Art Basel Miami Beach 2023: UBS Announces Newly Commissioned Artwork by Jeffrey Gibson and Large-Scale Outdoor Video by Julianknxx

December 04, 2023 at 08:00 AM EST

UBS Lounge will feature triptych painting by Jeffrey Gibson and recent acquisitions by Nick Cave, Awol Erizku, Deana Lawson, and Hank Willis Thomas, among others
Julianknxx’s video work will be displayed on SoundScape Park WALLCAST’s façade as part of UBS and ARTNOIR’s group presentation, The Poetics of Dimensions
UBS and Art Basel provide nearly 700 students from registered Miami public schools with complimentary tickets to the show

UBS, the Global Lead Partner of Art Basel, returns to Art Basel Miami Beach in 2023 with a range of dynamic presentations, including recent acquisitions from the UBS Art Collection, and a newly commissioned triptych painting by Jeffrey Gibson in the UBS Lounge. UBS, in collaboration with ARTNOIR, will also present The Poetics of Dimensions, a group presentation curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, Curator and Co-founder of ARTNOIR, in the UBS Art Studio. Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 will take place from December 8 to 10 at the Miami Beach Convention Center (MBCC).

“We’re proud to celebrate our longstanding partnership with Art Basel Miami Beach, an event that has truly blossomed into a cornerstone of the global art scene,” said Jason Chandler, Head of Global Wealth Management, Americas at UBS. “Art and art collecting are extremely important to many of our clients, and this year, we look forward to honoring this major event in the arts community with exciting and ambitious exhibits in the fair, and for the first time, outdoors in SoundScape Park.”

UBS has a decades-long history of supporting cultural initiatives worldwide and continues to use contemporary art to inspire ideas and enrich lives. The UBS Art Collection, one of the world's leading corporate art collections with over 30,000 works from artists in over 70 countries, is central to UBS’s commitment to art.

“2023 marks another year of UBS collaborating with forward-thinking artists and partners at Art Basel Miami Beach, underscoring our commitment to enriching the art experience for all,” said Mary Rozell, Global Head of the UBS Art Collection. “Our latest commission of Jeffrey Gibson's work embodies our longstanding effort to showcase innovative and inspirational contemporary art.”

The UBS Lounge at Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 will feature a site-specific triptych painting by Jeffrey Gibson titled JUST WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT, commissioned by UBS for UBS Arena in Elmont, NY. The work, to be installed on a custom wallpaper created by the artist, is titled after the lyrics of Love Comes Quickly (1986) by the Pet Shop Boys and reflects Gibson’s engagement with music as well as his unique visual language that combines Native American traditions and materials with geometric abstraction. The Lounge will also feature UBS’s recent acquisitions by artists Nick Cave, Awol Erizku, Deana Lawson, and Hank Willis Thomas, among others.

The UBS Art Studio will feature The Poetics of Dimensions, a group presentation by UBS in collaboration with ARTNOIR. ARTNOIR is a global creative collective and non-profit organization that has catalyzed cultural equity across the arts and culture industries for the last decade. The presentation features work by artists Anthony Akinbola, Sonia Gomes, Melissa Joseph, Julianknxx, and Nari Ward spanning across the MBCC and at SoundScape Park.

At the MBCC, the group presentation organized by ARTNOIR’s Curator and Co-founder Larry Ossei-Mensah features works by Anthony Akinbola, Sonia Gomes, Melissa Joseph, and Nari Ward, artists who engage in practices that utilize dynamic and accessible materials like durags, felt, shoelaces, and other textiles to create visually arresting art that invites inquiry and discourse. By leveraging the familiar and recontextualizing its use, these artists instigate dialogues about history, memory, myth, ritual, and identity, resulting in a visually profound experience. The presentation runs from December 6 to 10 and is free to Art Basel Miami Beach ticket holders.

The presentation continues beyond the MBCC, where UBS, in partnership with ARTNOIR and Art Basel, will host a video projection of artwork by Julianknxx …encounter?flee (untitled) that will be shown on the façade of SoundScape Park WALLCAST alongside the New World Symphony at 500 17th Street in Miami Beach. Julianknxx’s evocative video work, …encounter?flee (untitled), blurs the lines between poetry and film as figures appear, disappear, and reappear in a constant loop. This video work further amplifies the ideas expressed in the group presentation, including explorations of history, memory, myth, and identity. The screening is free to the public and will run every evening from December 5 to 11, from 5:30pm to 11:00pm EST.

