Rivers have played a crucial role in human societies throughout the centuries. Beyond providing water—an essential resource that led to the creation of the first settlements, villages, and even entire cities along their banks—rivers also served as vital routes for transporting goods and people. In doing so, they contributed significantly to the development of human civilizations across the globe and throughout all historical periods.
One such river is the Rhine, which was chosen by Archivorum to host the Floating Pages event for the fifth consecutive year in Basel, Switzerland. This event showcases the books successfully published by Archivorum, each one featuring the visual work of notable contemporary artists, and is aimed at an audience that appreciates both art and literature.
Held in parallel with the Art Basel events, a small boat bearing the event’s distinctive logo invited visitors to cruise along the Rhine, stopping at seven points along the way. During this journey—running from Tuesday, June 17 through Thursday, June 19—guests had the opportunity to meet five featured artists: Anthony Gormley, Yngve Holen, Jac Leirner, Peter Liversidge and Giovanni Ozzola, and engage with their books.
On the final day, I had the pleasure of “sailing together”—in a creative sense—with Giovanni Ozzola, who was onboard signing his book. The boat housed the full range of Archivorum’s publications, both recent and past editions, including the latest book about Babs Haenen, Try and Treasure. Her book had been presented at last year’s event, but unfortunately, I wasn’t involved at the time, as I had only just joined the project—it had already been created and edited.
This year, however, having been entrusted with preparing the critical publication of Babs Haenen’s complete body of work to date, I seized the opportunity to ‘dive’ into the event. I found myself quite literally floating among a sea of artistic ideas and expressions, as reflected in the pages of the books on display. And truly—I lost myself, became absorbed in them for nearly an hour! Also on the boat, I had the great pleasure of meeting several members of the Archivorum team, which made the entire experience all the more enjoyable.
Furthermore, of course, I combined this special and unique artistic event with an extremely interesting and long-awaited visit to Art Basel 2025, the largest international art fair in the world.
The first thing that drew my attention when I arrived at Messenplatz was a large painting—or rather, urban installation as I later learned—by Katharina Grosse, titled CHOIR. It was impossible to miss!
After asking for directions to enter Art Basel and getting a tip from a very kind volunteer, Maxine, I started from Hall 2 and entered from the side where there was less waiting time.
After a strict security checkpoint, my eyes stayed wide open as I admired the artworks exhibited this year. It was filled with galleries representing artists with inspiring, peculiar, and extravagant art pieces! A huge crowd of people was wandering through them, and the artistic aura was absolutely pervasive around us.
Ascending to the second floor of Hall 2, I reached the section featuring young and up-and-coming artists of the new generation, alongside veteran creators. And I was pleasantly surprised when I came face to face with an artwork by—surprise, surprise!—Berlinde De Bruyckere, the artist that the Archivorum team met on the first day of our study trip to Belgium last February, mentioned in a previous blog post by Anaïs.
After spending several hours wandering around, it was time for me to go and visit Hall 1, where massive installations were exhibited. I hurried, as time was running out and I didn’t want to miss it before my ticket expired! The space, titled Unlimited, was truly awe-inspiring, filled with artworks of monumental dimensions. Having planned my visit well, I exited the exhibition just as a very long queue of people was waiting impatiently for their turn to enter.
As I stepped out into the warm Basel evening, I found myself heading to another particular queue – tasty this time – to buy some artisanal ice-cream from a very famous gelateria! The city was still humming with the echoes of creativity. I felt a quiet sense of gratitude—for the conversations, the encounters, the art, and above all, the rare opportunity to witness how rivers, books, and ideas can so seamlessly converge, carrying us forward not just through space, but through imagination and time.