A CONSIDERATION OF THE ART FAIR AS CURATORIAL PLATFORM Paulette Brien MPHIL JANUARY 2016 A CONSIDERATION OF THE ART FAIR AS CURATORIAL PLATFORM Paulette Brien A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Manchester Metropolitan University for the degree of Master of Philosophy. MPHIL Manchester Metropolitan University MIRIAD JANUARY 2016 PAULETTE BRIEN: A consideration of the art fair as curatorial platform Abstract This thesis documents the introduction and impact of the curatorial role into contemporary art fairs. Set within a time-line of contemporary art fair evolution from 1967 until the present day, I describe how the introduction of the curatorial role has followed two particular paths. Using this distinction I generate two classifications of contemporary art fair, ‘curated’ and ‘non-curated’ to structure my communication of the divergent impacts of the curatorial role on the contemporary art fair model and on the wider art world infrastructure in which art fairs sit. On the one hand, in non- curated art fairs we see how the role of the curator is defined by specific curator-led sections that have expanded the size and scope of the contemporary art fair, while on the other, in curated art fairs, the role of the curator and the tenets of exhibition- making have sought to re-evaluate this expansion by bringing forward redefined operational models. With a particular focus on the latter of these two categories, I contend that as a result of the curatorial decisions made, the curated art fair creates distance between the event and its status as an art fair and between the art work and its status as an object for sale. In doing so this thesis argues that curated art fairs challenge the oft-cited notion that art fairs are only about money not art via an exploration of sociologist Viviana Zelizer’s ‘hostile worlds’ theory and its application in the work of economic sociologists Olav Velthuis and Erica Coslor. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction p.01-13 CHAPTER 1: Terms of Reference p.14-51 1.i Art fair definitions 1.ii Classification of non-curated and curated art fairs 1.iii Curator as cuckoo 1.iv Curators and value creation 1.v Art fairs are about money not art 1.vi Writing on art fairs CHAPTER 2: From Kunstmarkt Köln to Frieze : establishing the p.52-69 characteristics of the non-curated art fair. 2.i Evolution of the expanded art fair 2.ii The expanded art fair as default 2.iii Behind the expansion : impacts of curatorial engagement CHAPTER 3: From VOLTA to Sluice : establishing the characteristics of p.70-125 the curated art fair. 3.i Evidencing and interpreting the impact of the introduction of the curatorial role 3.ii The conditions of curated art fairs: case study 1: VOLTA 3.iii The conditions of curated art fairs: re-evaluating their spatial design : case studies 2 and 3 Sunday and Independent 3.iii The conditions of curated art fairs: artist-led : case study 4 : Sluice 3.iv Curated art fairs : wider context CHAPTER 4: A consideration of the impact of art fair expansion p.126-150 and diversification 4.i Curatorial expansion of non-curated art fairs 4.ii Non-curated art fairs : non-profits and emerging galleries 4.iii Non-curated art fairs and curated art fairs in closer orbit 4.iv Virtual competition 4.v Decline in the gallery as sales model 4.vi Non -curated art fair refocus 4.vii Disintermediation and new values of exchange : future markets CONCLUSION p.151-145 APPENDICES Appendix 1: List of Illustrations p.155 Appendix 2: List of references p.156-166 Appendix 3: Bibliography p.167-171 Appendix 4: Case study interviews transcripts p.172-194 4.i Transcription of case study interview with Amanda Coulson, director of VOLTA - 4.ii Transcription of case study interview with Darren Flook, co-founder of Independent - 4.iii Transcription of case study interview with Rebecca May Marston : Director of Limoncello gallery, one of the steering group galleries of Sunday 2010-2012 - 4.iv Transcription of case study interview with Karl England, co-founder of Sluice Introduction Beginning with the launch of Kunstmarkt Köln in 1967 widely considered to be the blueprint for art fairs today such as Art Basel, FIAC, Frieze and The Armory and closing with examples of more recently occurring art fairs such as, VOLTA, Independent, Sunday and Sluice, this thesis documents the emergence of the art fair model over the last forty-eight years. More specifically, this thesis charts the evolution of the art fair as a curatorial platform, evidencing the introduction and impact of the curatorial role within art fairs during this period. Through this introduction we see how the conventions of exhibition-making have expanded the discursive and cultural function of art fairs. Art fair