About Parcours
The 2025 edition of Parcours is curated for the second time by Stefanie Hessler, Director of Swiss Institute New York. Art Basel’s free public sector is conceived as a curated exhibition that unfolds throughout empty stores and operational shops, a hotel, an underpass, an office building, the river front, and other quotidian spaces in Basel. Hessler’s curatorial concept “Second Nature” focuses on artistic projects that explore the blurry boundaries between nature and artifice, original and repetition, habits and interruptions through the unexpected, including sensory perceptions beyond the visual. Presenting over 20 ambitious, largely new and site-responsive projects by emerging artists alongside influential historic positions, this edition of Parcours is distinctly intergenerational.
“Second Nature” is a term that refers to deeply engrained habits, customs, and rituals. In Parcours, the expression is explored through multivalent interpretations. Several artists question what is perceived as natural, examining apparently unchangeable patterns as well as the supernatural, artificiality, and subverted expectations. A selection of projects focuses on the incessantly proliferating loops of images and information as contemporary rituals shaping attitudes and desires. Various artists explore storytelling throughout the ages and media, from analog and animalistic fables to algorithmically powered narratives shaping nature and culture, or what is considered natural and true. Again others engage spaces charged with the interplay of personal memory and historic narratives. Finally, several projects address the valuation of bodies and life between flesh, commodity, and artifact.
For the full list of artists and galleries featured and further information, visit artbasel.com/basel/parcours.
Opening Hours
Monday, June 16 – Sunday, June 22
10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Please note: On Sunday, Parcours will close at 7:00 PM.
About Stefanie Hessler
Stefanie Hessler is a curator, writer, editor, and the Director of Swiss Institute (SI) in New York. At SI, Hessler has co-curated solo exhibitions by Ali Cherri, Lap-See Lam, and Raven Chacon, as well as initiated the curatorial project Spora, which invites artists to transform the institution through what she calls ‘environmental institutional critique.’ Previously, as the Director of Kunsthall Trondheim in Norway, Hessler co-led the exhibition ‘Sex Ecologies’ and edited the accompanying compendium on queer ecologies, sexuality, and care in more-than-human worlds (with Seed Box and The MIT Press, 2021). She currently serves on the advisory board of the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM), is a founding committee member of the New York chapter of the Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC), and forms a part of the On Seeing editorial collective between The MIT Press and the Brown University Library.
Guided Tours for Parcours
Enjoy a guided tour through this year’s Parcours, offering in-depth insights into the artworks and installations across the city. Whether you're visiting as part of a private group, a school class, or on your own, our tours provide a rich experience of the exhibition. Tours take place from June 16–22 and last one hour.