"Basilia"

Currently occupying Basel's Messeplatz, and culminating the week of Art Basel, this creative initiative commissioned by Art Basel features a series of immersive projects intended to connect the city and its residents to the 90,000 visitors to Art Basel. A multi-purpose civic structure is hosting performances and talks allowing participants to learn from and teach one another.

Surrounding the structure, a large-scale installation of gravel deposits from an active quarry is being orchestrated by artist Lara Almarcegui from June 11 to June 15, to grow daily in increments that mirror the volume of gravel extracted from a Basel quarry.

Public art on Münsterplatz

Art Basel's Parcours section is bringing 23 site-specific artworks to the area around historic Basel. Among highlights, Hannah Weinberger is installing 10 sound systems through the city's sewers that will play site-specific compositions.

Elmgreen & Dragset's sculpture "Hanging Rock" will be suspended in mid-air in the Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, while Pierre Huyghe's "Exomind (Deep Water") will feature a female figure with a beehive growing from her head; the bees will pollinate the flora in the Allgemeine Lesegesellschaft Basel.

(Related: 5 Highlights Of Art Basel 2018 To Look Out For)

 Theaster Gates: "Black Madonna"

The Kunstmuseum Basel is presenting an exhibition by American artist Theaster Gates that will be spread out across two of its venues, exploring the cult of the Black Madonna. In the museum's new building, Gates will build a shrine to the Black Madonna, while an installation at Gegenwart will turn the space into a site of creative production -- complete with sound studio and printing workshops -- where he will work with his personal archives.