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Inside Karim Crippa’s Vision for an Even More Parisian Art Basel Paris

For his first edition as director, Crippa is sharpening the fair’s ties to Paris while expanding its programming and cross-industry collaborations in a bid to keep collectors coming back.

Since its launch in 2022 as Paris par Art Basel, Art Basel Paris has become one of the most successful events in the organization’s global portfolio, drawing collectors and professionals from around the world to the French capital each fall. Yet Art Basel Paris is hardly the easiest fair to manage. First, there is the location. The Grand Palais’s iconic architecture can easily turn labyrinthine once tens of thousands of visitors begin circulating through it. Then there is the more delicate question of identity. As an international fair, Art Basel Paris must retain its global reach while remaining anchored in the Parisian and French art scene—particularly as its arrival displaced the now-defunct FIAC, the historic French fair that occupied the fall slot in Paris for decades.

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That balancing act is something new director Karim Crippa knows particularly well, having worked at Art Basel across communications and editorial for several years, ultimately becoming head of communications for Art Basel Paris and senior editor for Art Basel globally. Born in Zurich and raised in Lausanne, Crippa built a career across communications, content production, digital culture and the visual arts before joining Art Basel in 2018, with roles at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary in Vienna, Haus der Kunst in Munich and Duve in Berlin, among other organizations and institutions.

Art Basel announced Crippa’s appointment in October 2025; he succeeded Clément Delépine, who went on to become director of Lafayette Anticipations. Crippa was already closely involved with the Paris fair prior to stepping into his new role, particularly in defining its communications strategy and distinctive identity. “I was happy and lucky to be able to participate in shaping what Art Basel Paris would be from 2022 onward,” he told Observer ahead of the fair, recounting how he was among the first to join the team in Paris. “I was also lucky enough to be involved in defining what the fair would look like and what its spirit would be.”

Crippa reaffirmed that one of Art Basel Paris’s central ambitions is to reflect the culture of the city: “Art Basel fairs are always........

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