One of the most interesting exhibits in the art show Art Basel 42, was the exhibition entitled Art Parcours. In this exhibit, 10 international artists used public areas throughout the town of St. Alban-Tal to display their contemporary works of art. The artists were: Joan Jonas, Gabriel Sierra, Anne Chu, Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller, Ugo Rondinone, Kris Martin, Federico Herrero, Chris Johanson, Yinka Shonibare, and Ai Wei Wei. The locations of their art were fishing huts, a cargo ship, the old city wall, the Haus Zum Hohen Dolder, the St. Alban church, and an underground water reservoir from the medieval times. Not only is it a challenge, demonstrating the artists creative abilities, to transform an already historically beautiful city, but it also drew in the public to the world of Art and the Art Basel show. 
In this piece, artist Kris Martin covered the floor, altar, and pews of the St. Alban Church. He explains: "As visitors walk over the shiny debris it will get progressively pushed outside, ultimately reminding us of our transient condition."
The Art Parcours Exhibition was the only portion of the Art Basel show that was free to the public, which it had to be seeing as it was all over the city. By creating this separate, innovative exhibition with some of the top artists in the world and leaving it open to the public, the Art Basel encouraged all people to participate in the show, thereby expanding their marketing to people outside of the Art Market group. No matter if you wanted to or not, you could not escape the Art Basel, and thus you became part of it.
One of the most talked about artists at the Art Basel 42, was contemporary artist and political spokesperson, Ai Weiwei. Because of his outspoken disagreements with the Chinese Government, Ai Weiwei has developed a following, not only for his pieces, but also for the political message imbued in them. Even though he was detained by the Chinese government at the time, Ai Weiwei still had an influential piece displayed on the old city wall. It was a banner made up of 500 pictures of the 1001 Chinese citizens he brought to Kassel, Germany in his exhibition entitled "Fairytale".
Ai Weiwei is known for his political statements as made through his art. In one such piece, a picture of Weiwei completely naked with a toy horse covering his genitals, Weiwei plays upon the double meaning of Chinese characters, which many have taken to be entitled "F**k your mother, the party central committee". Another one of his pieces, depicting painted vases, is meant to comment on the Chinese governments continued decline. By painting the vases in an imperfect manner compared to the vases from the Chinese golden era, Weiwei is making a comment on how society in China has declined, and continues to do so.
Art can be a very effective way to comment on the political nature of a person or place, as shown through the works of Weiwei. Art has a way of staying with its audience in a way that words cannot. It may be the visual nature, or the creative way that the political statement is being made, but it tends to have a larger effect on its audience than a simple speech could. Any political statement made through art seems radicle, but at the same time intriguing and begs the audience to take a closer look at the discrete nature of politics and what is happening in the world. Weiwei excels in making political comments through art, because they could be interpreted as political, or they could be interpreted as just art. After he was named one of the top 100 most powerful artists of our age by an American magazine, Chinese officials declared that there were much better artists, however Americans were just caught up in his skewed political views, and thus have elevated him beyond what he deserves. This proves that the meaning behind art is really entirely in the hands of the person who looks upon it. One person may just see some crudely painted vases, or a somewhat overweight, naked Asian man, but others see the power behind the statements these pieces of art are making.