Basel satellite art fair June pauses following withdrawal of corporate partner

Just one day before Basel Art Week kicked off, one of the city’s satellite fairs announced that it would not be going ahead this year.

June, the boutique-sized, stand-less fair that takes place in a Herzog & de Meuron-designed gallery near the Messeplatz, will not hold a 2026 edition “following the unfortunate withdrawal of a key corporate partner in the project", says its co-founder Esperanza Rosales.

“We chose to take a strategic pause this year and focus our efforts on developing the fair’s future direction," Rosales says. "While disappointing, this has provided us with an opportunity to reflect on the fair's future direction and the changes currently reshaping the art ecosystem."

The withdrawal of this corporate partner, which Rosales declines to identify but says is neither a gallery nor an art-related business, would mean that participation fees for the 2026 edition of June would have risen, she explains. The participation fees for last year's edition were €12,000, and June's organisers had hoped this year to halve this to just €6,000.

Rosales intends for June to return next year and to "reduce the participation fees even further". The "refreshed edition" will "build on the fair’s original vision, while responding to the rapidly evolving realities of the contemporary art ecosystem, and landscape", she adds.

June was co-founded in 2019 by Rosales, the owner of VI, VII gallery in Oslo, and Christian Andersen, who runs the eponymous gallery in Copenhagen. Past editions of the fair have seen around 15 exhibitors take part. Last year saw involvement from small, mostly European galleries, including Fabian Lang from Zurich and Vienna’s Charim.

"We believe this period of reflection and reassessment will enable us to build a stronger, sharper, and more resilient version of June," Rosales says. "One that is better positioned to serve artists, galleries, collectors, and audiences as the art world continues to evolve.