Observer’s Guide to 2024’s Must-Visit June Art Fairs

Here's what's happening on the art fair circuit this June in Basel and beyond.

The arrival of June ought to offer a reprieve after a busy May art fair calendar packed to the rafters with events both in and outside of New York City. But if the June art fair calendar is only refreshingly light because of Art Basel’s global dominance, at least the next best thing to a month off is a few weeks on the Rhine. Where NYC art fairs dominated the May calendar thanks to Frieze, the Art Basel satellite fairs are the order of the day in June, and we’re not complaining! It’s a real treat for those of us looking for a break from the city and a city’s worth of art.

BAD+ Bordeaux Art & Design 2024

May 31-June 2

“In Bordeaux, there’s a permanent presence of art in life, in the city, and in the vineyards, which we’ve demonstrated through partnerships with chateaus and prominent collectors like Smith Haut Lafitte, Chasse-Spleen, Fleur de Lisse or Pape Clément,” BAD+ founder Jean-Daniel Compain said in a recent statement. Held annually in Hangar 14, this fair, which is now holding its third edition, attracts a diverse crowd of approximately 15,000 visitors annually and showcases an impressive array of contemporary art from sixty or more French and international galleries. New this year are two new art and design awards (the BAD+ebabx Prize and the Château Kirwan Prize), a philanthropic gala dinner with a menu designed by twice-starred chef Mathieu Viannay and the fair’s first artist residency program, which will host Sean Crossley in the Yndō Cabin in Cap Ferret and Lélia Demoisy at Château Smith Haut Lafitte. As in past years, the art fair’s LAB+ lectures and roundtable discussions will bring together art professionals, art enthusiasts, specialists and notable thinkers.

Zurich Art Weekend 2024

June 7-9

Strategically scheduled to herald Art Basel, this year’s Zurich Art Weekend will feature a curated program of more than seventy-five exhibitions and 130 special events held across sixty venues, including public and private art institutions and innovative off-spaces throughout the city. The weekend, which launched in 2018, is notable for its inclusivity and accessibility—most events are free with a Public Pass or even open to spontaneous attendees and generally in close proximity, so visitors can drop into several venues over the course of a single day. Beyond the exhibitions, there are art walks, guided tours, artist talks, gallery breakfasts, art workshops, brunches and cocktail parties and more to help visitors engage with a diverse array of contemporary art and foster meaningful encounters in the art community.

VISION ART FAIR Lisbon 2024

June 7-10

This June art fair was founded by a group of gallery owners and curators who wanted to bring a large-scale contemporary fair to the region encompassing southern Spain and Portugal. Indeed, many of the exhibiting galleries are from Portugal or Spain, though the list of 2024 VISION ART FAIR exhibitors also includes galleries from the U.S., Russia, France, Luxembourg and Iran. Artists showing at the upcoming Lisbon edition of the fair, which will take place at the historic Cordoaria Nacional, include Adriana Setter from Spain, Alisa Aidarova from Portugal and Anina von Winterfeld from Germany. The venue is easily accessible, located on Avenida da Índia, and the fair’s layout is designed to enhance the viewing experience while also making art accessible—in some cases, attendees can purchase artwork directly from the artists.

Basel Social Club 2024

June 9-16

The third edition of this fair founded by a collective of artists, gallerists and curators who dreamed of making art events more social will take place outdoors—specifically, on 72 hectares of open farmland ten kilometers south of Art Basel. The sixty galleries that have signed up thus far are no doubt praying for good weather, though Robbie Fitzpatrick, co-founder of the fair and owner of Fitzpatrick Gallery, told the Financial Times that Basel Social Club will happen rain or shine. “This year we are telling people to come to the fields, drink a beer and enjoy art within nature,” he said. Basel Social Club is free and open to all, accessible by public transportation, full of affordable artworks and in many ways, more of a festival than an art fair, with live music, performances and food.

June Art Fair 2024

June 10-16

June Art Fair, with its evocative but somewhat hard-to-search name, is a gallery-founded and gallery-led international art fair that since 2019 has been celebrated for its inventive approach and chill atmosphere. This Art Basel satellite fair, founded by Christian Andersen and Esperanza Rosales, kicks off just before the hustle and bustle of Art Basel but offers art collectors and enthusiasts opportunities to engage more intimately with art and artist. (The very first edition of June Art Fair had no booths and the founders called it an ‘exhibition platform’ rather than a fair.) The setting is a conversation starter in and of itself: a repurposed bunker designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron that’s just a quick walk from Messeplatz.

