Press release 

For immediate release

June 19th, 2011

Repeated visits by high-profile collectors and institutional representatives confirm VOLTA's status as the number one satellite of the art fair week in Basel.

The seventh edition of the international art fair VOLTA concluded on Saturday with exhibitors reporting solid sales and several high-profile collectors returning multiple times during the week. There was widespread agreement on the part of visitors on the high quality of both the work presented at the fair as well as the possibility of making positively surprising discoveries. Considering that the neighboring Schaulager was closed for renovation, this year's fair showed substantial visitor numbers in a steady flow all week.

Returning to the Dreispitzhalle after the choice of location was confirmed by the success of last year's edition, the fair expanded its floor space but concentrated the number of exhibitors to 71, resulting in a much more navigable layout. As most galleries were showing either solo or two-person shows, the content was gratifyingly focused to allow visitors to attain a greater understanding of individual practices.

The fair's director Amanda Coulson stated, "I couldn't be happier with the results this year, both in the way we worked out how to use the space more effectively and with the public's response. It's been incredibly satisfying to see the galleries step up to the challenge of the reduced booth presentations and to have it pay off in strong sales."

Installation of Thorsten Brinkmann's artwork at artfinder Galerie | Mathias G�ntner

Danielle Horn from NETTIE HORN gallery in conversation with collector in front of an artwork by Sinta Werner

 

With shuttle buses running nonstop from the main fair, most galleries reported sound sales consistently throughout the week. LOOCK, Berlin, sold an Anton Henning painting, "Interieur" to a Dutch collection for €45,000 and an Alec Soth "Large Nude" photograph for $30,000, as well as all exhibited work by Takehito Koganezawa. Ana Cristea Gallery from New York sold out her entire booth of paintings by Zsolt Bodoni within the first hour of the fair. KATZ Contemporary from Z�rich was visited by Indian collectors who bought two paintings by the Swiss artist Stephane Zaech for €30,000 in total. David Risley Gallery was extremely satisfied with the results of the fair, having placed the work of his artists in prominent collections: Anna Bjerger's "Pack of Twenty", a twenty-piece meditation on the image of a Swedish 1920s cigarette commercial in oil on oil paper, went to Jerry Speyer, work by Graham Dolphin went to UK collector Anita Zabludowicz and Danish collector Ole Faarup, and Felicity Lunn and Steven McCoubrey of the UBS Collection acquired work by Thomas Hylander. 

ADN Galeria reported excellent results, selling three "Smiley RVB" installations by Bruno Peinados for €13,000 each to the Museum Biedermann and private collections in Germany, respectively. Jarmuschek & Partner sold Nika Neelova's charcoaled chandelier "The Night Also Falls" by for €12,500 to the Biedermann. TinT gallery from Thessaloniki reported the sale of works by represented Greek artist Elias Kafouros to Hella & Reiner Bruckhaus from D�sseldorf, Christoph Print and Heidi Lackner of Vienna, Katherine Codega from Paris, Jorgen Johansen from Copenhagen, and Mathieu Altweg, Geneva. At ROOM London, two large but intensely intricate fantasy landscapes collaged from Encyclopedia Brittanica images by the 29-year-old Ambrosine Allen sold to major UK and Swiss collectors for under �5,000 each. Cape Town's WHATIFTHEWORLD/GALLERY sold Daniel Halter's "Rifugiato Mappa del Mondo," constructed of collected plastic bags for €7,000. At Cologne gallery TEAPOT, Christian Eisenberger's "LAST WORK" painting made of horse manure of the New York Police sold to a New York collector for €2,800.

VOLTA7 Edition artist Carlos Aires' artwork at ADN gallery

Markus Putze's wall installation at Jarmuschek + Partner

The fair saw a constant stream of impressive guests from all corners of the world, many returning during the course of the fair after the well-visited VOLTA Preview. Among the notable guests during opening day were New York collectors Susan and Michael Hort; Michael Alper from Chicago; Belgian collectors Alain Servais and Fr�d�ric de Goldschmidt; Amir Shariat from London; American collectors Maxine and Stuart Frankel, Martin Margolis, and Bob and Renee Drake; Gil Bronner, Steffen Hildebrandt, Paul K�se, Konstantin Wettig and Dr. Sigi Lorenz from Germany, as well as institutional attendance by Gijs van Tuyl (former Director Wolfsburger Kunstmuseum and Stedelijk Museum), Christoph Dahlhausen (Bonn, Germany), Marc Olivier Wahler (Director Palais de Tokyo), Helyn Goldenberg (Chairman Sotheby's Midwest, Chicago), Joe La Placa (Director All Visual Arts), and Lady Myners (Chair of ICA). 

During the week, numerous top-level collectors continued to visit the fair, many even spotted for a second and third time. Some of this international crowd included Barbara Bluhm and Don Kaul, Ron Pizzutti, and Chris Valenta from the US; from New York, Sherry and Joel Mallin, Doreen and Gilbert Bassin, and Joel and Zoe Dictrow; the fashion designer Jil Sander; collector of African art Jean Pigozzi; Gil Bronner, Thomas P. Jochheim, and Frank Sippel from Germany; Alistair Hicks of the Deutsche Bank Collection; and Felicity Lunn and Steven McCoubrey of the UBS Collection. Exhibitors noted an especially high number of American, French, Dutch, and Belgian collectors - and several Turkish collectors were seen visiting the fair, including retail giant Mustafa Taviloglu. 

International curators and art experts were out in full force with Britta Schmitz (Chief Curator Hamburger Bahnhof); curators Rita Alencar Pinto and Neda Young from New York; curator Gaia Simionati; Christoph Lichtin (Curator, Museum of Art Lucerne), Dutch curator Ardi Poels, and French curator Dominique Abensour. Institutional presences were made by Dan Cameron (former Director New Museum, founder and Artistic Director of US Biennial), Hanspeter Wipplinger (Director Kunsthalle Krems), Sjarel Ex (Director, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), Lorand Hegyi (Director, Le Mus�e d'art moderne de Saint-Etienne), representatives of the Museum of Art & Urbanity Shanghai; Jacob Fabricius (Director Malm� Kunsthal), Gijs van Tuyl (former Director Wolfsburger Kunstmuseum and Stedelijk Museum), and Marc Olivier Wahler (Director Palais de Tokyo).

The Berlin-based HOMEBASE Project noted a successful week resulting in invitations to Prague, Geneva, and Barcelona, as well as winning three major sponsors for future projects. This year's VOLTA Edition by Carlos Aires, who was present at the fair for most of the week, was very popular and sold out by midweek. Special project Marc Fromm was visited by several high-profile guests including the economic consultant to the German Embassy in Bern, Olaf Iversen, as well as Ralph Stalder, Country Chairman of Shell Switzerland.

VOLTA7 was a benchmark in the international art fair's history, confirming its position in the Basel constellation after seven years of steadily presenting high quality work and attracting first-class patronage.

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