Artnet News represented Gianni Jetzer and his pioneering exhibition platform as „the most talked-about highlight at Art Basel“. It is a platform which transcend the limitations of a classical at-show stand and it includes out-sized sculptures and paintings, video projections, large-scale installations.
The exhibition gather a large-scale of works like Xu Zhen‘s monumental riff on classical Western sculpture presented by Beijing-based Long March Space. Also, Matias Faldbakken‘s scattering of 20 thousand gun shells on the floor of Zurich gallery Galerie Eva Presenhuber‘s booth. Nevertheless Digital Photography student Tahir Carl Karmali exhibited his series of portraits „Jua Kali“ as part of Image Afrique. The term in Swahili means „fierce sun“ and it represents the laborers of Nairobi, Kenya, who live and work in substandard and impoverished conditions. In overall, these works offer the opportunity to circulate some fresh air into the occasionally stuffy art fair format.
See also: THE REVIEW OF ART BASEL 2015: BEST HIGHLIGHTS
Gianni Jetzer curates Unlimited for the third time and it became a really big exhibition during all this years. Now it deals with 78 artists and over 100 galleries. Although G. Jetzer says that he is not so focused on the size. His aim is to create a show that allows visitors to spend time with art and make them forget about where they are.
When choosing on art works which should be represented at exhibition, he says that he try to solicit as many applications as possible and then get votes from the selection committee, which is composed of some of the world‘s leading gallerists. It is like that because Unlimited is ideal for strong art works which is here represented in the best possible light.
Even though G. Jetzer is working with nonprofit gallery – Swiss Institute, for him it really doesn‘t matter that Basel is primarily a commercial fair. He said that money is not a obstacle, with it you can do a great things: you can reinvest it in your art-making, if you‘re an artist, or, as a collector, build a great collection and donate it to a museum. On the other hand, you not necessarily have to get money to create it and represent it.
So if now the need to visit Unlimited has raised, we should keep the hope that it‘s not the last time it is represented in Art Basel.
See also: ART BASEL 2015: UNLIMITED GALLERIES
