The arts in Switzerland: outlook for 2023

 The American multimedia artist Wu Tsang brings his version of "Pinocchio" to a Zurich stage. The play is also recommended for viewers older than 7. Diana Pfammatter

The global outlook for 2023 may be darkened by looming recession, inflation and war but the future certainly looks bright in the Swiss art scene. Besides its many world-famous festivals and fairs, 2023 has plenty of art treats in store.

Digital assets linked to artwork used to be all the rage. Now the hype is gone. As SWI swissinfo.ch predicted, the NFT bubble burst well before the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The nonfungible.com tracker shows that 2022 was marked by a steady, downward trend in the volumes of art sales and deals.

NFTs, however, are not dead. Business Wire External linkpredicts the NFT industry in Switzerland will grow by 46.2% annually until 2028. Considering that 2022 closed on a volume of $323.1 million (CHF297.3 million), that would add up to $1.6 billion in 2028.

Art works currently represent just 2% of the NFT market, which comprises games, utilities, collectibles, and metaverse virtual real estate. Sales of digital art, however, drove the recovery of the global art market in 2021 and 2022. The first half of 2022 experienced an even bigger turnover of global art sales than pre-pandemic years ($7 billion). War, disease and inflation have not made a dent in the spending of wealthy, art-loving elites. 

A view of the Eiffel Tower from the VIP lounge at the Paris+ par Art Basel art fair, that ran its first edition from 20 to 23 October, hosting 156 galleries from all over the world. Keystone / Teresa Suarez

Basel sets the tone 

High-flying buyers and collectors flocked en masse to Art Basel in 2022, the first edition of the world’s leading art fair that took place free of Covid restrictions. We can expect high turnout again in 2023 although Art Basel can no longer be considered a Swiss institution.

The pandemic took a heavy toll on Art Basel and its other branded fairs (Hong Kong and Miami). Its parent holding company, the live marketing company MCH Group, sold 44% of its shares to James Murdoch, son of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch. His private investment firm Lupa Systems injected CHF48 million into MCH in August 2020, stabilising MCH finances and redirecting its expansion strategy away from localised art fairs. The traditional Baselworld watch and jewelry fair had already been scrapped in early 2020.

The survival of Art Basel Hong Kong remains in question due to stringent controls on political and artistic expression imposed by Chinese authorities in recent years. But MCH upped its game last October with the inauguration of a new venue in the French capital, called Paris+ par Art Basel. No matter how things play out, Basel-based MCH will set the tone for the world's most important art fairs in 2023 and deliver fresh delights in Switzerland.

From controversies to retrospectives

Art restitution was a hot topic in 2022. Swiss museums were forced to grapple with the question of how to handle Nazi-stolen art or art sold by members of the Jewish community under Nazi duress.