VOLTA at 20: Reframing the Art Fair in a World Where Visibility Is No Longer Enough
- Tallulah Patricia B
- Jun 6
- 5 min read
By Tallulah Patricia Bär
Art fairs are evolving. The question is—into what?
In a cultural economy saturated with spectacle, where relevance is measured by reach and emerging can feel indistinguishable from market-ready, the idea of a fair as a site of reflection—not just transaction—feels increasingly rare. Enter VOLTA, now in its 20th year, offering not a reinvention, but a realignment. It doesn’t posture. It doesn’t panic. It proposes. That the most intentional programming at Basel Art Week this year comes from a fair built on the premise of emergence is no accident—it’s an answer to a question many in the art world have stopped daring to ask: What makes a fair worth showing up for? They are necessary, yes—but they are also under pressure. To slow down, to include more voices meaningfully, and to evolve beyond the spectacle they have often become.
As the art world convenes once again for Art Week in Basel, this fair is using its 20th anniversary not to shout louder, but to recalibrate with purpose. VOLTA, founded in 2005 as a platform for emerging voices, now steps into its next chapter by asking better questions—about access, authorship, infrastructure, and care.
At the heart of this year’s evolution is ENGAGE + EMERGE, a new public programming initiative that brings together collectors, curators, artists, strategists, and cultural thinkers to consider not only what art gets seen—but why, where, and by whom.
What “Emerging” Really Means in 2025
Emerging used to suggest youth, novelty, or market potential. Today, it’s more layered. At
VOLTA, the term is being actively redefined—not as a temporary label, but as an entry point into long-term strategy, curatorial practice, and intentional visibility.
The fair’s 2025 layout reflects this shift. The SOLO section presents focused artist practices.
FIRSTS introduces smaller booths by debut galleries, giving them space to be seen without
being overwhelmed. And the Middle East and North Africa Pavilion marks a meaningful
curatorial investment: a spotlight on galleries from the MENA region, many of which are
exhibiting in Basel—and Europe—for the first time on their own terms. These aren’t token additions. They’re structural decisions. VOLTA’s commitment is not just to featuring the “new,” but to engaging with what’s emerging in the global art ecosystem
itself—geopolitically, economically, and culturally.
The Geopolitics of the Art Market: A Necessary Conversation
On Thursday, 19 June, I will moderate the opening ENGAGE session titled “The Geopolitics of the Art Market”—a curated roundtable designed to explore how cultural capital and artistic legitimacy are shaped in a world where influence is in flux.
Our conversation is set to take shape on VITRA Lounge chairs at Halle 4.U, Messeplatz 21 with:
● Adriano Picinati di Torcello, Director of Art & Finance at Deloitte Luxembourg, whose
long-standing work at the intersection of finance and culture has helped institutions
navigate a rapidly changing market. I first met Adriano at Deloitte’s Art & Finance
Breakfast during last year’s Art Basel—a conversation that affirmed how the economics
of art need not be stripped of complexity or ethics.
● Julia Lechbinska, founder of Lechbinska Gallery, who brings a sharp curatorial eye
rooted in Central and Eastern European contexts. Julia is also a board member of
VOLTA and alumna of Asia Society Switzerland, a role that reflects her longstanding
commitment to transregional dialogue and nuanced cultural framing. In all her practice
and work, she exemplifies what it means to operate with curatorial intent and geopolitical
awareness without falling into aesthetic tokenism.
● Lee Cavaliere, Artistic Director of VOLTA, whose background in institutional curating and
artist support has informed his leadership approach at the fair. Now in his second year at
the helm, Lee has expanded VOLTA’s curatorial coherence without compromising its
accessibility. He has insisted on structure where other fairs scale, and depth where
others default to trend.
In our preparatory call earlier this week, Lee, Julia, and I didn’t trade slogans. We exchanged
reflections—on language, on framing, on how not to fall into the trap of turning “geopolitics” into performance. What emerged was something more grounded: an understanding that
this panel will not be about taking political positions, but about examining cultural positioning itself.
Lee emphasized VOLTA’s refusal to tokenize or flatten. And we collectively agreed: this is not a debate. It’s a table. The purpose is not provocation, but proximity—to each other, and to the contexts that make art possible.
Together, we are not proposing art as political propaganda, nor are we reducing it to currency. But we are acknowledging that what is seen, funded, and collected is never neutral.
Markets have histories.
Aesthetics have power.
And geopolitics are embedded in the movement of objects, people, and narratives—whether explicitly declared or subtly encoded.
Opening the Doors—Literally
On Friday, 20 June, VOLTA opens to all Basel residents, free of charge, through the initiative
“Liebs Basel, Viele Dangg VOLTA.” It is a clear gesture of gratitude for twenty years of
hospitality, and it reframes the art fair as a civic space—not just a marketplace.
This initiative is not an afterthought. It is part of a deeper reimagining of how art fairs might begin to re-earn public trust—not only through prestige, but through participation.
From Local to Global: Rethinking the Trajectory
Later that same evening, the EMERGE program continues with “From Local to Global: How
Artists and Galleries Break Through,” moderated by curator and art historian Carrie Scott.
The panel features:
● Keabetswe Boccomino, Curator at Afrinovart,
● Katharina Brandl, Head of Visual Arts at Pro Helvetia,
● Stevenson Dunn Jr., Co-Founder of The Bishop Gallery,
● and Lee Cavaliere, in dialogue on what it takes to transition from local relevance to
international presence—without compromising identity or autonomy.
The discussion will resist linear narratives. Instead, it will explore what new infrastructure,
alliances, and institutional imagination might look like when artists and curators are centered, not instrumentalized.
VOLTA’s 20th Year: Less Rebranding, More Remembering
VOLTA is not trying to become the next headline fair. It does not compete on spectacle, scale, or spectacle-for-sponsorship’s sake. Instead, it is quietly reminding us what art fairs were originally meant to be: platforms for encounter, reflection, and alignment.
At a time when global crises compete for attention, when representation risks being flattened into checkbox optics, and when even cultural production is gamified for visibility, VOLTA is asking us to slow down and recalibrate.
Not to withdraw from the market—but to reshape what it is for.
Attend the Talks
The Geopolitics of the Art Market
🗓 Thursday, 19 June | ⏰ 3:00–4:00 PM
📍 VOLTA Basel | Messeplatz 21, Halle 4 U in Basel
🎙 With Adriano Picinati di Torcello, Julia Lechbinska, and Lee Cavaliere
For VIP access to the ENGAGE + EMERGE program, press invitations, or to continue this conversation beyond the panel, please contact me directly via LinkedIn.
This isn’t a provocation. It’s a proposition.
That art fairs, done with care, can still offer something more than transactions: they can offer
frameworks. Relationships. Reorientations.
VOLTA, at 20, reminds us that emergence is not about noise. It’s about focus. And sometimes, that’s what holds.
Finally, Amplify
For those looking to dive deeper into the forces shaping today’s art world, I highly recommend reading Alexandra Steinacker-Clark’s latest Amplify piece, where she previews her time in Basel—including our panel on the geopolitics of the art market.
Between river swims, rigorous conversations, and the rhythm of the city’s cultural pulse, it’s a thoughtful reflection on what makes this moment in Basel so compelling.
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