favela cafe by tadashi kawamata occupies art basel

favela cafe by tadashi kawamata occupies art baselimage © designboom

at arguably the largest art event in the world, japanese artist tadashi kawamata has occupied the art basel messeplatz with a favela, a neighborhood typology widespread in dense areas of brazil and recognizable for its crude and remarkably resourceful construction. the plaza is bordered by several designer buildings, including those of pritzker prize winners herzog &de meuron, and is the prime public gathering area for the foremost event of global art consumption; thereby making the appropriation of impoverished community architecture an event that toes the line between raising awareness and unabashed irony. the added layer of the basel favela as a cafe for art fair visitors reframes the installation as an exercise in the limits of mindful occupation– especially given the recent police intervention of an illegal party staged at the favela.

video of the installation and early use of the favela cafe 

video courtesy lukas gähwiler

basel goers sit at the cafe image © art basel 

each ‘hut’ was thought of as a room image © art basel 

view into the makeshift space image © art basel 

image © art basel 

image © art basel 

art basel visitors lounge in the favela cafe image © art basel 

image © art basel 

the cafe occupies most of messeplatz image © art basel

image © art basel 

image © art basel 

view of the modules image © art basel