In partnership with BMW Group Culture

Basel Basel — as the art world likes to call it, distinguishing the premier fair from its Miami and Hong Kong editions — is back! There’s lots of excitement brewing as the first Art Basel to take place when most borders have opened back up post-Covid. Alongside catching a pulse on the art market, we’ve got lots of museums shows to see, events to experience, and restaurants to chow down at (although TBH, Basel is not the best food city).

I can get carried away with planning trips… so our guide this week is our unofficial official ArtDrunk itinerary. If you’re in Basel, put it to good use! And for those following along from afar, head over to our Instagram where we’ll be sharing daily recaps of what we saw and what we loved.

Sadly I think everything is out of my price range, but there’s no harm in window shopping 🙂

Getting through the jetlag of any transatlantic travel is usually possible only through pure adrenaline. Luckily, I like to say that art (with an oat latte) gives me life.

7:00am: Bosco Sodi’s Tabula Rasa at Barfüsserkirche. Right away, I’ll be up early to see Bosco, a long-time friend and artist. For the Parcours section of Art Basel (basically sculptures and performances activated around the city), he’s dropping 365 balls of clay, each of which contain seeds of corn, squash, and beans. Part of waking up so early is to actually partake in putting the balls together and helping out with the install. At the end of the week, you’re free to take one to plant at home. More Info

9:00am: Team Meeting at XOXO Café Bar. Taylor’s in town too! We both need our coffee, so we’ll meet up for some caffeine and planning for the week. The café doubles as a bar, so we’ll also be scoping out the spot for a potential nightcap. More Info

11:00am: Liste Art Fair. Let the craziness commence… The first of the art fairs to open features 82 galleries. Many of our favorites are exhibiting this year, such as Matthew Brown, Emalin, and François Ghebaly. We’re especially excited to see one piece by ceramic artist Sharif Farrag. We filmed him making it back in February. When I visited Liste in 2019, the vibe was great — it was held in an old brewery, where fairgoers could go to the rooftop for a drink or a smoke. This year they’ve moved locations, but we’re still confident in the good vibes. More Info

1:00pm: Art Basel Parcours. Although Bosco was top of mind, there are 20 other artists with activations around the city, including Tomás Saraceno, Jimmie Durham, and Solange Pessoa. More Info

3:00pm: Art Basel Unlimited. I always forget that the week’s events start much earlier than your usual fair. With Art Basel Unlimited as the prelude to the main event, I’m heading in right at the opening to sneak in photos and videos (trying to stay on top of fast content turnaround). More Info

6:00pm: Design Miami. This is a good time to thank our partner for the week: BMW Group Culture. This year, they’re collaborating with Superblue and artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer to feature “Pulse Topology”. The immersive artwork will be installed right in the foyer of Design Miami and be made up over 6,000 suspended lightbulbs, activated upon sensing your heartbeat. More Info

7:00pm: Dinner at Restaurant Fiorentina. Never been here before, but this is where my friends booked a big group dinner. Aside from the art, I love art fair weeks for catching up with friends from all over the world. It’s fairly unique to the art industry where we’re always bopping from city to city, seeing art and having a good time. More Info

11:00am: Art Basel Preview. So the whole reason everyone is in town to begin with kicks off on the second day. Not too much to add here for now, but from the previews we’ve been sent, excited for heavy-hitters like Joan Mitchell and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, as well as up and coming artists like Matthew Krishanu and Tunji Adeniyi-Jones. More Info

2:00pm: Veal Sausage Lunch. By the early afternoon, hopefully we’ll have at least made it through the first floor. If so, I’ll reward myself with a classic Basel bratwurst. This seems like the most polarizing of foods in town — people often point to this sausage paired with one piece of white bread as the poster child of the not-so-great food. I tend to agree, but at this point it’s such an iconic part of the Basel experience, I can’t head home without at least one of them. More Info

2:30pm: Food Truck (Second) Lunch. Let’s be real a single sausage won’t fill me up, so you’ll find me outside by the food trucks deciding between burritos, ramen, and burgers. More Info

3:00pm: Back to the fair!

8:00pm: Dinner at Rostiger Anker. Whenever I think back to my first and only Basel experience, this takes the cake for best memory. I had just barely started to run ArtDrunk full-time, and dinner here was a spontaneous get-together meeting so many of my favorite people in the art world to this day. (Shoutout to Rachel if you’re reading this!). I don’t remember what we ate, but it was yummy enough. And sitting right on the edge of the Rhine River was a refreshing post-fair and pre-party activity. More Info

11:00pm: Perrotin Party. If you haven’t heard, Perrotin throws the biggest parties. Their annual event in Basel takes over an entire church, this year being no different. If they have tequila, you’ll find me on the dance floor.

With only 24 hours left, it’s a quick dash to visit all the museums. While Basel isn’t super packed with institutions (a good thing during a busy week like this), the city truly shines in the sheer quality of its shows and collections.

10:00am. Mondrian at the Beyeler. Easily one of my top three favorite museums in the world, Fondation Beyeler is the best retreat away from the fairs. They’ve always got the most insane exhibitions of 20th Century art, with this year being no different. Early Piet Mondrian works will be on view, showing his artistic development leading up to his more iconic minimal forms. More Info

12:00pm. Michael Armitage at the Kunsthalle. Visiting one of Armitage’s solo exhibitions has long been on my art wish list. I’ve always missed them by just a few weeks (i.e. at the Royal Academy, MoMA, and the Norval Foundation). But what’s that saying, 7th time’s the charm? I’m eager to consume his moody paintings and so glad I booked a hotel nearby so it won’t be too hard for more than a couple visits. More Info

1:00pm. Picasso and El Greco at the Kunstmuseum. Alright, I do love Picasso and El Greco, which I’ll be checking out, but I’ve been dreaming of the all black Calder mobile hanging in the museum’s main stairwell ever since I saw it for the first time in 2019. It’s such a majestic piece and photographs so well. Expect to see it on our ‘gram. Brice Marden also has a show on view. More Info

4:00pm: Gabrielle Goliath at Kunsthaus Baselland. I’m a total newbie when it comes to Goliath’s work. I can’t say no to immersive films though, and the colors in the install photos seem so hypnotizing that I’m ready to cap off the trip sitting down and leaning back on the pillows they’ve laid out for visitors. More Info

7:00pm: Dinner at Walliser Kanne. Ok, I lied. I do need to have some sustenance before heading to my final party of the week. We received tons of recommendations for Italian restaurants, which honestly looked delicious. But we’re in Switzerland, so we’re going to cap it off with some good ol’ fondue. More Info

Basel, Switzerland