Art Basel Unlimited 2026 has opened in Basel, Switzerland, featuring 59 large-scale projects supported by 66 galleries. The sector is curated for the first time by Ruba Katrib, chief curator and director of curatorial affairs at MoMA PS1, who succeeds Giovanni Carmine. Highlights include Chris Burden's "L.A.P.D. Uniforms" (1993), Benoît Piéron's mounds of hospital bedsheets, Tuan Andrew Nguyen's sculpture made from unexploded ordnance, and Moffat Takadiwa's works from discarded materials. The section also presents historic photographic series by Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Thomas Ruff, and Peter Hujar.
This edition matters because Unlimited remains the premier platform for monumental, ambitious art that cannot be shown in standard fair booths, offering a unique space for both historic and contemporary works. Katrib's curation emphasizes how artists transform materials of war, political violence, and waste into powerful commentary on geopolitical unrest and institutional power, reflecting the fair's role in addressing current events through large-scale visual art.