Basel's June 2010 Art Scene: Trockel, Barney, Basquiat, and Orozco

During Art Basel 2010, Basel's institutions mounted ambitious exhibitions. The Kunstmuseum presented Gabriel Orozco's show, traveling from New York to Paris and London, focusing on his relationship to territory, geography, and cosmology. However, the installation felt too sparse for the vast rooms. At the Schaulager, Matthew Barney's exhibition, housed in Herzog & de Meuron's architecture, was spectacular but lacked interiority, feeling more like entering the artist's psyche than engaging with reality. Rodney Graham's show at the Kunstmuseum's second venue similarly felt introspective. At the Fondation Beyeler, Jean-Michel Basquiat triumphed with a focused curatorial theme on the human figure, clear hanging, and bright spaces; his urban work gained density and depth. A selection of Félix González-Torres works was also successfully integrated. The standout was Rosemarie Trockel's dual exhibition: at the Kunstmuseum's print cabinet, works on paper, collages, and artist books; at the Kunsthalle Zurich, paintings, sculptures, videos, and installations. Trockel's work reappropriates artistic territory, art as a woman, and the world as a citizen through rereadings and subversions, offering both a perfect illustration of the contemporary world and its sharpest critique.