Last year, Art Basel at its home location was dominated by the Corona crisis, because of which it finally took place in September instead of in midsummer after a year's break.

Next week it starts again at its traditional date, but is overshadowed by the Ukraine war.

How does all this affect the largest art fair in the world?

Ursula Scheer

Editor in the Feuilleton.

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There are two aspects: The pandemic is still not completely over and, for example, still restricts travel from certain parts of Asia.

But for the first time since 2019 we can hold the fair in Basel again in June.

I think that will create a strong sense of familiarity that we haven't had in three years - especially since many who come to Basel either go to the Venice Biennale beforehand or go there afterwards.

The impact of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine is harder to gauge.

We don't have any Russian or Ukrainian galleries at the fair, and the weight of Russian collectors has been relatively small for quite some time.

We will therefore probably not feel the immediate effects of the war.

But the war has strong effects on supply chains and prices.

And I assume that we will see artistic works grouped around the themes of the pandemic and war.

There are also galleries that are thinking about how to adapt their presentation to the current situation.

Is the art world becoming more political?

And how should the trade fair position itself in this context?

I'm also thinking of the Art Basel Hong Kong that just ended and the democracy movement that was under pressure there.

On the one hand, we are not a political party and do not have to take a position on every political issue.

On the other hand, given the situation in Ukraine, we want to set up initiatives with our parent company to provide humanitarian aid;

this includes donating a significant sum of money.

We are monitoring the situation in Hong Kong very closely.

So far we haven't experienced any censorship.

The city and government recognize the importance of the art fair to Hong Kong's cultural landscape.

The people in the art scene want us there.

Are mega fairs like Art Basel still up to date given the global challenges, including the climate crisis?

Or has the pandemic shown that you can position yourself completely differently and more sustainably?

Even before the pandemic, we started reviewing the environmental impact of what we do.

For example, we asked ourselves: How can we use recycled material and recycle material ourselves?

What can we do together with galleries to ensure that artworks are transported differently?

During the pandemic there was a broad discussion about whether there would be less travel after it ended, whether the art world would go digital and regionalize.

I think that is not the case.

Perhaps people are no longer willing to attend as many events as possible.

But they will still come to the events that they consider meaningful.

Will we fly across the ocean for just one meeting?

Probably not.

Will people seek personal encounters,

when making important decisions when buying a major work of art or choosing an artist for a major exhibition?

Yes, definitely.

That doesn't mean that, as an industry, we shouldn't drive meaningful and science-based changes that reduce our environmental footprint.

Art Basel has joined the Gallery Climate Coalition, whose goal is to enable a more sustainable art world and halve carbon emissions within the next decade.

What do you think are the most important trends on the art market at the moment?