Moscow will host the 17th edition of International Art Fair ART MOSCOW at the Central House of Artists from September 18th – 22nd, 2013. ART MOSCOW is a meeting point for art dealers, gallerists, museum and cultural institution representatives, curators, collectors, artists and art lovers.
This year is special for ART MOSCOW – the fair will be held in a completely renewed format. Organizers listened to the criticism of previous years about the art quality and the contemporary art market in Russia and decided to close the fair in its traditional format. The major reason of this reformation was an insufficient number of high-quality applications. Due to objective factors, the Expert Council declined the majority of applications. Artworks that were too mainstream and commercial were starting to take over the fair. Because of this, the best solution was to change the fair concept.
During the past 17 years, ART MOSCOW has formed a core of established galleries who present very high-quality art. Unfortunately, their number is insufficient to keep the main exhibition area in traditional format. For this reason, instead of inviting galleries which fail the high requirements and bring the overall quality of the fair down, the organizers have chosen to go with a new format.
New Platform was launched as a parallel event to the traditional Art Moscow for the third floor of the Central House of Artists in winter. It was designed for young galleries that are less likely to follow market trends, are innovative, and more open to experimentation. The three main conditions were chosen to determine the participation in New Platform: a gallery should be less than 3 years old, it must have never participated in Art Moscow before, and it must not sell artwork for more than €5000.
New Platform will change its status as a “parallel event” and instead become the heart of the new Art Moscow. Art Moscow will stay as a platform for contemporary art and art market development in Russia, and will change over time. The main mission of the fair is to support young artists, curators and gallerists, as well as to extend non-commercial projects, contribute to the spread contemporary art knowledge, extend regional presence at the fair and promote art accessibility for society.
Many of the permanent participants of Art Moscow will take part in the fair in a traditional way, among New Platform galleries. The exhibition will include over 15 galleries, whose statuses have been consistently confirmed by the Expert Council from year to year.
Pulling together all the reasons and arguments, organizers are proud to announce the new format of the Art Moscow fair – version 2.0 if you will. The old concept has lost its energy during the past few years. The new version is chosen to be full of energy and as a new impulse for contemporary art development in Russia.
* * *
ART MOSCOW 2013 is held as a parallel event of the 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, the biggest international forum gathering artists and lovers of contemporary art from all over the world. According to its curator, Catherine de Zegher (Art director of the 8th Biennale of Sydney and curator of Australian Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale), the Moscow Biennale will be inspiring and innovative.
ART MOSCOW will host an extensive programme of conversations and talks. A series of seminars, lectures, presentations, and discussions with leading specialists, as well as exhibition of students’ works, installations and performances will be organized at the fair. The programme also includes round table discussions on the following topics: “Art fairs as cultural events”, “How to build a corporate collection”, “Collecting contemporary art – a passion without age” (with collectors who are aged 25 to 55 years old) and others with well-known Russian and foreign curators, gallerists and collectors.
The Recycle art group will present its “Perpetual drill” installation. A constantly spinning metal drill going from the ceiling to the floor represents the apogee of an infinite extraction of minerals. A mirror coat with rough shears reflects the world like a false mirror.
ART MOSCOW will also present the “POSITIVE/NEGATIVE” exhibition, devoted to an experimental approach in Polish contemporary art. Artists use the physical properties of artwork as their starting point and inspiration. The show reveals the transition from the usual focus on the picture (called “positive”) to comprehension of the complexity of the components, such as the process of drawing and designing, material fracture and the properties of the material (in this case considered as “negative” side of an art object).
Another remarkable special project, called ArtStreamShop, consists of two parts: an exhibition and a performance within the exhibition space. ArtStreamShop is a weekly online performance, where artists’ works are sold in a “home shopping” format – and some of these works will be sold at ART MOSCOW. For five days, visitors could buy these works at special prices at fixed hours.
VIDEONALE.14 on Tour – one of the biggest video art festivals, will be organized as a parallel event. For almost 30 years, the festival shows the latest tendencies and the most original international video art. Selection of 23 artworks, exclusively exhibited at ART MOSCOW, will open a dialogue between artists of video art from different countries and create a unique cultural space, favoring young artists’ works.
A cooperative project of the Central House of Artists and the Moscow State University – eCOЗНАНИ/eCONSСIOUSNESS exhibition – aims to showing a new artistic and research science art projects that explores the intersection of science and ecology. Artists are going to demonstrate different approaches to comprehension of interaction problems of living organisms, their communities, and environment (that is understanding their environment as Ernst Haeckel did), and project it to social and ecology responsibility issues.
In 2013 ART MOSCOW has a new partner – Art Media Agency (AMA) – news agency specializing in the art market with over 150 articles on art per week. An online translation will be organized during the fair from the Central House of Artists.