The artist, publisher, book lover, and queer activist has celebrated his birthday at Art Basel in Basel every year since 1976

AA Bronson: 'Art Basel became a marker of time going by'

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<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/11376/AA-Bronson">AA Bronson</a> has a&nbsp;long-standing&nbsp;history with Art Basel. In this interview, he remembers his early years exhibiting at the show as part of the legendary collective&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/search?q=General%20Idea">General Idea</a> (with Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal, active 1969–1994) as well as his numerous participations with two cultural landmarks: Art Metropole, which he co-founded with Partz and Zontal, and Printed Matter, Inc., of which he was president and director for many years. He also speaks about why the week of&nbsp;Art Basel in Basel remains so important to him, year after year.

Clément Dirié: Art Basel is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. What were you doing in 1970?AA Bronson: In June 1970, Felix, Jorge, and I organized the 1970 Miss General Idea Pageant in Toronto, which was our first public event. It was really the beginning of General Idea. We didn’t know about Art Basel at that time.CD: When people think about Art Basel in Basel, they think about art. But in your case, the fair is also tied to something very personal: Your birthday is on June 16.AAB: It’s true. My birthday, by coincidence, always falls during Art Basel’s show in Basel. Having come every year since 1976, I am used to having my birthday here and it usually means nobody wants to know I am having my birthday, because they are too busy doing business. Consequently, these birthdays were all kind of nothing, but Art Basel became a marker of time going by for me. When I turned 70 in 2016, we had a special dinner for 70 people who were somehow related to&nbsp;my history with Art Basel. It seemed very appropriate.CD: Do you remember any other special birthday dinners?AAB: Nobody ever wanted to do a birthday dinner. When I turned 50, a couple of dealers organized a special dinner for me at the Italian restaurant Chez Donati. It was very nice, but actually, my best ever dinner story involves Lucio Amelio, one of the greatest dealers of all time, who&nbsp;represented General Idea through the 1970s and 80s.&nbsp;One&nbsp;year in the 1980s&nbsp;was particularly successful, and Lucio was one of those people who always wanted to be paid in cash – he always had this big wad of money in his pocket and&nbsp;he would put the biggest banknote on the outside. On the final evening of the fair, he took us to Chez Donati for dinner. It was a tradition back then that all the dealers went to Donati for the final dinner. We were sitting and having an amazing meal, and suddenly Lucio stood up in the middle of the restaurant and, holding his big roll of money in his hand over his head, he said,&nbsp;‘I will pay for everybody in the restaurant!’ Everyone screamed, ‘Lucio! Lucio!’ I think back then it was much less expensive than it would be now, maybe something like 5,000 CHF, but still not so bad for the 80s. I thought to myself, ‘It’s the price of a full-color ad in Artforum and much, much better advertising.’ Every significant dealer, especially in Europe, was there. It was a night to remember.

CD: What brought you to Art Basel for the first time in 1976?AAB: In 1974, General Idea founded Art Metropole, an artist-run space focused on the production, dissemination, and contextualization of artist-initiated publications in any media, and it is still active today. Two years before, we had launched our own magazine, FILE Megazine, which was dubbed ‘an alternative to the alternative press.’ In the 1970s, Kasper König was active in Canada as the editor of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design publishing program. He made a deal with Art Metropole to handle the Canadian distribution for his books. He said to me one day, ‘Here is the name of the Art Basel director. FILE Megazine should have a stand, as well as Art Metropole, in the magazine section. You should write them a letter.’ I wrote a letter and got an answer saying we could have a mini stand if we gave Art Basel a full-page ad. We were very excited, and we went.The main thing I remember about the first year was the opening night. There was an opening party with free beer and cheese, and there was a big room with a stage at the front and a performance was scheduled. The mid-1970s were the heyday of performance art –&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7800/Marina-Abramovi%C4%87" target="_blank">Marina Abramović</a> was much talked about that year. But the fair was not managed by art people yet and they didn’t really understand the difference between art dealers and companies making and selling tractors. Suddenly, there were five or six people dressed in giant cheese costumes, dancing to Swiss folk music. Everybody left as fast as they could. By the next year, the cheese dance was gone.

