Grande finale

So, after blogging I left for dinner with Artforum-crew. Knight Landesman, one of the publishers of Artforum is my confidant and I am a great admirer of his social skills and no-one can host a dinner better than him, is also the one that kindly invited me for dinner tonite. My seat was between Knight and Max Hetzler, the one and only, whom I also had the pleasure of chatting with at the Artforum dinner hosted by Knight in Miami in December 2004. Knight was asking Max thousands of questions, and I got a wonderfully vivid report on Benedict Taschen’s wedding in Como this weekend, and I also got a recap of Taschen’s earlier weddings too, all of which Max attended. I also had a history lesson on Kippenberger’s paintings, to whom they were sold and also the system of prices of Kippenberger paintings. This was so interesting, I wish I had a recorder hidden somewhere. If this was not enough, I also got the full report on Jeff Koons, his work, the prices and some facts about his life I would never have been able to read in any book or magazine. The narratives captivated me. I guess I am one of the largest art geeks out there. Knight and I had then had a very much-awaited session of speaking with low voices so that no-one could hear us. Knight is a wonderful man, and I love him very much. I also had the pleasure of speaking with owner of Shugoarts, and we were discussing Stockholm and we both praised the art of our mutual friend, Carsten Höller, for a while. Beautiful Tanya Bonakdar and I exchanged some gossip regarding the Nordic Pavillion and also the German Pavilion in the Venice Biennale, and we laughed a lot.

Scott was eager to leave the restaurant for the great art party at the Kaserne, hosted by the fair. This is by far the most awaited party of the year, and I have heard reports from the party from many friends before on its grandeur and lavishness. Tim lost his phone in the taxi, and for some nervous minutes we awaited for it to resurface—which it did. Then we had to wait in a hysterical crowd trying to get in to the party. When we finally made it inside I gasped at the size of the party. Free drinks for everybody and boy were there a lot of people there. Too many. I tried to find my friends but couldn’t, entered the very VIP section with Jan Christensen where the heat and the humidity found new limits, danced a short while, tried to find my friends, got agitated by the many drunken young kids pushing me about, standing in line for ladies room, looking for friends, roaming around… I think it was the worst party I have ever been to, because I knew that some of my best friends were around and I could not find them and it was just too hot inside, and even on the outside the temperature was annoyingly high, so regardless of the free champagne, free cold sprays for everyone and white roses in every corner, I left party early by myself without saying goodbye to anyone. Oh well. Last sms sent 3.15, last sms to receive from party at 7.15.

I will update this blog with images and url’s soon, and also I must make a recap and perhaps even add some stuff in the blog within the next week, but I guess I am signing off the Basel report now, my flight is from Zurich later this afternoon. Until later!