Liste Art Fair Basel will celebrate its 30th edition (Liste 30) this June. What began in 1996 as a bold initiative by young gallerists has evolved into the leading international fair for contemporary art of a new generation.
For this anniversary edition, Liste will bring together 99 galleries from 31 countries – including 48 first-time participants – showcasing the relevance and diversity of young, independent artistic practices. With a strong emphasis on focused solo presentations and spotlighting emerging galleries, Liste continues to fulfil its mission: to create platforms for pioneering artistic voices, often granting artists their first moments of international visibility.
Supporting young galleries has always been at the core of Liste. For three decades, the Liste Foundation Basel, together with the Friends of Liste, has supported particularly ambitious presentations. This year, 11 galleries have received targeted production support, including Bonny Poon / Conditions, Toronto; King’s Leap, New York; and Parallel Oaxaca, Oaxaca. This funding model significantly contributes to both the artistic quality and the international visibility experienced at Liste.
Galleries
In its 30th year, Liste will present 99 galleries from 31 countries: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
51 galleries will return with new programmes. Among them are Drei, Cologne, with a group presentation by Rosa Aiello and Matthias Noggler that explores social dynamics in urban environments; Blue Velvet, Zurich/Madrid, presenting sculptures by François Durel that link personal obsessions to collective experiences; Rose Easton, London, showing works by Arlette that blend Mexican and Swiss craft traditions into a playful reflection on art and commerce; Cylinder, Seoul, dedicating a poetic group show to Peru’s Nazca Lines, with Eusung Lee and Sunwon Chang asking questions about culture, myth and spatial perception; Laveronica, Modica, presenting Jonas Staal’s installation How to Make Yachts Extinct (2022–ongoing), a political visual campaign against symbols of global inequality; Parallel Oaxaca, Oaxaca, showing figurative works by Nahum B Zenil that explore queer identity and embodiment within a Mexican context; Silke Lindner, New York, featuring sculptural works by Gozié Ojini that weave together sound, materiality and history through the lens of hip-hop sampling; and Suprainfinit, Bucharest, celebrating its 10th anniversary with a collaboration between Miruna Radovici and Man Yau – a dynamic position navigating the watery boundaries between concept and figuration.
48 galleries will participate in Liste for the first time. These include Bar, Turin, presenting a sculptural installation by Sara Ravelli that consists of papier-mâché mechanical eyes inspired by carnival floats; Shower and Whistle, both from Seoul, showcasing works by Yonsok Yi and Kyoungtae Kim in a joint booth that explores housing and states of exception; Valerie’s Factory, Buenos Aires, presenting paintings and sculptures by Trinidad Metz Brea and Valentina Quintero, who view nature as a queer, fluid dimension; Roland Ross, Margate, showing works by Sara MacKillop, whose precise formal interventions reflect on authorship, materiality and cultural tourism; Numanohashi, Tokyo, bringing together the two painterly voices of Paul Gondry and Itsuki Kaito; Turnus, Warsaw, showing a group presentation with Wiktoria Kieniksman and Mikoaj Sobotka, who use sculpture, graphics and installation to comment on societal notions of identity, femininity and time; and Chris Andrews, Montreal, showing Connie Wilson’s sculptural “oil tanks”’ whose miniature interiors can be viewed through peepholes.
Full list of Galleries: HERE
Featured Guests
With its newly designed architecture, Liste launches Wall, a platform dedicated to project spaces and artist-run initiatives. Invited participants include The Wig, Berlin; Galerina, London; and Institut Funder Bakke, Silkeborg – all using the walls for specially curated artistic projects. The Spine Book Forum, curated by art book publisher Distanz, serves as the fair’s new bookshop, featuring around 100 new publications from 30 publishers spanning the fields of art, literature, theory, architecture and film.
Helvetia Art Prize
Helvetia Insurance returns with its annual prize for an outstanding graduate of a Swiss art school. This year’s winner, Virginie Sistek (b. 1999), addresses social power structures and mechanisms of conformity in her installations, performances and videos. With subtle narrative precision and subversive humour, she questions forms of control and domestication. The prize includes an award of CHF 15,000 and a solo presentation at Liste.
Daily Programme
For its 30th edition, Liste will present a new series of daily events that activate various spaces of the fair hall. These include a performance programme featuring international artists and developed in collaboration with curator Jacob Fabricius; the Show and Tell format, in which figures from the art world engage in talks and panel discussions; and five workshops hosted by artist Tina Braegger, who invites children to create their own versions of the iconic Grateful Dead bears. DETAILS
Architecture
The fair’s exhibition architecture is based on a new spatial concept developed by Basel-based studio Martina Kausch Architektinnen for Liste 2025. Existing structures have been reconfigured and repurposed to create a new rhythm within the hall. The result is a variety of settings and unexpected sightlines that generate diverse visual and spatial experiences, engendering new encounters between art and audience.
“The new layout creates a range of atmospheres – from intimate zones to open plazas – and invites visitors on a journey of discovery with high spatial quality. It is a dynamic framework that promotes exchange and makes space for the unexpected.”
—Martina Kausch, Martina Kausch Architektinnen
New Directorship
Liste 2025 marks the first edition of the fair under the new directorship of Nikola Dietrich. In this position, Dietrich returns to Basel, where she led the Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Kunstmuseum Basel) from 2008–2013. She previously worked as a curator at Portikus, Frankfurt, and most recently directed the Kölnischer Kunstverein (2018–2023). Her sensibility for emerging practices and relevant discourse now shapes the future of the fair.
“As a site of discourse, Liste has always been closely connected to both the production and evolution of emerging as well as established or trailblazing artists. The fair explores young art scenes and evolving forms of expression – not merely by tracing trends but also by responding to shifts and disruptions. As a communal gathering space, it also offers a unique sensual dimension to contemporary art, fostering long-term connections between collectors, artists, gallerists and curators and strategically positioning them within the international art market.”
—Nikola Dietrich, Director, Liste
Liste Art Fair Basel 16th–22nd June 2025, Messe Basel, Hall 1.1 @liste_art_fair_basel
VIP Preview: Monday, 16th June, 11 am – 6 pm (by invitation only) Opening: Monday, 16th June, 6–8 pm (free entry)
