Lisson gallery generated much media coverage at Art Basel 2011. Founded in 1967 by Nicholas Longsdale, the gallery represents several well established artists including Ai Weiwiei, John Latham, Sol LeWitt, Robert Mangold, Jonathan Monk, Julian Opie, Richard Wentworth, Richard Deacon, and Anish Kapoor. Weiwei and Kapoor, in particular, have generated much media attention this year due to the political nature of Weiwei's work.
Weiwei had created several installations around the city of Basel to act as an extension of the main venue during Art Basel 42. He states, "I was thinking it would be interesting to introduce the viewer to the history of Basel from these different buildings and have artists make interventions into these buildings." [2]. He created several banners of Chinese citizens he brought to Kassel in 2007. A clever marketing strategy on his part, to literally bring Art Basel to the people by installing his work in public space.
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Weiwei has gained much notoriety in the art world due to the politically provocative nature of his works. After completion of the installations, Weiwei was jailed by Chinese authorities on charges of “economic crimes.” [3]. Over 2,000 protestors gathered in Hong Kong alone to demand Weiwei's release. Many galleries in the city participated by placing “missing” posters in their windows [3].
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Politics has always played a large part in the art market, and artists have often use their art as a platform for political agendas. In Light of Weiwei's detention, Kapoor has canceled plans to show his works at the National Museum of China in Beijing. In fact, Kapoor has urged the international arts community to shut down all galleries and museums for a day to protest Weiwei's arrest [4]. Kapoor references a bond shared by those in the art community and an obligation to each other. Speaking of Weiwei, he says:
"As a colleague – I don't know him personally – I feel that as artists we have a communal voice and it's important that we stick together, that we have a sense of solidarity with each other... It does bear witness to the barbarity of governments that if they're that paranoid they have to put away artists. It's a ridiculous situation." [4].
Kapoor has decided to dedicate his exhibition, Leviathan, to Weiwei. It has been shown at the Monumenta Exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris [4]. Aptly named, Kapoor describes his work as a “terror,” perhaps making a connection to the terror that totalitarian governments impose on their creative minds.
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Despite these political run ins, it is likely that international art fairs will continue to proliferate. According to Paco Barragan in an article for metropolism.com, we are in the midst of the art fair age. The art fair age goes hand in hand with the age of the curator. [6]. In other words, contemporary times demand that exhibitions continually challenge us and push art forward, and the art fair seems to be the best platform for that at this time. But at the end of the article, Barragan encourages us to think about the possibilities of what the art fair can be. The issues faced by Weiwei and Kapoor seem to have redefined the art fair as a potential political platform. How else can we push the art fair further...?
[1] http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/To-support-Ai-Weiwei-Anish-Kapoor-rejects-China-show/23991
[3] http://premierartscene.com/magazine/prostest-for-ai-weiwei/
[4] http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/may/10/anish-kapoor-ai-weiwei-protest
[6] http://metropolism.com/magazine/2008-no3/the-art-fair-age/