Few people would have predicted that a loquacious drama about a woman foreign service professional would have been Netflix’s next big hit. But everyone is talking about “The Diplomat” – for good reason. The series, starring Keri Russell as the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, debuted at No. 1 on the streaming charts. Critics...
Art & Style
Hollywood Writers Strike: AI Concerns, Industry Consequences
Hollywood screenwriters have gone on strike. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) seeks higher pay, upfront fees from streaming services, better working conditions and reassurance that studios won’t use artificial intelligence programs to generate scripts. The last WGA strike, 15 years ago, led to permanent changes in the entertainment landscape, such as the rise of...
‘When the Pictures on the Walls of Paris Bar Begin to Speak.’
German playwright Heiner Müller once dubbed Paris Bar the ‘hell of Berlin bars.’ Müller lived in the Communist East, but had documents that allowed him to pass between East and West when the Berlin Wall still divided the city. In the 1980s, he was a regular at Kantstrasse 152. Then as now, Paris Bar felt...
Art World Legend Jeffrey Deitch on Vanessa Beecroft and Kim Kardashian
For the fifth installment of Pierre-Alexandre Mateos and Charles Teyssou’s series of interviews on iconic exhibitions in commercial galleries, the curator-duo talk to gallerist Jeffrey Deitch about the Vanessa Beecroft performance that launched his New York gallery in 1996. Pierre-Alexandre Mateos and Charles Teyssou: You launched your gallery on Grand Street in New York in 1996 with a celebrated performance...
The Barber of Seville: Old Favorite, Contemporary Charm
It’s hard to resist the cheery, familiar music and vocals of The Barber of Seville. One of the most beloved operas and certainly among the most familiar, Barber is a perennial crowd pleaser; but any worthy company that stages it knows not to be lazy about the production. Barber calls for quality performance, enjoyable, and...
For Guadalupe Maravilla, Optimism Is the First Medicine
Wherever he goes, Guadalupe Maravilla plays a childhood game called tripa chuca, or ‘rotten guts’. Two people take turns connecting numbers on paper by drawing lines that cannot touch, creating a map that tracks how they charted a path in relation to each other. Maravilla played tripa chuca throughout his journey from El Salvador to the United States in...
Yto Barrada on Fixing the World with a Dye Garden
In the first interview in a new series dedicated to artists’ work beyond art, we (Art Basel) speak to Yto Barrada about her vision for The Mothership, a community-led research center grounded in the Moroccan landscape. Artists don’t just make art. Over a decade ago, this realization led to the launch of ‘The Future of Art Practices:...
Why Milan Is More Than Just Fashion and Design
Contemporary art has found its footing in the home of Salone del Mobile When contemporary art and Milan come up in conversation, many observers point to one seminal event that put the city on the art world’s radar: Expo 2015. Before the world’s fair, Milan’s two leading creative industries – fashion and design – routinely...
Inner Worlds | Fashion designer Guo Pei
The haute couturière behind Rihanna’s iconic Met Gala dress creates wearable masterpieces that put Chinese cultural heritage center stage. Art Basel’s ‘Inner Worlds’ film series visits creatives in the places that most inspire them Discover the world of Guo Pei, the renowned Chinese couturière and founder of Rose Studio. For the latest episode of our...
The Global Art Market Grew to $67.8 Billion in 2022, Exceeding Pre-Pandemic Levels
The global art market totaled $67.8 billion in 2022, growing by 3% year-over-year and reaching its second-highest level to date, according to The Art Market 2023, authored by Dr. Clare McAndrew, Founder of Arts Economics and published by Art Basel in partnership with UBS. The report can be downloaded for free here. This put the market slightly...