In a candid conversation, Chief Artistic Officer & Global Director of Art Basel Fairs, Vincenzo de Bellis, and Artistic Director of Art Basel Qatar, Wael Shawky, unpack the ideas shaping the show’s inaugural edition. Their dialogue centers on ‘Becoming’, a theme inspired by the Gulf’s rapid transformation and the broader human drive toward change. They outline how the fair departs from conventional models with an open layout, solo presentations, and a deliberate emphasis on regional voices. They discuss how the Special Projects activate key sites and public spaces across Msheireb Downtown Doha, and Qatar’s long-term cultural ambitions.

Vincenzo de Bellis: Your theme for Art Basel Qatar, ‘Becoming’, is an all-encompassing topic that has been addressed through artworks in very different ways.

Wael Shawky: It came from how I see the Gulf today as a metaphor for a society with ambitious imagination for the future, how humanity in general wants to transform and develop to a higher system. It could be from a nomadic to an agricultural to an urban system, for example. It could be religious. It’s nowhere clearer to us than in the Gulf, where we see the rapid changes that happened in the last 30 years.

在豪瑟沃斯畫廊（Hauser & Wirth）的展位上，路易絲．布爾喬亞（Louise Bourgeois）的中期作品備受矚目。她的一幅色彩略顯晦暗的油畫《福利特先生：苗圃人》（Mr. Follett: Nursery-Man，1944）以250萬美元的價格售出；而一件纖細金屬雕塑《持續的對峙》（Persistent Antagonism，1946-1948）則以320萬美元的價格成交。此外，該藝廊呈獻的艾德．克拉克（Ed Clark）、亨利．泰勒（Henry Taylor）以及拉希德．詹森（Rashid Johnson）的作品均取得百萬美元級銷售成績，然而，本次展會中最重磅的交易無疑是喬治．康多（George Condo）的《Untitled (Taxi Painting)》（2011），該作品以400萬美元覓得買家。

VdB: The fair also includes artists from the region who are widely visible globally – Etel Adnan, Hassan Sharif or Simone Fattal for example. To some extent they’re a bridge for others less known on the global stage, and they underline the connection between the global and local that this fair is all about.

WS: It was interesting to see that many of the big galleries applied with artists that they feel [are making work that] can belong in the region. [Marlene Dumas’s new work addresses the conflict in Israel and Palestine for example.] Many respected the concept and theme of this art fair and the idea that they are also showing here in Qatar.

VdB: The Special Projects, whether they are newly conceived or iterated, have a very direct response to the to the place where they've been installed.

WS: Yes. Sumayya Vally’s project, for example, is located at Barahat, the biggest square, which is in front of M7, one site for the fair. Her work is an architectural space that deals with memory, time and performance, which we’re inviting people to be part of. It’s in one of the busiest places for the local community here in Qatar and surrounded by restaurants. We thought it would be really interesting to have this space that hosts many people occupied partly as an art piece.

VdB: The Special Projects are all in iconic locations, in fact.

WS: Khalil Rabah’s project is at Doha Design District, where the galleries are also staged. He’s interested in creating new formats for museums and this will look like an open museum of collected objects. Some are things he’s found in flea markets, and some really belong to families, migrants, including those from Palestine. Each object has its own memory, history and timeline. When he combines these objects inside an art fair, it also becomes a sort of analysis of the art market.

VdB: We chose Qatar as the site for the new fair, because the vision of Her Excellency, Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani is very aligned with our vision of building something that will generate cultural development, that will impact future generations far more than what can be imported from outside.

WS: I felt that it's important to be part of this fair because of everything happening here in Qatar. In setting up an intellectual discourse platform like Fire Station, emerging young artists are being invited from all over the world to be part of the cultural discussion. There’s also the long-term plan and philosophy that Qatar has, making Doha into a cultural hub for the region. There are new institutions, like the Art Mill or the Lusail Museum, and, of course, all the existing museums. Yet you still need to have a professional market in the whole region.

VdB: You’re an artist, but you’re also an educator and a community leader. You care about how this kind of project can be good for a community.

WS: For an artist to direct an art fair of this size is a first and it was important to make a statement with this debut edition. I wanted to try to reduce a gap between artists and fairs. Usually when my work is presented in fairs, I'm not involved in how it’s installed. The art piece becomes isolated from its original context. Here each gallery has a solo presentation for one artist. It means that there’s a narrative and artistic vision, less mine than the artist themselves on the booth.

巴塞爾藝術展邁阿密海灘展會將於2025年12月5至7日舉行，在此探索2025年邁阿密海灘展會的參展藝廊。

本文作者Elliat Albrecht是一位常駐加拿大的作家和編輯。

頁頂圖片標題：2025年巴塞爾藝術展邁阿密海灘展會，kó藝廊在「藝術史事」展區展出Nike Davies-Okundaye的《The lost cat》（1973），以10萬美元出售給托萊多藝術博物館

2025年12月4日發佈