Also among the crowdpleasers were Pipilotti Rist’s trippy video installation, A Liberty Statue for Löndön (2005–08), which invites viewers to take off their shoes, lie belly-up on a giant plush cushion, and stare up at a two-channel video projected on the ceiling, and Jon Kessler’s maze of video cameras and projection screens, The Blue Period, which pulls every visitor into its video frenzy.

Two of the biggest and most dramatic works in Unlimited came from Chinese galleries. Qui Anxiong’s Staring into Amnesia (2007), presented by Beijing’s Boers-Li Gallery, is a giant Chinese train car whose windows contain projections of shadow theater and black-and-white films. Boers-Li was one of several Chinese spaces making their Basel debut. According to the fair’s China advisor, Phil Tinari, although Chinese artists have been hot for a while, they have typically been offered at international art fairs by Western galleries. This year, the Chinese art scene takes a step forward, with seven galleries in attendance.

Another Chinese newcomer, Vitamin of Guangzhou, showed in Art Statements and Art Unlimited, featuring work by the Yangjiang Group in both sections. The collective presented a curiously appetizing half-eaten Chinese dinner, among other works, in Statements, and the sprawling faux idyll Garden III (Pine Trees) (2008) in Unlimited. As of this writing, all were still available.