Sheyi Bankale (SB): What I would like to ascertain is the background – the vision – behind Photo Basel. What is its emphasis?

Sven Eisenhut (SE): I would like to start by saying we are a very good team and we always complement each other. I guess the point is we are Basel ‘locals’ and, of course, we were dragged by our parents – to Art Basel! Over time we have realised that photography is not very well represented at Art Basel. At one point, there was a focus on photography, but this slowly declined. We have visited several international art fairs and realised that there are a lot of parallel fairs only dealing with photography. So, a niche market exists. We also love the medium. And, combined with lots of luck – being at the right place at the right time – Photo Basel came about.

SB: This current concept, how did you create it?

SE: It is a fine story actually, because at first everybody was asking us: ‘Who are you guys? What is your background?’ They thought we seemed young. Given we are not from the Arts, many were suspicious.

Samuel Riggenbach: “Have you done this before?”

SE: Yes, exactly – they asked: “Have you done it before? Which galleries are you with?” We were, like: “Um, well …”. We were lucky enough to visit Les Rencôntres d’Arles and bumped into a gentleman at the poolside at the Forum Hotel who happened to be Michael von Graffenried. We talked, and it transpired his daughter was having trouble getting into the same college that I’d just graduated from. I had no idea who he was and we just talked. “You should talk to my wife,” he said. His wife is Esther Woerdehoff, from Paris. She said she would show us how to do it.

SR: She was like our fairy Godmother.

SE: So with her name, we were able to go out there and start building, and escalated it from there. The mention of Basel makes people curious and positive. Every time people hear the words Photo Basel, all ears ‘pop up’. And there was nothing before. There are two great festivals, the Biel Festivel of Photography and Festival Images Vevey – great festivals, but no fair. So, it took off from that point.

SB: A no-brainer!

SE: That is what everybody tells us. It should be crystal clear that Basel was missing something.

SB: But at the same time it was not being done.

SR: Exactly.

SB: So there has to be a reason, surely?

SE: For us, especially – we are not from the industry per se. I think we were sufficiently green to underestimate the hurdles we were facing because we did not know all the galleries back then. And, because we did not know we just walked up to them – authentic and honest – and approached them in a nice way and told them what we were about to do.

SB: Are you suggesting you are the only body championing photography in Basel?

SE: Actually there is one huge photography collector called Peter Herzog – the brother of Jacques Herzog, one of the architects of the Tate Modern. They just bought a foundation. Literally, they bought it. And they will implement a building at the Dreispitz that will be finished in 2018.

SR: And they will ‘implement’ all the works in this foundation: officially three hundred thousand but, unofficially, more like five hundred thousand.

SB: I heard the collection was offered to the Canton?

SE: We heard it was rejected. Unbelievable. We are making photography acceptable in the commercial sector. We are working on making this medium ‘open to the public’. Local people do not know that you actually buy photography.

SR: It is more affordable and eventually it will increase in value. For example, Gallery Monica Wertheimer is showing a very young photographer at the fair who won a prize last year. Other attractions at the fair are the vfg [Young Swiss Awards] newcomers. We are really trying to show the audience what is out there. You can find rare things even if they’re not ‘vintage’.

SE: Obviously, we have the audience of Art Basel – that is why we open the night before the major collectors leave Basel. This is a down-to-earth fair. Everybody does everything here and I think that is what makes us special.

SB: What’s it like working with local artists and galleries?

SE: Last year we had an age-limit of forty for artists because, I guess, we did not want to overlap with Art Basel. We really respect them. I mean, without them we would not exist, right? However, for this year we withdrew the age-limit and drew up a selection-committee comprising two galleries and curators. And, we had an artistic director from France – so that is why you see a lot of French galleries this year. It is an experiment, and next year we have a lot of great galleries that are really interested in coming. Even for this year’s fair we had almost twice as many applications as we could handle, which is great. But, in terms of the local galleries: there is only one photography–only gallery – Galerie Monika Wertheimer. This was really challenging because the selection committee did not know the gallery. We had to advise them it is important and she is local.

SB: This is an area Photo London can improve on because the local photography protagonists are not represented.

SE: And this is something we really try to avoid. We are a ‘local family’ in Basel and we consider the people that work with us, and around us, as extended family members. It is Basel and Switzerland first. They are our strength, but the local people know the collectors, they know the scene, they know and they mix with international people. So as I said, this year there are a lot of French. Last year we had Japanese galleries.

SR: We have a vision, and galleries have – basically – agreed to support us through a couple of years. One or two galleries may not sell that much, but they understand the market better so they will come back next year. For example, we had a gallery last year that did not do very well, and this year it was literally ‘sold out’ on the first night. That’s quite insane.

SB: What’s important for you is the relationships you build with galleries…?

SE: Exactly. An art fair is basically nothing else but a platform where you exchange energy. Of course you make money but, at the end of the day, it is about the synergy you create.

SB: So you understand where you stand in the market place?

SE: Samuel has a very good saying: ‘under-promise, over-deliver’. If this becomes a bad fair there might not be a next fair, it is as simple as that. So we try to make it ‘happen’, and work hard so that there is a next fair.

SB: So what is its legacy?

SE: We already have several galleries wanting to return and to talk with us; to give us feedback on how to improve. We really want to become one of the hubs for photography in Switzerland. There are a couple of good photography museums, there are two great photography festivals, and we really want to become another player. And, of course, during one week we would appreciate it if people come by and see what we’re doing and foster this medium; celebrate photography.