Art Basel Fair 2025: hube guide

From June 19th to 22nd, the Swiss city of Basel becomes the art world’s gravitational centre. Art Basel’s fair returns for its 55th year with over 280 galleries in tow—from masters showing late-career Picasso and post-war abstraction to the sharpest contemporary players pushing material limits. Under the direction of Maike Cruse, the fair stretches across seven curated sectors, each designed to reflect where the art world has been, and more crucially, where it’s going.

This year, all eyes are watching Premiere—the fair’s newest section spotlighting works made in the last five years. Positioned at the intersection of emerging and mid-career, it captures a broader market mood: a hunt for freshness with proven value. It’s less about breakout artists or museum darlings—and more about that sweet spot in between.

Names to watch include Emalin, Arcadia Missa, Beijing Commune, and Hunt Kastner, whose booths delve into identity, memory, globalization, and materiality. Maike Cruse attempts to create the most intimate Art Basel fair yet—a space where mingling with the art world’s biggest names is simply a piece of the experience. Whether you’re here to browse, buy, or simply witness the spectacle, here are our picks for what not to miss.

Galleries

This section is filled with the heavy-weight classics—it’s the flagship sector, featuring over 200 of the world’s leading galleries. Showing everything from 20th-century icons to contemporary canon-builders, expect precise booths, maximum resale value, and zero irony.

• Gagosian: Pablo Picasso, Jean-Michel Basquiat
• David Zwirner: Josef Albers, Neo Rauch
• Hauser & Wirth: Louise Bourgeois, Christina Quarles
• Pace Gallery: Joan Mitchell, Robert Rauschenberg
• Perrotin: Takashi Murakami, Lee Bae
• Di Donna Galleries: Leonora Carrington
• Galerie Max Hetzler: Albert Oehlen
• Thaddaeus Ropac: Daniel Richter, Valie Export
• White Cube: Damien Hirst, Theaster Gates

Feature

A slower pace. This section is dedicated to artists deserving deeper context. Fewer names, more intention—booths that feel as if they are tightly edited museum rooms.

• Jessica Silverman: Judy Chicago
• Take Ninagawa: Misaki Kawai
• Rodeo: Tamara Henderson
• Mai 36 Galerie: John Baldessari
• Galerie Thomas Fischer: Annette Kelm
• Andrew Kreps Gallery: B. Ingrid Olson

Premiere

Launched just this year, Premiere is Basel’s most speculative pulse-check—showing works by artists who’ve graduated from “emerging” but haven’t yet been fossilized into the soil of the art world. Expect ongoing debates: are mid-career artists the new emerging?

• Edel Assanti: Lonnie Holley, Everlyn Nicodemus
• Sweetwater: Megan Plunkett, Kayode Ojo
• Galerie Jacky Strenz: Lin May Saeed
• Chapter NY: Cheyenne Julien
• Arcadia Missa: Hannah Quinlan & Rosie Hastings
• Beijing Commune: Ma Qiusha
• Hunt Kastner: Eva Koťátková
• Emalin: Andrew Sim
• LambdaLambdaLambda: Dardan Zhegro

Statements

Reserved for younger artists showing in Basel for the first time, Statements is the fair’s palette cleansing testing ground. It’s also the most psychically interesting, raw and riskier. Those presenting in this section are eligible for the Baloise Art Prize, giving these artists and galleries a spotlight, as well as allowing visitors to explore emerging voices that are completely unique. 

• Ginny on Frederick: Rhea Dillon
• Nir Altman: Nora Turato
• Fanta-MLN: Giangiacomo Rossetti
• Franz Kaka: Laurie Kang
• Kayokoyuki: Hiroka Yamashita
• Gunia Nowik: Anna Bąk
• Artbeat: Uta Bekaia

Unlimited

Featuring works of vast scale, the Unlimited section combines performance pieces with large-format works, striking a hard-to-reach balance—giving these monumental works the space they need to subsist in a fair like Art Basel. With a conceptual prowess to match the physical, this section will highlight 67 presentations curated by Giovanni Carmine.

• Katharina Grosse: Site-specific wall work across Messeplatz
• Félix González-Torres
• Martin Kippenberger
• nasa4nasa
• Mendes Wood DM: Paulo Nazareth
• Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac: Tony Cragg
• Goodman Gallery: Sue Williamson

Kabinett

After launching in 2023, the Kabinett sector has proved a favourite, giving galleries a chance to curate theme specific presentations at their booth. Rather than showcasing the entire ethos of their work, it gives a chance for galleries to hone in, and build a mini-sphere. At this year’s fair, look out for these little worlds—they are easy to get drawn into.

• Sprüth Magers: Cindy Sherman
• Perrotin: Daniel Arsham
• Karma: Stanley Whitney

Parcours

From Clarastrasse to the Rhine, public, in-situ installations will populate historic sites throughout Basel. Curated by Stefanie Hessler around the theme Second Nature—how we hybridize urban life and ecological thinking.

• Maya Watanabe
• Daniel Lie
• Cally Spooner
• The Performance Agency

Edition

Allowing visitors to take a pause, and flip through the pages of collectibles and multiples, here, there is a chance to slow down. Alongside the printed matter will be prints, showcased by major art book publishers and galleries from across the globe.

• BORCH Editions: Tacita Dean, Julie Mehretu
• Taka Ishii Gallery: Daido Moriyama
• Gemini G.E.L.: Ellsworth Kelly
• Crown Point Press: Kiki Smith

Conversations

Bringing together frontrunners in the industry for in-depth discussions and debates, Art Basel calls for reflection through its Conversations sector. Expect panels and interviews with collectors, curators, artists, and writers, voicing thoughts on topics from the purpose of public art to the art world’s invisible infrastructures.

• “Premiere artist talk: Katharina Grosse and Natalia Grabowska”: June 19th
• “Tokyo inside out: New readings of Japanese art in a global context”: June 19th
• “Radical reimaginings: Ibrahim Mahama and Lydia Ourahmane talk to Hans Ulrich Obrist”: June 20th

Adjacent Museums and Exhibitions

While the Messe Basel site will be taken over by the fair’s sectors, around Basel and Zurich, museums and cultural institutions are in full bloom, showcasing top retrospectives and exhibitions. 

• Kunsthalle Basel: Dala Nasser and Ser Serpas
• Kunstmuseum Basel: Medardo Rosso vs Rodin juxtaposition
• Schaulager: Steve McQueen
• Fondation Beyeler: Vija Celmins
• MAZE Design Fair: Urs Fisher
• The Digital Art Mile: ArtMeta, Objkt, and Tezos

The Art Basel Shop

Founded in 2024 by Sarah Andelman, the shop is the place where the global art scene becomes accessible, and take home-able. From products by artists and brand collaborations to rare collectables, the shop will bring a new batch of designs to the floor in 2025. 

• Katharina Grosse presents an exclusive capsule collection
• Limited edition Labubu by artist Kasing Lung
• Speciality prints by artists Daniel Arsham, and Amoako Boafo
• The Thomas Bayrle’s raincoat

By JULIA SILVERBERG