One says Art Basel and thinks of the Art fair held in mid-June in Basel. The most important in the world, agree those who have seen it grow in a disruptive way year after year and those who find themselves catapulted into this cosmopolitan babel, temple par excellence of the languages of art of our time, modern and contemporary. Artists, works, exhibitors, public from all over the world concentrated in a week. The public, first the circle of VIPs and then the others, wanders among the stands to see, to recognize and recognize themselves in this artificial world of chipboard walls, ready and to return to the warehouse with the same order of their magical appearance.
Not works, works travel. Inside homes and museums, inside people, in their bank accounts but also in an often intimate space. Those of Art Basel (next edition from 19 to 22 June 2025) are relevant expressions (only time will place them among the masterpieces, perhaps) of an «immaterial idea that has become a commodity», as Harald Szeemann told me in an interview (“Arte Svizzera”, SPSAS magazine, 1.91). A romantic idea? When I asked Giuseppe Panza di Biumo the reason for his irresistible collecting he answered me/himself: «Why do I collect? Perhaps to touch the invisible with my eyes and with my soul».
Art Basel is a delightful, tiring annual event. But the largest and most prestigious art fair in the world is essentially a business. The work of Noah Horowitz, chief executive manager who does not like to be called general manager, is typically entrepreneurial. He is supported by Vincenzo De Bellis, director Fairs and Exhibition Platforms. He works with the directors of the industry, if you like, of the Art Basel brand in the world. As Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor from 1519, can realistically say “The sun never sets on my kingdom,” obviously replacing kingdom with holding and mine with the one he is temporarily dealing with.
The sun always shines because Art Basel is a trademark not limited to the Rhine city whose name it bears and where it was born and raised. Art Basel is in Miami Beach, Hong Kong and Paris. The present and future of Art are built on the past, on the centuries-old collaboration between public and private, between collecting and the need to share, which has set a precedent in the world. The modern museum model starts from here. Where the culture is lived, encouraged and celebrated. A limited surface is enough to find an extremely dense, high-level offer. Appreciated, often longed for.
In Basel, nearly forty museums showcase innovative visual art from antiquity to the present. The first-class special exhibitions of the Fondation Beyeler, the Kunstmuseum and the Antikenmuseum are world-renowned. The quality of the exhibitions has also been praised by the discerning London Times.
Walking through the streets and alleys of the old town of Grossbasel means traveling through different eras, among the remains of the ancient city walls, monumental medieval gates, Romanesque and Gothic works of art such as the red sandstone Cathedral, the blood-red Parliament Building, the elegant Renaissance buildings. Now the Roche Tower, the tallest building in Switzerland and home to the famous pharmaceutical group, stands out on the urban panorama. Just beyond is the Vitra Campus with its Vitra Design Museum, and then the futuristic buildings of star architects such as Frank O. Gehry, Herzog & de Meuron, Mario Botta and Zaha Hadid, which have become true emblems of the city.
So the past, the complicated history, the culture, the art. And it doesn't matter if few of the many new visitors, who like the Magi come mainly from the East, are not interested in knowing that here Calvin finished, in August 1535, the first edition of his work considered the best, for clarity and precision, of the entire Reformation: the Institutio christianae religionis. They say that most would like to land in Paris, other charm, other grandeur. They have to settle for the largest (and most organized) art fair in the world. Patience. In Paris, Grand Palais, they will go in October to Art Basel Paris. They will also find Oh la la, a name, a program.
A feat, I was saying. In fact, Art Basel is owned by the MCH Group, a multinational marketing company based in Basel whose main event was once Baselworld. Remember the unmissable watch fair, long one of the most prestigious emblems of Swiss industriousness? At its peak, 2010-15, it hosted 1.500 exhibitors from 40 nations in 140.000 square meters and welcomed over 150.000 visitors. It was abruptly closed in 2019, leaving a black hole in the group's finances, further expanded by the pandemic. But the roots of the Fair were deep, difficult to uproot since they were sunk in the "Schweizer Mustermesse", founded in 1916.
A century-old history revived and relaunched in a new form. Today, MCH Group is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Until 2020, the cantons of Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft and Zurich and the city of Zurich held 49% of the share capital. The Extraordinary General Meeting of 3 August 2020 approved two capital increases and the abolition of the transferability restriction. It also decided that Lupa Systems, an investment company controlled by James Murdoch, would become the new reference shareholder of MCH Group with at least 30%, with an option of up to 49%. After the additional capital increase, Lupa's shareholding is 38,52%, while the public sector holds 39,02%: Canton of Basel-Stadt 37,52%, Canton and City of Zurich 1,50%. The finances are healthy, a more aggressive expansion strategy has been adopted with several tens of millions of dollars ready for further investment. MCH Group also rents its infrastructure in Basel and Zurich to external organizers of exhibitions, congresses and events. 162.000 m² in Basel and 33.000 m² in Zurich.
