Art Basel Announces New Leadership
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Three new officers will replace Sam Keller, the current director of the Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach fairs, the marketing firm Messe Schweiz announced yesterday. Mr. Keller’s responsibilities will be divided among the artistic director of the fairs, Cay Sophie Rabinowitz; the director of operations and finance, Annette Schönholzer, and the director of strategy and development, Marc Spiegler.
Although Mr. Keller announced his resignation last June, the new management team will not take over until this coming January. The announcement comes on the heels of the opening of Art 38 Basel, whose preview was last night and whose public opening is tonight. The new directors will be in charge of the forthcoming Art 39 Basel in June 2008 and December 2008’s Art Basel Miami Beach.
“This is just a paradigm shift, addressing the needs of an ever changing art market and Art Basel as a global brand,” an Art Basel spokesman said in an interview. “It felt like a natural change.”
Ms. Rabinowitz has contributed to Art Papers, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Financial Times, and the Swiss art publication Parkett. Ms. Schönholzer curated the VIPER International Film, Video, and Multimedia Festival between 1994 and 1998 and has managed other exhibitions since. Mr. Spiegler is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism in Chicago and is a freelance art journalist.
