Daniel Buren, Colors on the Rhine, 2010

My absolute favorite part of Art Basel was a new special exhibition project called Art Parcours. Throughout the city for three successive nights, site-specific artworks and performances by 10 artists were on view. Located in the historic center in both public spaces and historic buildings, the works were created to “engage both with today’s Basel and with its long history, weaving artistic interventions into the fabric of the city.”

Buren detail

Buren’s work cast multi-colored projected light across the Rhine river.

Angela Bulloch, Night Sky: Mercury and Venus, 2010

Angela Bulloch’s LED work which mimics a night sky was specially commissioned for Art Parcours and can be found hanging above the altar in the Münster Cathedral. Based on footage of NASA satellites, her work forces the viewer to rethink the divine.

Bulloch detail

John Bock’s performance piece involved taking a ferry across the Rhine with him adopting a persona from a Jack London book. Unfortunately, you had to get a separate ticket for the ferry ride and I was unable to experience it firsthand.

I thoroughly enjoyed Ryan Gander’s “Loose Associations.” A storyteller, Gander pontificated on one topic and then appeared to free associate using a slideshow that included elements from Pop Culture as well as from Gander’s own personal experiences. He utilized humor and kept a quick pace which made these extremely entertaining performances.

Damian Ortega, New Balance, 2010

In the interior courtyard of Basel’s City Hall, Damian Ortega installed a monumental work of the Goddess of Justice flanked by a three-armed scale, “New Balance,” which the audience was encouraged to engage with. Compromises and adjustments must be made in order to achieve equilibrium in this work just as in courts where law and justice prevail.

Nathalie Djurberg, Of Course I'm Working with Magic, 2010

Nestled in the cellar of the Natural History Museum were four screens depicting Nathalie Djurberg’s claymation videos. Due to the fact that Djurberg’s videos often depict animals and humans in their most “primal state,” the museum seemed like the logical choice to show her work.

Hans Berg

Hans Berg created a live soundtrack to one of the videos being screened adding energy and life to this ancient “cabinet of curiosities” setting.

Martha Rosler put on a “Fair Trade Garage Sale” in the Museum of Cultural History which she had originally done in 1973 in San Diego. By collecting objects from supporters of Ar Basel in the city, one man’s junk became the next visitor’s treasure. The garage sale “mimics the atmosphere of the nearby art show.” All proceeds went to a local charity.