Philipp Kaiser curates Public section at Art Basel Miami Beach 2017

Philipp Kaiser, an independent Swiss curator based in Los Angeles, will curate the Public section of Art Basel Miami Beach for the first time in 2017. The fair runs from December 7 to 10 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Kaiser, former director of the Ludwig Museum in Cologne and curator of the Swiss Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale—where he featured Carol Bove and the duo Teresa Hubbard/Alexander Birchler in homage to Alberto Giacometti—replaces Nicholas Baume, director and chief curator of New York's Public Art Fund, who curated the section since 2013. The 2017 Public section, set in Collins Park, focuses on the theme "Territoriale," exploring sculpture's claim to space through scale, intensity, and sound, referencing 1960s site-specific practices. Among the eleven works by established and emerging artists, a highlight is Daniel Buren's "Les Guirlandes," a re-creation of his 1982 Documenta 7 piece featuring striped decorative garlands in Collins Park and speakers playing sampled pieces from Jean-Baptiste Lully to Scott Joplin, interrupted by recitations in 14 languages. Cyprien Gaillard's video "Koe" examines territorial displacement, following a flock of exotic parakeets from Africa and Asia that established an ecological niche in Düsseldorf, Germany.