When Kanye met Persephone
The controversial rapper Kanye West (or “Ye”) made a splash when he visited Art Basel this week, ruffling feathers as he browsed the monumental pieces in Unlimited. Word reaches us that the headline-hitting musician was at the fair to see his wife, the artist and architect Bianca Censori, who takes centre stage in an eerie film by Vanessa Beecroft shot in a semi-abandoned hotel near Tokyo, which draws on the myth of Persephone descending into the underworld (Untitled, Izanami, 2025). Bianca’s star turn involves her crawling through the hotel corridor in minimal clothing. Censori created a stir, meanwhile, with her choice of outfit at the rather conservative Swiss fair: a skin-tight body suit that was a work of art in itself.
Show us a wheelie, Gioni: apparently trams are not the only way to get around in Basel The Art Newspaper
Gioni gets on his bike to deliver his book
The art world descended on a lavish dinner earlier this week off Marktplatz to celebrate the Art Basel Awards, with curators, artists and patrons raising a toast to the current crop of nominees such as Barbara Kruger in the icons category and Farah Al Qasimi in the emerging artist section. (The winners will be announced in December.) As partygoers left, the New Museum’s artistic director Massimiliano Gioni rode up on a diminutive bike and handed out his latest book (a great read on the history of the Venice Biennale). “I don’t think I was invited to the dinner!” proclaimed Gioni, who was in decidedly good spirits following a New Museum dinner where he had also handed out his prized new tome.
Come on in, the water’s...crowded: Elsa Marie Keefetook an impromptu plunge The Art Newspaper
Artist cools off with fountain skinny dip
The Miami-based filmmaker Elsa Marie Keefe turned heads in Basel this week when she climbed nude into a water fountain by the historic Mittlere bridge for a photoshoot. But what was the reason behind this revealing impromptu dip? “I am showing my fine-art images at Volta [with baselFLO platform], which include my photoshoots from around the world; every photoshoot is a performance in itself,” she taells us. Keefe is showing works alongside the Swiss artist Chantal Convertini, who also depicts the body in natural settings. “I take pride in not only being a female artist but one who documents the naked body through the lens of the female gaze,” Keefe says.
Call of the Rhine beckons for Basel’s art world
Everyone who comes to Basel feels like cooling off in the Rhine, especially after a sweaty day spent browsing the fair aisles. Art world people are always encouraged to don their bathers and dive in for a collegiate dip—an idea especially embraced by gallerists. Andreas Gegner, the senior director at Sprüth Magers, says that he hopes to take a dip at some point this week, telling us that “the fair has meanwhile gone swimmingly!” Staff at The Art Newspaper have also taken to the bracing waters some mornings, swimming to the on-site office. “We felt at one with nature and even saw some ducklings,” said one of our more meditative colleagues. Another quipped that it was “very peaceful and a great cure for a hangover”. There is more than one way for a journo to make a splash!
Tina sniffs out her Unlimited highlights Instagram
Canine critic gives Ryan Gander the paws down
One of Art Basel’s cutest ever visitors popped into the fair this week, as seen on the fair’s Instagram feed. A dog was allowed to roam the Unlimited section, drawing gasps from fellow fair visitors surprised to see a canine lapping up the art. We hear that the inquisitive animal goes by the name of Tina and belongs to a member of the Art Basel team. A fairgoer said that the happy mutt “seemed really interested in the some of the Unlimited pieces” but the Instagram video shows her recoiling from UK artist Ryan Gander’s “mouse-in-the-wall” work featuring a squeaky rodent that philosophises about life and the universe. Bless.