BASEL.- VOLTA closed its fifth edition this past Saturday evening with confident sales reports from the exhibitors and an increased audience. Both groups expressed overwhelming enthusiasm for the stunning new location in the very heart of Basel city.

The cutting-edge art fair VOLTA closed last Saturday night, June 13th, with a feeling of enthusiasm and high spirits for visitors and exhibitors alike. The fair's program, selected by the Curatorial Board - composed of Adam Budak, Christoph Doswald, Tom Morton, Jasper Sharp and Stephanie Smith - featured exhibitors from 29 countries. In its fifth edition, VOLTA has confirmed its maturity and leading position as one of the main parallel events of Basel's Arts Week.

The fair opened on Monday June 8th, with the Americans Jerry Speyer or Susan & Michael Hort as the first guests to cross the threshold, some an hour before the VIP Preview was scheduled to begin. Other collectors, like Anita Zabludowicz from London, as well as Thomas Olbricht from Berlin, graced several booths with their visit. For more information about prominent visitors at the opening day, please check our previous press release.

Over the weekend, well-known collectors like Danny First from Los Angeles or Gil Bronner from Düsseldorf were spotted perusing the aisles. As for institutional visits, representatives of the Moscow Museum of Art, the Australian Council of the Arts, the MOCA Shanghai, MoCA San Francisco, MOT Tokyo, Haus Marseille and the Museum Villa Rot were seen scouting the booths throughout the week. During the weekend other institutions like Pilar & Andrés Centenera Foundation from Spain and the European Central Bank Art Collection from Frankfurt - to name a few - walked the fair, as did representative from several cultural events, such as the curators for the Shanghai Biennale, who secured exhibits for their show. Around 18.000 visitors came to VOLTA - more than in previous editions and probably due to the more central location - keeping booths busy with energy and excitement.

With a steady start to the week, sales increased as the days progressed; 3.2 million euros in total sales were reported by the fair's closing on Saturday June 13th - with much more expected in follow-up over the coming months - surprising many and creating a growing feeling of confidence as the week continued.

For many art lovers and patrons, VOLTA's new location in the center of Basel, right next to the central station, was the first stop after descending the train from Venice, and where they would find many of the artists they had recently seen at the prestigious event: Zilvinas Kempinas, who represents Lithuania, showed his new major piece Flux as well as this year's VOLTA edition, Light Formation, both of which were one of the highlights of the fair. Other Biennale artists on show at VOLTA were the Brazilian Alberto Baraya, represented by Galeria Nara Roesler; the Japanese photographer Miwa Yanagi - with new work on show at LOOCK GALERIE; the Polish artist Aleksandra Mir - whose work was one of the most successful sales at Laurent Godin's booth; Peruvian artist Sandra Gamarra, with new ink on drawings, as well as photographs by Luiz Braga on display at Galeria Leme's booth. Other celebrated artists included Aurélien Froment, whose solo-presentation at Motive Gallery's booth was a major success, as well as Anna Bjerger, represented by David Risley Gallery from Copenhagen, with 8 sold pieces on the second day of the fair.

Most dealers were pleased overall with the final results, which fulfilled and even exceeded the expectations of today's market. Spirits were generally high at the closing of the fair this past Saturday, with reservations being confirmed and last-minute sales taking place within minutes of this year's VOLTA closing.