“For the primary time in a few years, we’ve all the great Austrian galleries right here!” So says Francesca Gavin, the lately appointed creative director of Viennacontemporary, which is being held within the Austrian capital (till 15 September).
That is the tenth version of Viennacontemporary, housed within the practical, high-ceilinged Messe Wien Exhibition Centre and which this yr options 98 galleries, up from 61 final yr. One third is Austrian, one other third Jap European and the ultimate group is from the “remainder of the world” however overwhelmingly European—Italy, Denmark and only one, AshesAshes, from the US. “Vienna is the proper location to convey collectively galleries from throughout the area,” says Gavin: “Not everybody’s going to go to Bucharest, Budapest or Vilnius.”
Bearing out her phrases is Lizaveta German of Kyiv’s The Bare Room, certainly one of two Ukrainian galleries on the truthful. “We simply put the works within the automotive and drove,” she explains. In her sales space are humorous ceramic items by Kinder Album, priced at €2,000, and a wool tapestry exhibiting a settee by Kseniya Bilyk, for €5,000.
Annamaria Molnár, of the Budapest-based Ani Molnár Gallery, is exhibiting geometrical works by Tamás Konok from the Nineteen Seventies and 80s, and reported sturdy curiosity, plus just a few gross sales for the smaller items, at costs between €2,800 and €23,000. “Hungarian artists all the time do properly at residence, however Konok, who has a world popularity, additionally has a market right here in Vienna,” she says.
“At no different truthful in Europe do you see so many collectors from Poland, Hungary and across the area,” says Thomas Krinzinger of the eponymous Viennese gallery. On the opening he offered a large-scale portray by Oska Gutheil, to an “worldwide collector” for €35,000 and a sculpture by Hans Op de Beeck.
Eastcontemporary from Milan was happy to have positioned, additionally early within the truthful, three works by the Bosnia and Herzegovina-born artist Mila Panić, together with a tyre full of cigarettes and fragrance bottles and a sequence of 4 sculptures by the Lithuanian Anastasia Sosunova—costs for her work vary from €2,000-€13,000.
André Verlon’s Wasted Land (1991), proven on the stand of Heike gallery
Courtesy of Heike
There’s a part for rising galleries, and one other, Context, which goals to rediscover once-major however now-neglected artists. One such is André Verlon (1917-1995), proven by Hieke gallery from Vienna, whose paint-and-collage works are in quite a lot of museum such because the Albertina and Tate. Costs vary from €4,500 to €55,000; one work, Wasted Land (1991), is being supplied for €7,500.
These value factors mirrored the inexpensive nature of the occasion: “It’s not nearly commodity buying and selling and hypothesis,” stated Gavin: “We’re creating an area market, and making a value level the place folks can take a danger. It’s a way more inexpensive truthful, however I’m hoping with a way of professionalism and high quality.” Luciá Holms, the Barcelona-based proprietor of the think-tank Speaking Galleries, confirmed he discovered the standard significantly greater: “This yr it’s rather more curated than earlier editions,” he stated.
Viennacontemporary, owned by a gaggle of Austrian buyers, just isn’t alone, by any means, within the Viennese truthful panorama: in reality, a surprising 15 artwork gala’s are deliberate for subsequent yr.
A earlier investor in viennacontemporary is the Russian Dmitri Aksenov, who has now created Particolare, a “curated modern artwork salon”, which additionally runs from 11 to fifteen September with some main sellers together with Esther Schipper, Lisson, Tempo, Mennour and Giorgio Persano. The situation within the ornate, Italian Renaissance-style Kursalon is in reality the outdated residence of viennacontemporary. There is no such thing as a cost for collaborating, however exhibitors pay a fee of round 20% to the organisers in case of gross sales. Among the contributors are additionally exhibiting on the major truthful: for instance, Pinksummer from Italy. Inevitably, costs are at a unique degree: Persano has a 3 half Michelangelo Pistoletto mirrored work, Smartphone Giovane Donna (2018) priced at €2m.
No-one can deny that occasions are robust for the artwork commerce in the mean time, and a number of cubicles at viennacontemporary had offered nothing on the primary day. However Vienna is seeing an inflow of residents—30% of its inhabitants at the moment was born exterior Austria. With its extraordinary museums, sturdy help for cultural affairs and nonetheless inexpensive housing, it’s going to seemingly stay a beautiful vacation spot when—we hope not if—the artwork market improves.
