SHAPING THE NEXT CHAPTER ------ Karim Crippa on Culture, Collecting, and the Future of Art Basel Paris
Art Basel Paris returns to the Grand Palais from October 23 to 25, 2026, bringing together 211 exhibitors from 41 countries and territories. Now in its fifth edition, the fair enters a new phase under Karim Crippa, who became Director of Art Basel Paris on November 1, 2025.
Crippa has worked across editorial, communications and contemporary art, and his view of the fair extends beyond the market itself. For him, Art Basel Paris is also a place where stories, ideas and people meet. The 2026 edition continues across three sectors—Galeries, Emergence and Premise—while deepening its connection with Paris through its Public Program and partnerships across the city.
Rather than presenting his appointment as a break with the past, Crippa describes his approach in simpler terms: “evolution, not revolution.” In this interview with GEN DE ART, he speaks about storytelling, the character of Paris, and a new generation of collectors entering the art market.
STORYTELLING BEYOND THE MARKETPLACE
GEN DE ART: You have worked as an editor, communicator, and now as Director of Art Basel Paris. How has your experience in storytelling influenced the way you envision the future of an art fair?
Karim Crippa: The many hats I have worn when it comes to storytelling have certainly shaped how I see an art fair, not just as a marketplace, but as a platform for discourse. Often, the story behind an artwork, a booth presentation, or a gallery can be decisive in igniting the spark required for it to be not only noted, but also actively delved into. This in turn triggers an exchange of ideas and opinions, which is central to keeping culture alive.
GEN DE ART: You have said that your goal is “evolution, not revolution.” Looking ahead five years, what would you like collectors, galleries, and artists to say has fundamentally changed about Art Basel Paris under your leadership?
Karim Crippa: By that, I mean that we have already been doing many things right before I took on the role of director. I’m therefore particularly excited to sharpen and adjust the contours of the fair, rather than redraw them entirely.
Looking ahead five years, I want collectors, galleries, and artists to feel that our fair is the ultimate season’s event to connect with and celebrate culture, Paris-style. I would also like to reinforce the idea that Art Basel Paris is a public event open to everyone. It offers an experience that goes far beyond the acquisition of artworks, providing visitors with the opportunity to discover hundreds of extraordinary works of art and emerging artists from around the world, as well as monumental installations presented across the city through the Public Program.
PARIS AS AN ECOSYSTEM
GEN DE ART: Paris has long been a meeting point between artistic heritage and contemporary experimentation. How do you see Art Basel Paris strengthening this dialogue while remaining distinct from the Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Qatar editions?
Karim Crippa: France already has an exceptionally rich cultural history, from world-renowned museums to a long lineage of influential artists, meaning the city is already steeped in artistic heritage. The fair exists precisely at the intersection of where the contemporary meets this historical background, strengthened by sustained, year-round engagement with galleries, artists, collectors, institutions, curators, patrons, and cultural partners across the city and the wider region.
The Paris show is also held at the Grand Palais—one of Paris’ most iconic cultural landmarks and a historic site for major artistic and cultural events—benefiting from its scale, architecture, central location, and cultural significance, thereby anchoring the fair’s position within the cultural fabric of the city and actively shaping the visitor experience in distinctive ways.
What makes the Paris show unique within the Art Basel network is the strength of its local ecosystem, particularly the strong presence of French galleries, which remain central to the fair’s identity and long-term vision. The fair also happens on a smaller scale compared with its sister fairs; as a consequence, it has a more intimate, confidential feel.
Each edition of Art Basel has its own rhythm and context; Paris is culturally porous and unmistakably shaped by the city it inhabits—distinct from Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Qatar, yet fully part of the same global platform.
A NEW GENERATION OF COLLECTORS
GEN DE ART: Many younger collectors are entering the market with different expectations regarding accessibility, sustainability, and digital culture. How is Art Basel Paris adapting to engage this new generation while maintaining the confidence of established collectors and leading galleries?
Karim Crippa: The market is undergoing a broader generational and cultural shift shaped by evolving tastes, collecting priorities, and patterns of engagement. Younger collectors are bringing a different set of expectations, which is a positive development for the art ecosystem as a whole. They are often looking for greater accessibility, stronger alignment with their values, and a deeper, more direct engagement with artists and the stories behind the work.
The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025 showed that high-net-worth collectors increased the average share of wealth allocated to art that year, with younger collectors in particular showing strong levels of activity across both established and emerging segments. Far from splitting the market, this is rebalancing it: younger buyers are active alongside established collectors, and Art Basel Paris is designed to serve both.
We are adapting by creating new access points to the fair and connecting it even more strongly to how culture is experienced today, while continuing to offer the curatorial rigor, market leadership, and institutional depth that established collectors and our galleries expect. Initiatives such as Avant-Première, for example, are designed to create more focused conditions for discovery and engagement, while supporting stronger dialogue between galleries, collectors, institutions, and cultural leaders at the earliest stages of the week.
Art Basel Paris 2026
Dates: October 23–25, 2026
Opening hours: 11 am–7 pm daily
Venue: Grand Palais
Address: Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris, France
