Friday 4 May 2007

A better breed of art fair?

In a recent post on ArtWorld Salon, Marc Spiegler ponders Gallery Weekend Berlin as an 'antidote' to art fairs.

Gallery Weekend Berlin - Marc Spiegler, ArtWorld Salon

For GWB, 29 galleries hold openings on Friday night, and pledge to open on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. A pocket-sized programme is distributed. Dealers hold private dinners on the Friday night, and on the Saturday night there is a gala event, to which every participating dealer can invite six guests. Speigler writes:
"Now, an artworld idealist might say that good galleries should not have to coordinate their openings and engineer a big social occasion to attract out-of-town visitors. As a realist, however, I think it’s an excellent strategy. Much like an art fair, it leverages the strengths of many galleries - their artists and their networks - to mutual benefit, while acknowledging the time-crunched lives of today’s artworld players. Plus, the galleries get to show their artists in spaces the dealer chose to fit their program."

Which in itself is an antidote to the restrictions placed on dealers at this year's Auckland Art Fair.

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