You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
BRUSH UP<br />
ON BASEL<br />
BASEL, SWITZERLAND The city’s image as a cultural<br />
metropolis hangs on more than its showpiece art event<br />
Words and photographs by JÖRGEN ULVSGÄRD<br />
Historically, Basel<br />
has languished in<br />
the shadow of big<br />
brother Zurich,<br />
just an hour southeast. That<br />
might have been why the city<br />
overwhelmingly voted yes in<br />
1967 to letting the mayor buy<br />
two Picasso paintings with<br />
public funds – a gesture that so<br />
touched the artist that he gave<br />
the city three other pieces.<br />
That in turn led Basel’s many<br />
well-heeled residents to start<br />
collecting art like never before<br />
which, via donations, laid the<br />
foundations for Basel’s wealth<br />
of art.<br />
In 1970, the city’s growing<br />
collection of galleries joined<br />
THE WEEKENDER<br />
forces to create Art Basel,<br />
which now attracts 60,000<br />
visitors and more than 300<br />
of the world’s top galleries.<br />
Tellingly, Art Basel’s Miami<br />
spin-off immediately became<br />
the most important art fair in<br />
America and in 2013 it will<br />
debut in Hong Kong (May 23-<br />
26). However the original, held<br />
every June, is still the biggest<br />
and best.<br />
Not surprisingly, art governs<br />
city life and has manifested<br />
itself in, among other things,<br />
a taste for cutting-edge<br />
architecture. Herzog & De<br />
Meuron, arguably the world’s<br />
most exciting architects with<br />
Beijing’s National Stadium<br />
SCANORAMA DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 99<br />
�
Change language