Phaidon at Art Basel

To mark the launch of Creamier — Phaidon’s up-to-the-minute global survey of today’s most significant emerging artists — Craig Garrett, Commissioning Editor for Contemporary Art at Phaidon Press, will be at Art Basel discussing current issues in contemporary art with one of the artists featured in the book, Spartacus Chetwynd, and two of its curators, Chus Martinez, Chief Curator at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, and Adam Szymczyk, Director of the Kunsthalle Basel.

Creamier is the latest instalment in Phaidon’s Cream series, in each volume of which ten top international curators select one hundred emerging contemporary artists from around the world. For Creamier, Chus Martínez has chosen ten artists from Europe and Latin America, including Brazilian installation artist Renata Lucas and Bilbao-based Ibon Aranberri, whose work was featured in Documenta 12. Adam Szymczyk’s choices include Polish artist Anna Molska, whose videos were recently featured in a special screening at Tate Modern, and American-born Zachary Formwalt, whose work Szymcyzk selected for a solo show last year at the Kunsthalle Basel.

‘When we first began work on Creamier, several big questions hung in the air, such as how art would be affected by the economic downturn and what impact the new emphasis on performance would have on other mediums. Because Creamier provides such a brilliant cross-section of today’s art, it’s not only a book to read for answers to those questions but also a generator for tomorrow’s questions,’ explains Craig. ‘Adam, Chus and Spartacus are all rising stars who’ll be shaping the future of art, and Art Basel will be the perfect context to discuss that future.’

The discussion will take place in Hall 1, Auditorium, at Art Basel, on Thursday 17 June 2010 at 6pm.