Vincent Anthony Falkiewicz

Of all the art and artists displayed at the 42nd Art Basel, none is quite as controversial as that of "incarcerated Chinese sculptor and performance artist Ai Weiwei (Allsop 1)."  He was recently arrested by officials of the People's Republic of China, but several protests have been conducted to free the free speaking artist.  Although many expected his arrest to spark a large number of people to attend these protests, "some protests have been sparsely attended."  Even though his protests have been sparsely attended, it has done wonders for his works.  Specifically, a collection of pictures of "500 of the 1001 Chinese people that he brought to Kassel in 2007 as part of his art work named Fairytale (Allsop 1)" has been the talk of the show.  This was part of the reason he was incarcerated, hence the reason it is so highly discussed.  Considering he was arrested for it, I don't think this was a marketing strategy of his.  Otherwise it would have ended with him not in jail.  However, even though it's not a specific strategy, the arrest has certainly helped bring attention to his art, specifically Fairytale.  Normally, this type of attention varies on how it affects the price of the artist's work.  In the case of Weiwei, no such effect is apparent.  However, information is limited on the price of works displayed.  Weiwei does prove how an artist with significant representation and respect in the contemporary art world can have significantly more attention be drawn to his work though. 

http://www.courrielche.com/?p=1011

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-16/world/basel.art.parcours_1_american-artist-walls-gallery?_s=PM:WORLD

Erica Gilbert-Levin  

Kimberly Ann Phoenix  

Art Basel is one of 23 art fairs the happen in the month of June.  The crowds at the art fairs this year have been large.  According to the Huffington Post in the first day of the show over 300 private jets landing bringing the wealthy and famous to view and buy the art on display. Philip Hoffman, who foundered The Fine Art Fund Group, noted people are looking for other places to invest because of the unstable currency market, low interest rates and high inflation is some places art is getting a closer look (3 Huffingtonpost.com).  Although there is a change in the buyers, many are wealthy Chinese who are buying Asian, Western, and European art, Americans have been absent maybe because of the weak dollar, speculated by Anee-Claudie Coric, director of Galerie Daniel Templon of Paris (3 Hoffingtonpost.com).  According to ArtVista one way for new collectors to recognize a good gallery is to see it they show at the art fairs, the galleries who show at some of the major art fair, Art Basel, Frieze Art Fair, and Armory Show have good reputations in the art world. 

Will Farrel and artist Christian Marclay   
Theodorah Vischer who is the founding director of Schaulager and the senior curator-at-large at the Foundation Beger has picked a Jeff Koons sculpture as one of her favorite at this year fair.  The sculpture is called "Seal Walrus Trash Cans" with an estimated value of just under 5 million dollars.  Vischer feels this sculpture has attitude and a quite unique that is refreshing this year (Shaw).

Politics is not far from Art Basel this year, in March when the selection committee had made the final list of 300 galleries to show this year, several Berlin galleries were not on the list.  The Eigan & Art, one of the most recognized, owned by Gerd Harry Lybke was one of those galleriesnot selected to show at the fair.  Gerd said the artists he represents, Neo Rauch, Marin Eder, and Casten Nicolai, will not be at the fair in support of the gallery not making the final list.  He is claiming that the 3 members of the committee from other Berlin galleries do not like him and wanted to keep him out of the show (artinfo.com).   When art info contacted Art Basel for a comment they dismissed this as a clever publicity stunt.   The other big political story this year is Anish Kapoor, he was to donate a sculpture to the National Museum of China he has decided not to in protest of the detention of Ai Weiwei.  Ai has been detained for "economic crimes" against the Chinese government.  Kapoor is taking a stand to bring publicist to Ai situation.   

   Anish Kapoor

1.http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Anish%20Kapoor%20rejects%20China%20show%20in%20support%20of%20Ai%20Weiwei/23991

 2.http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Jeff-Koons:-The-pain-of-inflation/24008

 3.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/18/art-basel-sales-suggest-a_n_879588.htm

 ArtVista.com

 Anny Shaw, Art Basel daily edition, 16 June 2011

 http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36866/they-messed-with-the-wrong-person-rejected-berlin-dealer-feuds-with-art-basel-selection-committee/

 http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36866/they-messed-with-the-wrong-person-rejected-berlin-dealer-feuds-with-art-basel-selection-committee/

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/16/will-ferrell-larry-gagosian-more-notables-at-art-basel-bash-for-christian-marclay.html