Art Basel Paris 2025: five free must-see works from the public programme
Art Basel Paris 2025’s Public Programme turns the city into a stage for contemporary art, placing bold, large-scale works in streets, courtyards, and cultural landmarks - all free to visit. From a dreamy opera of 30 surreal figures at Palais d’Iéna to a colossal Kermit the Frog balloon looming over Place Vendôme, here is our guide to five standout works from the Art Basel Public Programme that you simply cannot miss.
Helen Marten: 30 Blizzards.
30 Blizzards. by Helen Marten, presented by Miu Miu at Palais d’Iéna. Image credit MTotoe
#FLODown: Helen Marten’s 30 Blizzards., presented by Miu Miu at Palais d’Iéna, is a major multidisciplinary venture that marks her first foray into performance art. Created in collaboration with theatre and opera director Fabio Cherstich and composer Beatrice Dillon, the work traces emotional life stages including childhood, community, sexuality, interiority, and loss through a poetic interplay of movement, sound, sculpture, video, and text. Across the neoclassical grandeur of Palais d’Iéna, thirty character figures, each embodying their own emotional “weather”, inhabit a fluid spatial narrative, exchanging props, voices, gestures, and song. The title 30 Blizzards. refers to the multiplicity of inner states and overlapping subjectivities, and through its fragmented, layered approach, the work becomes a lyric meditation on how we inhabit life’s many experiences.
Date: 22–26 October 2025. Location: Palais d'Iéna is 9 Place d'Iéna, 75016 Paris, France. miumiu.com
Alex Da Corte: Kermit the Frog, Even
Installation view of Alex Da Corte’s performance Kermit The Frog, Place Vendôme, Paris, 2025.Presented by Sadie Coles HQ, London. Courtesy of the artist and Sadie Coles HQ, London
#FLODown: Alex Da Corte’s Kermit the Frog, Even is a huge helium inflatable presented by Sadie Coles HQ, inspired by the infamous 1991 Macy’s Parade Kermit balloon that famously deflated mid-parade. Looming in Place Vendôme in a slightly drooping posture, the sculpture playfully explores cultural icons, identity, and the drama of a spectacle gone awry.
Date: 20–26 October 2025. Location: Place Vendôme, 75001 Paris artbasel.com
Harry Nuriev: Objets Trouvés
Installation view of Objets trouvés by Harry Nuriev at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, Chapelle des Petits-Augustins, Paris. Presented by Sultana & Aurelie Julien Collectible
#FLODown: Objets Trouvés by Harry Nuriev is a participatory installation at the Beaux Arts de Paris that transforms the act of swapping everyday objects into a creative and communal experience. Visitors bring items they no longer need and exchange them for others, each treated as a unique artwork. Over time, the collection evolves, forming a living portrait of human exchange and renewal. Rooted in Nuriev’s concept of Transformism, the reinvention of materials to reveal new meaning, the installation reflects on consumer culture, attachment, and the beauty of letting go. As part of Art Basel Paris’s Public Programme, guided sessions by students from the École du Louvre help visitors engage with the work, deepening the connection between art and community.
Date: 21 - 26 October 2025. Location: Chapelle des Petits Augustins, Beaux Arts de Paris, 14 Rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris. beauxartsparis.fr
Julius von Bismarck: The Elephant in the Room
Installation view of The Elephant in the Room (2023) by Julius von Bismarck, at the Petit Palais, Paris. Presented by Sies + Höke and The Ranch. Courtesy the artist; Alexander Levy, Berlin; Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf.
#FLODown: Julius von Bismarck’s The Elephant in the Room is a captivating kinetic installation at the Petit Palais that features a pair of sculptures continuously collapsing and reassembling at different speeds. The work juxtaposes a life-sized taxidermied giraffe with a scaled replica of Otto von Bismarck’s equestrian statue, exploring how monuments and symbols influence collective memory and perceptions of power. Through its subtle, mechanised motion, the piece encourages reflection on authority, history, and the human relationship with the natural world, transforming familiar forms into an immersive and thought-provoking experience.
Date: 21 October - 26 October 2025. Location: Petit Palais, Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris. artbasel.com
Joël Andrianomearisoa: Les Herbes folles du vieux logis
View of Les Herbes folles du vieux logis (2020–2025) by Joël Andrianomearisoa, Cour de l’Hôtel de la Marine, Paris. Presented by Almine Rech. Courtesy of the artist and Almine Rech.
#FLODown: Joël Andrianomearisoa’s Les Herbes folles du vieux logis transforms the Cour de l’Hôtel de la Marine into a space reflecting memory, time, and heritage. Using rich textures and colours inspired by his Malagasy roots, the artist works with textiles and natural fibres to suggest landscapes of the mind and the passage of generations. The installation encourages reflection on what changes, what endures, and what remains in our shared cultural history.
Date: 21 October - 26 October 2025. Location: Cour de l’Hôtel de la Marine, 2 Place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris. artbasel.com
