New York-based curator Stefanie Hessler has organized the second edition of Art Basel's Parcours exhibition, featuring 21 works installed across Basel in unconventional spaces such as hotels, shops, and private apartments. Highlights include Agnieszka Kurant's chemical gardens made from computer-manufacturing metals, Finnegan Shannon's accessible benches with rest-oriented texts, and Hylozoic/Desires' 80-meter fabric installation referencing a colonial-era customs line. The exhibition clusters along Clarastrasse and extends to the Münsterplatz in the Old Town.
Parcours matters because it transforms the entire city of Basel into an exhibition space, breaking down barriers between the art fair and the public. By placing works in everyday locations—a bakery, a hotel banquet hall, a garage—the initiative invites broader audiences to encounter contemporary art outside traditional gallery or museum settings. It also highlights how curators like Hessler are rethinking site-specificity and accessibility, using the city's architecture and history to amplify artistic concepts.