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In 1996, KARIN SANDER realized the work Stoffraum Art Basel (Canvas Room Art Basel) for the newly introduced “Statements” section at the 27th Art Basel. In the approximately 6 x 6 m booth, sections in various DIN and square formats were cut from the canvas wall coverings then commonly used at the Basel art fair and placed in clip frames which were hung on top of the now blank sections of wall. 434 clip frames were placed on the wall’s surface, according to computer calculations, with approx. 5 cm distance between them. In this presentation, the canvas became both picture and consumer product. Signed and numbered on the back, these white tableaus were for sale and could be taken away immediately. Each sold work left an exposed section on the booth’s wall, revealing the wall’s raw wooden backing. While this process made visible the continual emptying of the booth as the art fair continued and works were sold, the end of the 1996 Art Basel marked the final condition of the work – the remaining framed works as well as the empty sections were fixed.

At the end of the fair, the booth walls were preserved in that state, documented and stored as a whole. Twenty-one years later, the “Statements” booth will now be exhibited in its original 1996 condition as a free-standing, walk-in sculpture.*

Stoffraum Art Basel (Canvas Room Art Basel) (1996) is on view at Esther Schipper in Berlin until October 21, 2017.

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*pruned press release

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