On December 8 at 11:00am EST, UBS will also host a public panel at the Art Basel auditorium, moderated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, who will be in conversation with artists featured in The Poetics of Dimensions.

“I’m deeply humbled and honored to be collaborating with Anthony Akinbola, Sonia Gomes, Melissa Joseph, Julianknxx, and Nari Ward on this presentation at the UBS Art Studio. The Poetics of Dimensions is an exciting opportunity for ARTNOIR to extend the organization’s reach and mission of cultivating culturally rich discourse in collaboration with UBS, Art Basel, and this dynamic roster of five artists. All of these artists employ an alchemic approach to transforming materials into thought-provoking artworks that serve as an invitation to expand our notions around ideas of history, folklore, ancestry, culture and personal memories,” said Larry Ossei-Mensah, Curator and Co-founder of ARTNOIR. “We are excited to welcome visitors to experience the art by artists who’ve been committed to reshaping how we see the world and ourselves on this special occasion that brings the art world closer together.”

UBS and ORIGIN Film Screening

UBS has partnered with Academy Award nominee and Emmy®, BAFTA and Peabody Award winner Ava DuVernay and her non-profit group ARRAY Alliance to screen her groundbreaking new film, ORIGIN. UBS is the Social Impact partner for the film’s opening week.

UBS and Art Basel School Access Program

Expanding on its 2022 pilot program, UBS will once again partner with Art Basel to offer complimentary tickets for Art Basel Miami Beach to registered schools in Miami. The initiative provides enriching educational experiences in the world of modern and contemporary art and will support access to the fair for nearly 700 students. UBS has also provided 1,500 tickets to Art Basel for use by community partners. For more information about UBS’s Community Impact initiatives, please visit: https://www.ubs.com/microsites/community-affairs-americas/en/community-impact-snapshot.html

Global collecting insights

UBS recently published the Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2023 and the Family Office Solutions publication titled, Art and collecting: Building a meaningful legacy, providing new insights into the ever-evolving art collecting landscape. The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2023 report is available for download here; Art and collecting: Building a meaningful legacy is available for download here.

Links

Join the conversation

Sign up to receive the UBS art e-newsletter.

ubs.com/art

instagram.com/ubsglobalart

facebook.com/UBSart

About UBS

UBS is a leading and truly global wealth manager and the leading universal bank in Switzerland. It also provides diversified asset management solutions and focused investment banking capabilities. With the acquisition of Credit Suisse, UBS manages 5.5 trillion dollars of invested assets as per second quarter 2023. UBS helps clients achieve their financial goals through personalized advice, solutions and products. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, the firm is operating in more than 50 countries around the globe. UBS Group shares are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

About UBS & Contemporary Art

Global Lead Partner of Art Basel, UBS has a long history of supporting contemporary art and artists. The firm has one of the world’s most important corporate art collections. UBS seeks to advance the international conversation about the art market through its global lead partnership with Art Basel, and as co-publisher of the ‘Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report’ and the ‘Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting’. UBS also supports some of the world’s most important arts institutions, events, and fairs. UBS provides its clients with insight into the art market, collecting, and legacy planning through its UBS Collectors Circle and UBS Art Advisory. For more information about UBS’s commitment to contemporary art, visit ubs.com/art.

About UBS Art Collection

The UBS Art Collection consists of more than 30,000 works, including paintings, works on paper, photography, sculpture, video, and installations by artists from around the world and is widely recognized as one of the most important corporate art collections. The UBS Art Collection’s guiding mission is to collaborate with and collect works by significant artists of our time. Most of these works are displayed in UBS offices globally, serving as an inspiration for employees and a platform for dialogue with clients and the public.

About Art Basel

About Art Basel Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Paris. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. Art Basel’s engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through new digital platforms and initiatives such as the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. Art Basel’s Global Media Partner is The Financial Times. For further information, please visit artbasel.com.

About ARTNOIR

ARTNOIR is a female-majority and black-brown owned, NYC based global collective and 501(c)(3) with a mission to celebrate and highlight the work of creatives of color while catalyzing cultural equity across the arts and culture industries.

We seek to empower artists, enthusiasts, curators, forward thinking organizations, storytellers, designers and patrons, to explore alternative perspectives to the traditional arts narrative, while leveraging the intersectionality of art and culture to develop new access points for discussion, exploration and collaboration. artnoir.org // @artnoirco