During the opening night, on Thursday November 13th, the Carrousel du Louvre set alight for the young international photography: fotofever paris welcomed that night 7 913 visitors.
At the end of this third Parisian edition gathering 107 exhibitors (of which 6 editors) and 9 partners, more than 14 000 visitors came to discover the young talents of today’s international photography scene. The public from all around the world – 27 % of foreigners -, the professionals and the press hailed the event created and organized by Cécile Schall.
Rising temperature
The attendance of the 2014 edition went up by 50 % and the number of exhibitors increased from 65 to 115, the level of the event rose as well as the quality of the installation. An artistic committee, comprised of the Belgian collector Galila Barzilaï Hollander and l’Association des Galeries d’Art Paris – represented by its co-president Baudoin Lebon, assured the artistic quality of the gallery selection.
The presence of the gallery Caroline Smulders with a solo show on Gerard Malanga, himself participating to the event, attracted many collectors including François Pinault.
Moreover, fotofever has welcomed numerous VIP Paris Photo professionals who had free access to the event to discover the young talents displayed at fotofever. In this manner, the fotoprize laureate Laure Fauvel sold no less than six photographs, among which two went abroad. A good start for this young graduate from the Gobelins, l’école de l’image in Paris!
The exhibiting galleries globally achieved a good level of sales, specially for artworks sold for less than € 5000, which remain the heart of the art market and specially the photography market, despite some happy few that break the record… the participating publishers enjoyed benefits as well, such as Terre bleue with Les couleurs de Madagascar by Pierrot Men in Bertrand Hosti’s booth.
Fotofever strengthened its international position especially with the presence of eighteen Asian galleries – for instance, the excellent 798 Photo Gallery, Pan-View Gallery or Emon Photo -, the American continent was also represented, two South American galleries had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and two galleries from Los Angeles.
Organized development
fotofever’s founding idea is to share the excitement and fever of collecting. The event is a creative force.
fotofever is an accessible event since it’s not elitist, it is also accessible because of its location and its price, be it the price of the artworks, the cost of the booth and even the entry ticket – € 15 full-fare and € 8 for the reduced price.
fotofever positions itself as the photography art fair dedicated to young talents; with this in mind, fotofever welcomes many young galleries and proposes a low cost offer that takes into account the economic realities of today’s market: the wall, 4 linear meters for € 1500, counting 32 of them for the 2014 edition. Another attractive offer, the solo show: 22 this year.
To trigger more easily the act of purchase, the prices of the artworks are all displayed and many photographs are sold at very reasonable prices, especially in the “start to collect” collection, that can be identified in the fair with the red „start to collect“ sticker. The “start to collect” artworks do not exceed € 1000 and this way each booth put an emphasis on the ideal piece that could be acquired to start a collection.
In this way, our partner ARTE started a collection with the acquisition of an artwork from the “start to collect” collection: a photograph of the young Belgian Bieke Depoorter.
A free guide “collect foto” (co-edited with AMA) reinforces this offer. It is full of information, the perfect tool for young collectors! By the way, the youngest collector of the 2014 edition is called Marion and… she is only 8 years old!
Friendly and cool
Fotofever sets the tone starting from the entrance: a young volounteers team welcomes and informs the public. They are easily identifiable with their red t-shirts, but above all with their smiles, an important asset in front of the most impatient VIP.
This friendliness and coolness is also found among the exhibitors, like the character Elyx created by YAK and exhibited by Bettina Von Arnim: a character drawn with a black pen on a notebook, playing a role in a real setting, a photo and an immediate share on the social networks.
fotofever stands out from other fairs by offering to its visitors a complete experience that goes beyond the simple meeting with artworks and galleries. Fotofever multiplies new initiatives! In collaboration with the exhibitors, many book signings with the artists were organized and some performances created a surprise in the fair, such as Elodie Pierrat’s happening for the 55 Bellechasse gallery: naked behind a photograph, she wandered throughout the fair.
The exhibitions appealed to a wide audience. This year it is Coco Fronsac’s work presented by the magazine Camera that was acclaimed by the public. The private collection exhibition was a big success as usual: the collector Galila – well known by galleries taking part to the biggest fairs – demonstrated her confidence by lending twenty artworks, a consecration for fotofever!
As for the live jazz, it is part of the DNA of fotofever: it gave rhythm to the end of the days. The fever has to be spread!
Successful alternative
The press confirms the place of fotofever in the panorama of photographic events that count! More than ever, this photography art fair positions itself as the hub for the young photographers and anyone that is looking for discovering tomorrow’s talents.
And tomorrow is 2015, the fotofever team is already on the warpath! Exhibitors have already booked their booth and newcomers ask for the rates…
The fate dictated that Lucien Clergue would die in the middle of the Month of Photography, the person who has done so much for the art of photography. Agathe Gaillard exhibited his artworks during fotofever this year, in her selection of photographs about women taken by artists defended in her gallery since 1975. Last year, Lucien Clergue had accepted our invitation within the framework of the private collection exhibition “la fesse”. His photograph was selected as the cover image of the fotofever 2013 catalog.
Cécile takes this opportunity to thank all the exhibitors and artists, the artistic committee, the jury of the fotoprize, Agathe and Galila, the partners, the suppliers, and of course Viparis and the fotofever team.
fotofever paris, Carrousel du Louvre – November 14th to 16th, 2014
www.fotofeverartfair.com