the fair.
photo basel strives to include and combine galleries that are young as well as those that are renowned, Swiss exhibitors as well as international ones, those with a bold contemporary program as well as others with strong historic positions. The fair aims to provide its visitors and collectors with the ultimate chance to connect with galleries whose respective exhibition programs demonstrate a strong predilection for translating the DNA of momentous photographic practices, historic and contemporary, as well as a gift for revealing talents, from emerging or previously overlooked to underrated or established.
USPs of photo basel.
• an art fair solely dedicated for photography – the first in Switzerland, the only one in the German speaking world
• the only pure photography art fair parallel to Art Basel
• each year the fair attracts many collectors and visitors resulting in high sales
• a family-like driven organisation with personal and direct contacts
To enrich and broaden photo basel’s content, we will provide a program about and for photography contents with the aim to bring photography closer to the audience, to the public as well as collectors.
Gallery voices & statements
In 2019 for the 5th edition we feel Photo Basel again is stepping up. Although small in scale, it has become a mature fair with a strong program and professional appearance, attracting high-quality galleries and visitors alike. The new addition of the first floor space has given the fair the extra flexibility that it needed and the feedback we are receiving from visitors about the fair is very positive. Our sales have been strong and to a variety of existing and new clients. We look forward to the remainder of the fair and are certainly planning to come back next year.
Martijn van Pieterson, Founder, Ibasho Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
The fair has been a wonderful success for me. The number of important photographs on display at my colleague´s booths has definitely increased.
Ira Stehmann, Founder, Ira Stehmann Fine Art, Munich
"It was a highly successful fair for me. I appreciate the boutique character of the fair. I sold well and expect various sales after the fair is over. I can’t wait to come back to photo basel next year. The sky is the limit!"
Mirjam Cavegn, Galerie Bildhalle, Zürich, Switzerland
"It was a very good fair for me, there was a lot of interest in the work of Frank Maedler, and I had a good sale right at the start of the fair (one of the large format works of Maedler) and quite a few follow-up e-mails this last week. There is more going to happen. I did meet quite a few new clients and the general feedback I got was that the fair has made yet another big step, that the quality was very high and that visitors enjoyed the clear focus and the human scale of the fair. I also very much enjoyed the warm atmosphere among the exhibitors which is a big asset as well."
Peter Sillem - Galerie Peter Sillem, Frankfurt, Germany
"In its fourth edition, the fair lives up to its expectations. In the photography sector, it reached the level of Basel’s main fair. We have sold very well and to mostly new collectors."
Esther Woerdehoff, Galerie Esther Woerdehoff, Paris, France
“photo basel offers unique synergies both for collectors and galleries to profit from dozens of world class art fairs and tens of thousands of visitors when Basel becomes the capital of the art world for a week, annually in June since 1970. ”
Benjamin Füglister, Artistic Director, CAP Prize and Images Afrique & Member of the editorial network of European Photography, Berlin