CD: And after that you didn’t miss a single edition.AAB: Right. At the beginning, we came for FILE Megazine and Art Metropole, but by 1977 Lucio had started to represent us and that same year, Jean-Christophe Ammann included us in a group show at the Kunsthalle Basel. In 1984, he gave us a solo show – our second institutional solo exhibition in Europe. Galerie Stampa in Basel also started to exhibit us in the late 1970s. In 1979, we participated in the first edition of the&nbsp;Perspective sector. Suddenly, we really became focused on Basel and we always sensed a very strong feeling of a second home here. Another person who was really important to us is artist and Ecart founder John Armleder: We were already in touch with him from Canada before we ever came here; in 1971–72 we corresponded with him and sent things to each other. For many years, John and&nbsp;Sylvie Fleury were in a way the mascots of Art Basel. They stood in for all the artists.Another moment I remember very clearly was the first year a photography section was included&nbsp;in the early&nbsp;1980s. It was very small, maybe eight tiny stands showing vintage photography. Nothing was over 150 USD. You could buy a masterpiece for that price. By the next year, the prices were 3,000 USD, the year after much more. Art Basel anticipated what was going to happen with photography, even somehow created it. They really altered the shape of the artworld by including that photography section. They completely opened people’s eyes to it. I think that was a really important moment in the history of art collecting.

CD: Did you enjoy coming every year?AAB: Yes, we always looked forward to it – I think maybe because fairs were different than they are now. We had more the feeling of a community, and there was less anxiety and more pleasure. You got to see old friends and make new ones. I never made any emotional connection to any other art fair, only Art Basel.One thing I have always liked about Art Basel is that they realized very early on that they needed to represent aspects of the artworld other than galleries, who were paying for their booths. There was always a little emphasis on non-profit organizations. In a way, John and Sylvie from Switzerland on the one hand, and us from North America on the other, represented the direct involvement of artists. From the 1970s to the late 90s, art fairs were not really any different from any other trade fair. Art Basel was the first to reflect a broader idea of what the artworld is. For instance, in the mid-2000s, with my friend and art publisher Lionel Bovier, I curated several large non-commercial exhibitions dedicated to artists’ books and magazines. Lionel was also running a presentation of artists’ records with John. I also remember the exhibition we organized with Art Metropole and Printed Matter in 2013 entitled ‘Learn to Read Art’, which featured&nbsp;100 contemporary book-works and multiples from the vast collection of Art Metropole; the collection is now at the National Gallery of Canada. Each of these initiatives was an important addition to the show.

CD: Can you tell me about your routine in Basel?AAB: Usually I arrive on Sunday and on the first day I visit the galleries' booths in the morning to see if there is any problem with the installation of my works and to talk to everybody. In the afternoon, I go to the Unlimited opening and then there is a dinner. There are usually two or three days of non-stop talking before there is any time to look at art. Also, I have been staying at Hotel&nbsp;Basilisk for 34 years now – since 1986. The manager when I first stayed was a teenage girl and the hotel belonged to her parents. Now there are drawings of her parents in the staircase and she is an older woman with her own&nbsp;children, who also work here. In a way, the hotel has changed, but it has also stayed the same. Most people stay in the same hotels in Basel year after year. I have even had the same room for at least 15 years. Call it a routine!AA Bronson and General Idea are represented by <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1265/Esther-Schipper">Esther Schipper</a>, Berlin, and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1607/Maureen-Paley">Maureen Paley</a>, London. General Idea is also represented by <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1194/Mai-36-Galerie">Mai 36 Galerie</a>, Zurich, and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1223/Mitchell-Innes-Nash">Mitchell-Innes &amp; Nash</a>, New York City.Top image:&nbsp;AA Bronson, 2020. Photo by Mark Jan Krayenhoff van de Leur.

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