Art Basel’s two largest satellite fairs, Liste and Volta, both mark important milestones this year; Liste, the fair known for championing work by young artists, will turn 30, while Volta, which prides itself on the community it builds between galleries, will celebrate its 20th edition.
When Liste Art Fair was founded in 1996, it was strictly for work by young artists, and the fair banned participating galleries from showing artists over the age of 40. It caused quite a scene in Basel, the fair’s director Nikola Dietrich says.
“It was kind of a shock for Art Basel themselves, that there would be a young, progressive and fresh perspective on art, and that a whole new fair would be founded,” Dietrich says. “That wasn’t necessarily so welcomed by the main fair, but in the years since, it has become seen as complementing Art Basel.”
Three decades later, the fair is older than many of the artists whose works fill its stands, although those age requirements have been loosened. Liste is now an established and respected part of Basel’s fair season, Dietrich says. This year, the fair is bigger than ever, with 99 stands from 31 countries at the Messe Basel, just a stone’s throw from Art Basel. And 2025 also marks Dietrich’s first Liste in her role, having been appointed in June last year.
Liste serves as many young and emerging artists’ first exposure to the international art market, Dietrich says: “We carry this responsibility, that the artists and the galleries they are representing are gaining success and visibility.”
This year Volta has a special section for local Swiss galleries Nicholas Winter Photography
Volta Basel, the city’s other substantial satellite art fair, will mark its 20th birthday with a new location at the Messeplatz, closer to Art Basel and larger than its previous space. The larger space has allowed the fair to grow from 47 exhibitors last year to 70 stands this year, as well as to expand the fair’s programming, according to Lee Cavaliere, the artistic director of Volta Basel since 2023.
“It’s a different game from last year because of the new venue, which is amazing,” Cavaliere says. “We didn’t want to get too big, because I think one of the values of Volta is that you can see the whole thing in a relaxed afternoon, and if you’re discovering a lot of new stuff, then it’s important to have those kinds of breakout spaces.”
Volta was founded in 2005 by a group of gallerists who were also friends—and, in the years since, it “retains a lot of that kind of collegiate, collaborative, creative energy”, Cavaliere says.
The fair will also host a special section dedicated to local Swiss galleries, sometimes overlooked during a busy week of Basel fairs, as well as a pavilion dedicated to work by artists from the Middle East and North Africa, brought by exhibitors from the region.
“We have a long history of being a safe space for artists trying something for the first time. If they haven’t shown in Basel before, then this is a good place to start,” Cavaliere says. “We are kind of a trusted pair of hands. We’ve got a history of supporting and highlighting galleries in a personal way.”
• Liste Art Fair Basel, Messe Basel, Hall 1.1, Basel, 16-22 June
• Volta Basel, Hall 4.U, Messeplatz 21, Basel, 19-22 June
