Spending a few days at the Basel Art Fair, not having ever been before, has made me realise its central significance in the calendar of contemporary art.   It’s not so much the Fair itself – after all it’s possible to see a large amount of contemporary art in downtown New York and now in central London, often in much better and less hectic circumstances – but the sense of collective endeavour, the renewal of essentially Calvinist vows over many years.   So many of the people I have met have been here every year for the last two decades at least (the first fair opened in June 1970).   It’s a ritual , but an important one, because contemporary art and contemporary architecture are more central to the culture of Basel than elsewhere.

I’ve never been to the Basel Art Fair before.   It’s mildly overwhelming having the whole of the contemporary art world packed into a large Swiss warehouse, gallery after gallery stretching out into the infinite distance.   What have I liked ?  Pablo Bronstein in Franco Noero, a gallery from Turin.   Quite a few Sean Scullys.   Some wonderful Christos.   New work by Grayson Perry shown by Paragon Press.   I particularly enjoyed the showing of large works in the adjacent space under the title Unlimited including work by Ai Weiwei called Stacked (2012):-

And a poignant work by Kader Attia called Arab Spring (2014):-