This year’s Art Basel fair was a great conglomeration of inventive emerging and established galleries which showed high quality works. An Austrian artist named Christoph Weber showed his unique work ‘Beton (lehnend), 2017/ ‘Concrete (leaning), 2017 at the booth of the Barcelona based gallery PROJECTESD

‘Beton (lehnend)’, 2017/ ‘Concrete (leaning), 2017

A funny coincedence as I always discover Austrian artists away from home. Vienna based artist Christoph Weber will be invited to be the next artist in the framework of YACA (Young Austrian Contemporary Art) and counterparts worldwide in the bell tower at the Schlossberg landmark in my hometown Graz (AUT) under the subtitle programme ‘Visiting Schlossberg Mountain’ as always under the guidline of Duchamps ‘Keep it simple and work with what we find’ a site-specific installation as well with newly commissioned work is planned to be realised by Christopher Weber. The artist is represented in addition by the Viennese Gallery Nächst Sankt Stephan.

The Unlimited section was by far the best selection of contemporary installation pieces on view by far. The entrance piece showed a work by Jenny Holzer, a neon light running a text on a  industrial aluminium stand  and as well worked its way through the air like a pendulum across the space therewith becoming a central work of the entrance area of the Unlimited Section of Art Basel Fair 2017.

STATEMENT – redacted, 2015

STATEMENT – redacted, 2015

Holzer who is best known for her critiqual often relating to female concerns without drifting into feminism showed a new side and took over the full attention of the art crowd gathering in this major section of the art fair.

For further review and details  of the fair check back in the next few weeks which will gradually be added to this critique as well as a review on Wolfgang Tillmans work at Fondation Beyerle in Basel.

All my best wishes and Congratulations to the Art Basel Team!

Daniela Haberz, M.A.