These artists and projects not to be missed during Art Basel Paris 2026 Our guide to this new edition

Under the rediscovered glass dome of the Grand Palais, Art Basel Paris unfolds its fifth edition - the first under the leadership of Karim Crippa - confirming the capital’s reclaimed supremacy over the global market. Between immersive experiences and monumental dialogues, here are the unmissable events that will make Paris vibrate from October 23 to 25. With 211 exhibitors from 41 countries and territories and the arrival of nearly 30 new galleries, Art Basel Paris does not merely measure the pulse of the market: the fair affirms Paris's historical and contemporary role as an incubator for the avant-garde.

This 2026 edition is structured around three pillars. First, the Galeries sector, the beating heart of the Grand Palais gathering major institutions and their flagship programs. Next, the Emergence sector, boasting 16 solo presentations dedicated to young creation and the galleries of tomorrow. Finally, the Premise sector, focused on bold proposals that bring different periods of art history into dialogue. Beyond the walls of the Grand Palais, the Programme Public takes over the city with the support of Miu Miu, while the collaborative Oh La La ! initiative reactivates the concept of spontaneous re-hanging. Outside the venue, excitement spills into the night, institutions, and galleries. Here is the sharp selection of projects and artists defining this 2026 edition.

Alice Diop x Miu Miu: Healing through the gaze

Continuing directly from her short film Fragments for Venus (directed in 2025 for the Miu Miu Women’s Tales series), filmmaker Alice Diop signs her very first curatorial experience here. Titled Geste de consolation, the project takes over the space to transform it into a narrative realm where cinema, photography, sculpture, poetry, dance, and music converse.

Alice Diop shifts her cinematic language to pose a fundamental question: in what ways have Black women been represented and fetishized throughout art history, and how can contemporary creation offer acts of reparation? A highly political and visibly essential project.

Palais Iéna — October 21 to 25

GENER8ION: "GOD HATES SPACE"

Born ten years ago from the encounter between producer and composer Surkin and filmmaker Romain Gavras (Athena, Sacrifice, music videos for Jay-Z, M.I.A., or Justice), the multidisciplinary project GENER8ION is already one of the major highlights of the fair. An extension of their album LOVE & TEARS released in June 2026, the immersive audiovisual installation GOD HATES SPACE takes over the Rotonde d’Antin.

Presented by Art Basel Paris, Live Nation France, and Iconoclast Music, the work is projected onto a giant 12-meter double-sided screen. It presents itself as a self-propaganda video conceived in 2034 by the Armée de libération d'Agartha, an insurgent faction stemming from the 6Chan forum. Convinced that the Earth is hollow and that salvation lies within, its members consider space exploration a sacrilege. Between architecture, piercing music, and political dystopia, Gavras and Surkin deliver the knockout punch of the fair.

Rotonde d’Antin – Grand Palais (Open to the public October 22 to 25)

Richie Hawtin x John Gerrard: 24 hours of performance

Electronic music pioneer Richie Hawtin (Plastikman) and digital artist John Gerrard join forces for a 24-hour marathon at the club FVTVR, a major project executive produced by Martine d’Anglejan-Chatillon and Jim Martin.

The experience begins on October 24 at noon with free admission to INFIN.1.IRIDESCENT.STREAM, a digital installation by Gerrard accompanied by an original generative sound composition from Plastikman developed via Bronze.ai. This is followed by a conversation between the two artists, moderated by Marc Spiegler. At midnight, the program shifts with MINUS+ / SPIRITS, a 12-hour party curated by Hawtin featuring Matador, Courtesy, Kristin Velvet, and Reece Pritchard. In parallel, Gerrard unveils SPIRITS, a live performance featuring Ana Osj originally commissioned by the LACMA. A total event.

FVTVR – October 24 to 25

Moka Lee: The surface tension of our digitized selves

Spotted on Forbes Korea 30 Under 30 and newly represented in the US by David Kordansky, South Korean painter Moka Lee makes her debut on French soil with a standout solo booth at Carlos/Ishikawa.

Classically trained, Lee draws her sources from social media. She extracts anonymous faces, coquettish pouts, empty stares, or flashed peace signs, which she renders in oil. Her canvases capture the "surface tension" of our digitized selfhoods: glossy portraits of an eerie strangeness.

Emergence Sector – Galerie Carlos/Ishikawa

Tracey Emin: The resilient body confronting History

The installation presented on the Parvis des Droits de l'Homme carries a rare symbolic resonance. Tracey Emin unveils a monumental bronze triptych comprising three major works: I lay here for you, I Followed You to the End, and I Will Not Be Alone.

True to her quest for intimacy, vulnerability, and exploration of the female body to express desire, loss, and strength, the British artist offers a physical and emotional journey in three parts. Free to access until November 1st, the installation unfolds under the watchful eye of another lady in metal, the Eiffel Tower.

Parvis des Droits de l’Homme — October 15 to November 1

Drake Carr: From compulsive sketching to wooden sculpture

New York artist Drake Carr first made a name for himself with his live portrait sessions between New York, Los Angeles, and Paris. Recently invited by the house of Versace to sign the large-scale drawing Love Theme 4:55 for the Versace Embodied campaign - a work reminiscent of fashion illustrations by late Interview collaborator Antonio Lopez - Carr proves he can also master a slower tempo.

At the Mariposa gallery booth, he presents a series of ten painted cut-out wooden silhouettes. This project required two years of gestation. For this self-taught artist accustomed to producing over 150 drawings in two weeks of residency, this change of pace allows him to push further and gives his line an unprecedented density.

Galeries Sector – Galerie Mariposa

Marco Ribeiro x Havaianas: "Novos Ícones"

Who said flip-flops don't belong in a museum? Certainly not Havaianas. Paris-based multidisciplinary designer Marco Ribeiro takes over the Toguna room at Palais de Tokyo for a blank canvas presentation titled « Novos Ícones » - new icons in English.

Renowned for his sculptural geometric shapes and color explosions that bring a playful breeze of eccentricity to the Parisian fashion scene, Ribeiro repurposes this icon of the Brazilian wardrobe into a full-fledged art object. Long confined to beaches, this accessory becomes in his hands the pretext for an installation contrasting his works with his personal archives, while exploring notions of identity, representation, and cultural hybridity.

Palais de Tokyo (Salle Toguna) – October 24 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Kennedy Yanko: "What brings us together"

As part of the contemporary art program at the Cité de l’architecture, American artist Kennedy Yanko deploys her monumental sculptures at the very heart of the museum's permanent collections.

Manipulating industrial salvage and material aggregates, the artist compresses scrap metal which she coats in dense pigment pours - veritable skins of dried oil paint in incandescent hues. Positioned opposite the museum's historic relics, her creations strike directly against heritage memory. Yanko unearths the hidden armatures of buildings, the technical skeleton usually concealed from view, bringing forth the underlying tensions supporting the material. A physical encounter that deeply reshapes our perception of volume.

Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine (Permanent Collections)

Beyond record-breaking transactions and the staggering figures accompanying every edition, this 2026 installment of Art Basel Paris recalls a fundamental truth: the value of a fair is measured by the density of the narratives it orchestrates. By co-locating digital dystopias at the Grand Palais, radical clubbing at Austerlitz, political reinterpretations of the body at the Parvis des Droits de l'Homme, and the irruption of pop culture at Palais de Tokyo, the event transcends a simple trade gathering. Paris no longer merely mirrors the global art market; the city has become its most vibrant laboratory once more, proving that under the glass dome as in the streets, contemporary creation remains the most powerful revealer of our intimate and collective frictions.