In 2016 Art Basel announced a new business venture, Art Basel Cities, a dynamic global initiative that expanded the Art Basel experience and brand to new locations around the world. The initiative was formed to bring global audiences to emerging art hubs through a series of cultural activations and events. The first iteration was delivered in Argentina, in development with the City of Buenos Aires, it launched in 2017. Aya Mousawi joined the Core Team of Cultural Strategists to design and launch Art Basel Cities in 2016. Working alongside the City of Buenos Aires, internal ministries, and over 100 local stakeholders to enhance Buenos Aires’ creative footprint on the global stage. The inaugural programme included the launch of an Art Basel Cities House and included a two day public programme series with over 50 talks with prominent figures from the international cultural sector.

Project: Art Basel Cities

Client: Art Basel

Final Client: City of Buenos Aires

Year: 2016-17

PRESS

ArtNews
Founders of Moving Museum Join Art Basel Cities as Consultants, Putting Their Roving Exhibition Project on Hold.

The pivot put to an end a nomadic endeavor that was started in 2012. […] And at some point in the future, the Moving Museum could return to its model of bringing museum-scale exhibitions to different cities.

Harpers Bazaar
The Moving Museum x Art Basel Cities

Simon Sakhai and Aya Mousawi join the Art Basel Cities team in Buenos Aires to help develop its catered programming and initiate a new model for large-scale public engagement with the arts.

Artnet
Art Basel Comes to Buenos Aires: The Behemoth’s First Step Toward Global Domination Is Surprisingly Polite

The experimental collaboration among the fair, the local government, and key galleries and institutions seeks to raise the city’s profile on the global art-world stage. As Art Basel’s global director Marc Spiegler explained at the launch, the idea is to offer Buenos Aires the “Art Basel effect”—just without the art fair part.