A triumvirate: Marc Spiegler will be responsible for Strategy and Development, Cay Sophie Rabinowitz will become Artistic Director and Annette Schönholzer will be in charge of Organization and Finances
via kopenhagen.dk:
Interview: Cay Sophie Rabinowitz
Cay Sophie Rabinowitz, senior editor of Parkett, is going to be one of the three new directors of the Art Basel, when Samuel Keller leave his position as director at the end of this year.[...]What is the specific job you’re going to do as the artistic director?
My job is to continue the quality of the content and the relationships that we have. And to continue to grow with the market, and with the art programs, the artists and the galleries. As the director I have to follow in Sam’s footsteps the best that I can.
Do you have specific ideas about how to improve the art at Art Basel – because at the moment it seems like you have just everything represented here?
It’s not about the quality, because the content is outstanding. And we work very hard, and will continue to do so, on maintaining the strong relationships with the gallerists and the artists. I will take over in january, and I’m very proud to be giving this opportunity, and I’m sincerely looking forward to it as a challenge.
You have sort of divided the galleries, so it seems like the old and the young galleries are in different sections. Is that something you work on with purpose?
We work each year in a different manner, but we also try to maintain constant relationships with the galleries. So maybe that’s a good question for the current director.
But our intention is to be committed to the serious collectors, the museums, the artists and the galleries, and to be faithful to their own mission. So my idea is to follow what Samuel Keller has done.
It feels like art is reaching out to more and more people. So does Art Basel have any ideas to try to get the attention of a broader audience?
Art is democratic, and it’s presented accordingly both socially and publicly. But art has many diverse functions. Again when I will take over from Sam, I will be able to follow up more clearly about how to represent our brand. But right now, I’m just looking forward to follow Sam Keller at Art Basel and Art Basel Miami, and see what I can learn from him, and then take over his role in a few months.
Are there any great difference between the represented countries at Art Basel and Art Basel Miami?
I don’t think that the art world thinks in regions anymore. Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach represent the global situation in the art world. So again, I’m very much looking forward to being part of that.
For how long have you known about your new job?
A few weeks...
This summer you have all the big art events going on at the same time, have you any ideas about how Art Basel will position itself in this situation?
We are working collaboratively with all of the art events, and we’re very excited about this. So our position is wonderful collaboration.
Yes, but the structures of these events are very different to each other, so you much somehow also be competing of attention, because the other art events are more rare, and you are here every year?
Absolutely not, we collaborate with both the Venice Biennale, Documenta and Skulptur Projekte Münster. So competition is not the word, I use the word collaboration. It’s a new thing that we coordinate with them, so I find that quite exiting.
New Art Basel artistic director Cay Sophie Rabinowitz
and her husband, MoMA drawings curator Christian Rattemeyer.
Photo: Mary Barone, Artnet.
