Waiting for Basel
Art fairs are exceptional events in many ways. They attract people from all kinds of countries and backgrounds, who have very little in common. They enter Art Basel for all kinds of reasons, business, vanity, curiosity, social or individual. They are visitors, writers, artists, buyers, sellers, agents, deal brokers, socialites and photographers. (Who isn’t a photographer these days?). There is, however one thing, they all have in common. They wait. They wait for their friends or spouses, for appointments, a seat, the right moment to take a picture, to talk or greet to someone, they wait for a vernissage, their VIP pass or interview a performance or simply for their food. I love walking around Art Basel. And I am intrigued by the way people slowly move through the corridors. Sure, some of them are just afraid they might knock a 20 million dollar object over thus investing in art in an unexpected way. Others are just tired or absorbed by some new idea. Art fairs slow us down. Maybe this is why they are so exhausting? In the end most of us end up in a lounge or a restaurant where we wait for service. Waiting is an integral part of the art world experience, or perhaps of the human condition itself.
In this little series called “Waiting for Basel” I shot 15 black and white portraits of people waiting for things. There are no names, no subtitles or captions, because they are not needed in a series of the perhaps most democratic activity in the world.
Albrecht Behmel