{"id":85852,"date":"2026-06-17T08:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/85852\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T08:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T08:40:14","slug":"art-basel-diary-mouse-in-the-house-kanye-at-unlimited-and-cattelans-banana-gets-supersized-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/85852\/","title":{"rendered":"Art Basel Diary: mouse in the house, Kanye at Unlimited, and Cattelan’s banana gets supersized – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eek! Tiny mouse makes big noise at fair<\/p>\n

Among the maximalist outsize works dotted around Unlimited at Art Basel, a minuscule (animatronic) talking mouse peeping out of a wall is making the biggest noise. The work by the UK artist Ryan Gander\u2014I\u2019ve felt everything I\u2019m going to feel\u2014The Unspeakable World (2026)\u2014is the latest in a long-running series of talking mice voiced by one of the artist\u2019s daughters. The rodent is vocal for a reason though, explains Gander. \u201cThe mouse says that she is in this situation where she has been given this privilege of attention but she doesn\u2019t have anything to say so she questions why she has been chosen to speak. This is a weird reflection of internet influencers\u2014everyone wants to be heard but they don\u2019t have anything to say,\u201d Gander tells The Art Newspaper. Clearly the biggest squeak comes from the tiniest masterpiece.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kanye takes a stroll around the Unlimited section of Art Basel Instagram<\/p>\n

Gig or no gig, Kanye shows up in Basel\"\"<\/p>\n

The gift that keeps giving: a Cattelan-style duct-taped banana is gracing advertising billboards around Basel The Art Newspaper<\/p>\n

The controversial rapper Kanye West, known as Ye, rolled up to Art Basel on Monday where he was photographed in the Unlimited section. \u201cWhether he simply admired the art or made any purchases remains a mystery,\u201d says the Swiss newspaper Blick. The headline-hitting musician was making his presence felt after the football club FC Basel cancelled his concert scheduled for this month, stating that the rapper does not align with the club\u2019s \u201cvalues\u201d (a number of Kanye\u2019s European gigs were cancelled amid a furore over his past antisemitic comments. He has attributed these to a \u201cmanic episode\u201d brought on by his bipolar-1 disorder). As we went to press, the outspoken musician had not responded to our request for comment and for his thoughts and reflections on the fair.<\/p>\n

Basel billboards go bananas for Cattelan<\/p>\n

Wherever you go in the world, you are never more than five feet away from Maurizio Cattelan\u2019s duct-taped banana. This is especially true in Basel where the fruity Comedian work, first shown in Miami in 2019, is plastered across a series of adverts around the Swiss city. The cryptic billboards show a banana taped to a wall \u00e0 la Cattelan\u2014a quick scan of a QR code on the poster reveals that the cheeky promo is for the Swiss confectionery brand Munz\u2019s chocolate banana. The online information suggests budding artists make their own art piece: \u201d1. Attach the chocolate banana to the wall with tape. 2. Admire your artwork. 3. Remove the artwork. 4. Unwrap the banana\u201d. Would Cattelan approve?<\/p>\n

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Pep\u00f3n Osorio\u2019s work has appeared at several art fairs as it \u201cbrings good energy\u201d \u00a9 Pep\u00f3n Osorio; courtesy of the artist and P\u00b7P\u00b7O\u00b7W, New York <\/p>\n

Refreshing take on the\u00a0readymade<\/p>\n

Eagle-eyed visitors to the P\u2022P\u2022O\u2022W stand at Art Basel, and others fairs attended by the New York gallery over the years, may have noticed a decidedly under-the-radar work of art: a glass of water. The mysterious piece is by Pep\u00f3n Osorio, whose work draws on his experience as a social worker. \u201cThe gallery keeps bringing the work to the fairs, as [co-founder] Wendy Olsoff believes it brings good energy and purifies spirits into the often-judged art world. While it\u2019s for sale, it has yet to find a permanent home,\u201d reveals a gallery spokesperson. Keep your eyes peeled for this \u201cglass half full\u201d piece and drink in its vibes.<\/p>\n

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Visitors to the Art Basel shop can pick up a football handpainted by Katharina Grosse for SFr8,000 The Art Newspaper<\/p>\n

Footballs too lovely for the Beautiful Game<\/p>\n

Duct tape, take two: we spotted some top items in the Art Basel shop including a roll of tape priced at\u2014drum roll\u2014SFr15 ($19). We also saw hand-painted footballs signed by the artist Katharina Grosse (SFr8,000). A caption points out that \u201cwhile fully functional, these works are primarily intended for display, blurring the line between object and artwork\u201d. One for anyone who thinks they can better Switzerland\u2019s disappointing opening draw in the World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eek! Tiny mouse makes big noise at fair Among the maximalist outsize works dotted around Unlimited at Art…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8],"tags":[43250,77,1937],"class_list":["post-85852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basel","tag-art-basel-2026","tag-basel","tag-diary"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116764555700516428","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}