VOLTA Basel 2024

June 10-16

Volta is the Italian word for ‘turn,’ and in literary circles, a volta is a rhetorical shift—a marked transition from one thought to another. It’s also a fitting name for this art fair that has since 2005 been a dynamic player on the art fair circuit. Initially conceived as a gathering between friends and dealers, VOLTA Basel has evolved into something of a crucible that blends a rigorous selection process and curatorial focus with innovation. This year, the newly appointed director of the VOLTA Art Fairs Lee Cavaliere told Observer that community and accessibility are big priorities. At Basel, “we’ve got a section called ‘Firsts,’ which we were able to do with a deal with a partner so we could get them reduced booth fees,” he said. “It’s a lower barrier for entering, and it’s amazing. We’ve got galleries from Mexico… Hong Kong… Beirut. It’s going to be a really exciting section and these galleries wouldn’t have been able to do it if it weren’t for that little bit of help.” Altogether, the fair will host more than forty-five galleries from twenty-four nations at Klybeck 610.

Liste Art Fair Basel 2024

June 10-16

One of the key Art Basel satellite fairs, Liste has been around since 1996 and has a well-earned reputation for innovative and edgy presentations, often featuring solo shows that highlight rising artists who are pushing boundaries. With a primary focus on “new aesthetics, media and values,” this fair often spotlights socially and politically engaged artworks and rising artists who go on to earn international acclaim. As of 2021, Liste is an art fair in three parts: there’s Liste Art Fair Basel, Liste Showtime Online and Liste Expedition Online. Liste Showtime, live from June 10 through June 23, is the digital edition of Liste Art Fair Basel—a place for artists and galleries who can’t make the Switzerland show to connect with art enthusiasts, collectors and curators. (Note: This digital art fair is real, unlike the now-defunct Digital Basel NFT platform that briefly masqueraded as one last year.) Liste Expedition Online, meanwhile, is a “non-commercial, digital research forum presenting the world’s newest and most important positions in contemporary art,” according to the fair’s website. Neither is a substitute for spending a day wandering Hall 1.1 to check out displays mounted by ninety-one galleries, however.

Photo Basel

June 11-16

Switzerland’s only art fair dedicated to photographic art, Photo Basel (founded in 2015) capitalizes on the crowds that come for Art Basel to promote photography as an art form and to bring together the major art players in this space. Held at Volkshaus Basel, its carefully curated exhibitions often include a mix of vintage and contemporary photography. This year’s edition of the fair will present a special exhibition, “Eyewitness Kurt Wyss in Dialogue with Jean Dubuffet,” which presents the work of Basel photographer Kurt Wyss who documented the work and life of French artist Jean Dubuffet from 1970 to 1985. Beyond Photography, a section that debuted last year, is coming back with another curated selection of photographic works that transcend the medium’s limitations through special printing techniques, unique presentation and other innovations.

Art Basel 2024

June 13-16

This international mega-fair known for drawing large international crowds likely needs no introduction, but here you go. To paraphrase Observer describing the fair way back in 2018: Art Basel is a pan-continental, seemingly year-round contemporary art extravaganza with major fairs every four months in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong with smaller exhibitions scattered across the globe at various intervals in between, but the fair’s original event, hosted every June in the Swiss city for which it’s named, is still considered the benchmark of blue chippery. It’s where “serious” collectors flock to scope out hundreds of the world’s most prestigious galleries, all of which have brought work by their latest and greatest artists to eagerly shill in the Messeplatz. All that still holds, and it’s worth pointing out that Art Basel plays a crucial role in the global art market, setting trends and standards in contemporary art exhibitions and sales. If you’re new to the art world and want to dive into the deep end of the pool, this is a good place to start.

Affordable Art Fair Sydney 2024

June 13-16

On the other hand, if you’re a novice collector and want to ease in, there’s no better fair than Affordable Art Fair. Launched in 1999 in London’s Battersea Park by Will Ramsay, this art fair takes its mission of democratizing the art market seriously by making contemporary art accessible and affordable to a wider audience through lower prices and installment-based payment plans. While the Affordable Art Fair fairs (held in numerous locations in the U.S., Australia, Asia and Europe) don’t typically feature “celebrity” artists, they do limit what’s on the walls to $10,000 or less. This year, Affordable Art Fair Sydney is coming to the Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs with fifty-seven galleries, primarily from Australia, but New Zealand and Hong Kong are also represented.