Art Basel Places Edi Rama’s Bronze Sculpture on Basel’s Rhine Edge
Art Basel’s Parcours section will include an unexpected name this year: Edi Rama, Albania’s prime minister and a practicing artist. His bronze sculpture, Untitled (2026), is installed at the end of Clarastrasse in Basel, where it looks out over the Rhine. The placement gives the work a public, almost civic presence, even as its author remains one of Europe’s most politically scrutinized leaders.
Rama’s inclusion at the fair is tied to his current exhibition at Société gallery in Berlin, Chrysalizing, which runs until 27 June. Société added him to its roster in October, and he is also represented by Marian Goodman Gallery. According to the gallery, the Parcours sculpture was created after drawings made at the Kryeministria, Albania’s seat of government, where Rama continues to sketch during and between meetings.
The Berlin exhibition presents a broader view of that practice. Société describes the first floor and garden as filled with new bronze works whose forms “surge, swell, swirl, and multiply.” The Parcours piece is a version of one of those bronzes, distinguished by a different patina color.
Rama’s art career predates his political one. He studied at Tirana’s Academy of Fine Arts, spent several years in Paris, and entered politics in the late 1990s before becoming prime minister in 2013. Since then, he has continued to exhibit internationally, including at the Centre Pompidou in 2010 and the Venice Biennale in 2017.
His public profile, however, has remained entangled with controversy. He secured an unprecedented fourth term in May 2025 after campaigning on Albania’s path toward European Union membership, while his administration has also faced corruption allegations. Last November, deputy prime minister Belinda Balluku, a close associate, was suspended over a corruption scandal and later dismissed by Rama in late February. Balluku denies wrongdoing.
At Basel, the sculpture adds another layer to Parcours’ public route: a work by a sitting head of government, shaped by the routines of office and placed in one of the fair’s most visible outdoor settings.
