessary”
parts of the table have been sliced away leaving only the geometric shapes of the dinner service.
Corresponding to a difficult time in some countries in our planet, 20% of the sale of any of the
smaller 6-seater dinner tables by Winter+Hoerbelt will go directly to the international relief
organization People in Need (PIN). Working directly with local churches, religious communities and
NGO's, PINs members travel directly to disaster areas cash-in-hand to distribute funds directly to
the organizations and victims in need.
The Waterside Pavilion will host also performances by Chicago-based art duo Miller & Shellabarger
and other events; during the Press & Professional Preview curator Paco Barragán`s new book, The
Art Fair Age, published by CHARTA Books will be presented. The Art Fair Age examines in an
analytical, well-documented and irreverent manner the ongoing evolution of the art fair phenomenon.
Connecting the sculpture park to the main hall will be a major intervention by Basel-based duo
yummy industries, a vast gateway constructed from salvaged wood where visitors can pin their
dreams and spells. The structure will lead visitors into the Annex—an architectural addition used in
the first VOLTA fair and designed by Berlin architectural team Florence Girod and Philip
Engelbrecht—extending the hall to include seven new booths.
Inside the hall, the Curatorial Board chose this year to dedicate the project section of the fair to
works on paper. Extending the architectural concept of the VOLTA floor plan—where the gallery
level and its attendant well provide a literal breathing space by opening up the visual horizon—the
feeling was that paper works might augment the sense of quietude and pause created in this focal
point of the fair. In this section, the visitor will find not just drawings, but also paper used in a variety
of ways as a support, medium and sculptural material.
Artists and galleries participating in the Paper
Projects Section are:
Jochen Gerner at Anne Barrault, Paris
Marti Cormand, Darío Escobar, Robert Jack, Marco Maggi, Julianne Swartz at Josée Bienvenu, New York
Jeffrey T Y Lee at Domobaal, London
Claudia Angelmaier at galerieKleindienst, Leipzig
Duke Riley at Magnan Projects, New York
Peter Callesen, Tommy Støckel at Helene Nyborg Contemporary, Copenhagen
Marijn Akkermans, Jodie Carey, Nik Christensen, John Lurie at Galerie Gabriel Rolt, Amsterdam
Diana Cooper, Constantin Luser, Filib Schürmann at Rotwand Gallery, Zurich
Finally, VOLTA4 is proud to announce a collaboration with two Whitney Biennial artists for their 2008
editions: Chicago-based photographer Melanie Schiff's Self-Portrait after John's, in an edition of 30,
which shows the artist as vulnerable and childlike yet with a strong sexual undertow, and
Guadalajara-based artist Eduardo Sarabia's edition of 30 unique ceramic plates, which continue his
exploration of traditional Mexican craft techniques with modern themes. VOLTA would like to thank
Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, and I-20 Gallery, New York for their respective support in the
production of the editions.
Press contacts:
Amanda Coulson, Executive Director
Creixell Espilla-Gilart, Project Manager press@voltashow.com
Press & Professional Preview: Monday June 2nd, 2 – 4 pm
Ultra Brag
Tucholskystrasse 35 - Basel
Regular hours: Tuesday June 3rd – Saturday June 7th, noon to 8 pm.
Ticket prices: Regular CHF 15, € 10; Reduced CHF 10, € 5