visitors are now routinely provided with talks and discussion programmes, specially commissioned art works as well as on and off-site exhibitions and events; activity which sees the art fair increasingly become a place not only to purchase, but a place to view, discuss, debate and determine art. As we will see, in this model the role of the curator occupies programmes of activity that run in parallel and as a complement to the sales function of the fair. For the purposes of this thesis these are classified as non-curated art fairs so as to distinguish them from the second 1 classification of art fairs used here, that of curated art fairs. With a particular focus on the last ten years within which the idea of the curated art fair has gained currency, I will illustrate how a shift in the positioning of the 1 See Barragán, Paco, The Art Fair Age, Milan, Charta, 2008, p. 39. Barragán introduces the term ‘curated art fair’ to describe the increasing tendency to invite curators to undertake content production roles within art fairs. In this thesis the term ‘curated art fair’ is used more specifically to describe one of two classifications of art fairs that are used throughout, those of curated and non-curated art fairs. In the context of my study therefore, the term, ‘curated art fair’ is used more specifically to describe a type of art fair as opposed to Barragán’s usage of the term to describe a more general condition of curators working in art fairs. 1 curatorial role within the art fair has taken place. In the curated art fair model we see how the curatorial role and the act of curating have moved from the periphery to the centre; with the curatorial role being considered instrumental to an art fair’s conception and delivery as a whole. Here we see art fairs become part exhibition / part art fair. Through the curatorial decisions made, this thesis argues that within curated art fairs distance is created between the art work and its status as an object for sale as well as distance between the event and its function as a site for sales. In creating this distance, I suggest that curated art fairs ‘deal properly’ with the relationship between 2 money and art. In doing so I argue that curated art fairs counter the oft-cited 3 argument that ‘Art Fairs Are About Money Not Art’ by enabling art’s artistic qualities 4 and symbolic function to take precedence over its financial. Based on my experience of visiting non-curated art fairs such as ARCO, The Armory, Art Basel (Basel, Miami), FIAC and Frieze, this effect of creating distance between the art object and its ‘for sale’ status, occurs on a section by section basis within the art fair, or on a case by case basis as a result of the curatorial decisions undertaken by each gallery on their booth. In the curated art fair I argue that to a greater and lesser degree, this is a condition of the art fair as a whole. As described in Pierre Bourdieu’s The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art 2 Coslor, E.(2010) Hostile Worlds and Questionable Speculation Recognising the Plurality of views about art the market Research in Economic Anthropology p.219 30 Economic Action in Theory and Practice : Anthropological Investigations, Edited by Donald C. Wood, published by Emerald Books pp209-224. 3 saatchigallofficial, (2010) Saatchi Gallery Debate: Art Fairs Are About Money Not Art, [Online video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lvnPwsXMho 4 Coslor, E. (2010) Hostile Worlds and Questionable Speculation Recognising the Plurality of views about art the market, p.219 Research in Economic Anthropology 30 Economic Action in Theory and Practice : Anthropological Investigations, Edited by Donald C. Wood, published by Emerald Books pp209-224. 2 and Literature, symbolic value describes value that goes beyond that which can be measured in economic terms. As Isabelle Graw describes, It is the expression of an elusive charge derived from a range of factors: singularity, art historical verdict, artist’s reputation, promise of originality, 5 prospect of duration, claim to autonomy, intellectual acumen. However, this reading of the art fair as a site for the consideration and contemplation of art’s artistic and symbolic qualities is routinely rejected by those who see art fairs as fundamentally detrimental to the experience of art. In her 2005 book, The Purchase of Intimacy, Viviana Zelizer coins the term ‘hostile worlds’ to describe the viewpoint held by some, that there are certain things which we believe should be kept out of the 6 market place due to their incommensurable qualities. For Zelizer it is the analysis of the interplay between intimate relationships and economic interest that provides the context for her origination of the term.