The core business of MCH Group is the organization of international and national exhibitions. There are currently 25, the most important ones revolve around Art Basel, with events in Basel, Miami Beach, Paris and Hong Kong, in addition to the Swiss exhibitions Swissbau, IGEHO, Giardina and HOLZ. Founded in 1957, HOLZ is an emblematic case, one might say typically Swiss as it enhances the tradition and attachment to this natural material among professionals in the wood industry. The aura of sympathy it enjoys comes from the ancestral familiarity with wood, but also from national-popular events such as the Swiss Carpenters' Championship, the Innovation Award and the election of the young star of the wood industry. A completely different climate for Fantasy Basel, a Swiss convention for fans of films, fantasy, games, comics and cosplay, founded in 2015. The next edition will be from 29 to 31 May 2025, obviously at Messe Basel, glass and concrete.
Behind closed doors, that is, running on the Internet, here is Live Marketing Solutions, general contractor, specialized designer, manufacturer and supplier, all in one, all over the world. From conception to design to implementation, all included. Here are Messebau Events with the companies MCH Global, MC2 and Expomobilia. They offer services in the areas of strategy, conception, marketing, sponsorship, event management and stand construction. Art Basel in a global version, so much so that, returning to the art fair, the participants we still call them Art Galleries but in truth they are multinationals with headquarters in strategic points of the world, hundreds, sometimes thousands of employees. Like the Swiss Hauser & Wirth, founded in Zurich 32 years ago, various “locations” in New York, Los Angeles and Hollywood, in Great Britain, Spain, Hong Kong, France-Monte Carlo and obviously Switzerland: triple Zurich, Basel, St. Moritz, Gstaad…
Gone are the pioneering times of the 70s, when Art Basel was an expression of galleries and gallerists, art enthusiasts and critics. In 1970, over 16.000 guests visited the first Art, founded by a female and two female gallery owners from Basel: Trudl Bruckner, Ernst Beyeler and Balz Hilt. In just two years, the exhibition space and visitors doubled. Since 1999, Art Unlimited, directed for years by Giovanni Carmine, has offered space for large-scale works of art: sculptures, paintings and photographs, video projections and live performances.
The “mother of all art fairs” is now present four times a year on three continents: in March in Hong Kong, in June in Basel, in October in Paris and in December in Miami Beach. In 2002, Art Basel’s first daughter, the Miami Beach art fair, celebrated its debut in the States with 160 galleries from 23 countries, followed 11 years later by Art Basel Hong Kong. There was enormous fanfare over the coup with which MCH Group, i.e. Art Basel, acquired the powerful and previously unassailable FIAC, Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain at the Grand Palais in Paris in January 2022. Founded in 1974, it had become not only the leading French art fair but also the emblem of the renewal of Paris’s phenomenal artistic tradition, thanks to contemporary art. Dismay, suspicions, and controversy also arose among the management of RX-France, a subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch company RX, owner of Fiac, which had reacted by denouncing that such an important change would have "significant repercussions for many actors in the cultural scene". The new event, immediately called Paris + par Art Basel, to give it a profile differentiated from the group's other activities, continued on, ignoring the controversy.
Paris, now simply Art Basel Paris, was the most high-profile move, the masterstroke, but MCH had already established new partnerships to consolidate its pre-eminent position in the art fair market. Starting from where? Naturally from one of the most receptive and flourishing markets, the United States. MCH-Art Basel did not throw itself headlong into large centers such as New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. It focused on Miami, taking advantage of the attraction of the mild climate, the absence of competition and therefore total operational freedom. A resounding success right from the first edition, 2003. Rapidly, large amounts of capital began to flow in from the growing Asian wealthy class, which was looking to diversify and refine its investments. Oh yeah? Let's go meet them. No sooner said than done, here it is, 2013, Art Basel Hong Kong. In the meantime, it was not frightened by the grip on the autonomous territory by the Chinese government, which limited freedom and ease in the artistic field and further tightened after 2019. Instead, it looked ahead to the immense Chinese market hungry for new investments. And then from Hong Kong it was possible to establish collaborations with emerging fairs, Art Week Tokyo and Singapore. Moreover, in this way, reacting to the expansion of its main, and only fearsome competitor, Frieze.
Born as a magazine in 1991, it had suddenly become the most influential international publication in the sector. Until 2012, when it opened in Regent's Park, in the heart of London, an annual event with a perspective on thousands of years of art history, from collectibles to the most significant masterpieces of antiquity and the old masters up to the end of the XNUMXth century. Then came Frieze Los Angeles and Frieze Seoul, in addition to the acquisition of Expo New York and Expo Chicago, creating a strong connection between London and the United States. Now the two look at each other and study each other, each with its own structure, each with its own entrepreneurial and cultural strategy. The big brands are them, Art Basel and Frieze.
Over the past twenty years, the expansion has been powerful and the respective territories clearly defined. Art Basel, long-lived and prestigious, has remained at the top of the European calendar while keeping a foot in the United States (Miami) and Asia (Hong Kong, followed by an ecosystem of satellites. Art Basel sets the entire art circuit in motion: museums show the best shows of the year, art galleries in Zurich offer an Art Weekend before the fair to satisfy visiting collectors, and satellite exhibitions such as Liste and Volta stand out. The same phenomenon in London and Los Angeles during Frieze. New York is a special case for its formidable gallery offering and more complicated art circuit. But are you willing to bet that MCH-Art Basel is studying one of its own?
