More than three decades after it was founded as a scrappy counterpoint to the establishment heavyweight Art Basel, Liste Art Fair Basel is shifting its focus from young artists aged under 40 to reflect a broader definition of emerging artists. Still, the fair continues to position itself as a site of discovery. “Liste is meant to bring new faces, new galleries and new artist positions to the fair,” Nikola Dietrich, the fair’s director, tells The Art Newspaper.
This year’s edition is the largest in the fair’s history, with 106 galleries participating, including 41 first-time exhibitors. The fair’s continued growth suggests that demand for such platforms remains strong. Dietrich points to increased applications from galleries in London and Seoul as evidence of the vitality of younger dealer networks and emerging artistic communities in those cities. The majority of stands—74—are dedicated to solo presentations, a format that allows visitors to engage more deeply with a single artist’s practice and draw connections with other artists.
“It’s always great to see what the artists feel is the most urgent this year, what materials they’re working with, what kind of subjects and themes they’re addressing,” Dietrich says.
Cibrián will present Margaux Moonen Guillaume’s In between two (2025) Courtesy of the artist and Cibrián
Founded in 1996, Liste was conceived as an antidote to the stuffiness of older work at more established fairs. Early organisers banned galleries from exhibiting artists over the age of 40, and later charged higher fees for the presentation of their work. Now, especially since the “wet paint” boom for ultra-contemporary work in the early 2020s, the overall art market more closely reflects what Liste has been presenting for decades.
But Liste is also developing. The fair’s ideas about what constitutes an “emerging artist” have expanded, Dietrich says—for example, many women artists can dedicate more time to their practice later in life, after raising families, while other artists are held back by the constraints of the art infrastructure in the places they live, and find success later in life. Still, in its 31st edition, the fair is older than many of the artists exhibiting. Liste serves as many young and emerging artists’ first exposure to the international art market, Dietrich says.
“The great thing with an art fair like ours is that you can really bring in one week all these different art scenes and art contexts so close together,” she adds. “It always creates really nice dialogues for everyone to see.”
• Liste Art Fair Basel, Messe Basel, 15-21 June