Art fairs are indeed the magnificent beasts of the art world. There is plenty to explore and use them for, there are always things to be excited about, and things to criticise. Here, I will try to cover what art fairs are about, how to use them, as well as share some of my personal experiences.
The art fair, as an event and platform, undoubtedly, plays a key role in the global art scene, but, it can also be a strange event to manoeuvre. As a visitor, you might be overwhelmed by the volume of artworks, the high listing prices, and, the multitude of eclectic gallerist, collectors, and art people. As a gallerist, you might be stressed out about sales and engaging with potential buyers or persons of perceived importance. As an artist, you might feel either excited or a little awkward attending these events, depending on whether your works are exhibited; you are invited to join the gallery’s booth, or perhaps, feel that these highly commercial events sadly reduce the artworks to simple luxury commodities without regard to artistic intention, curation, or dignity of the individual artwork.
Of course, I am exaggerating a little, and these roles are a bit caricatured. However, there is some valid criticism of art fairs and their influence on the art world. The role of art fairs has also changed a bit over the recent years, both, in terms being dominant selling venues and in their efforts to try to include and engage a wider public, beyond just catering to a narrow group of wealthy collectors.
Top art fairs and when do they happen
Let us start by unpacking what art fairs are by looking at some of the major players. I have highlighted a few of the major fairs based on how often they are referenced, the number of galleries attending, and their sales numbers.
- Art Basel (Basel) – next up is opening for the public on June 13, 2024. Art Basel also hosts major art fairs in Hong Kong, Miami, and their latest acquisition for presence in Paris, held at different times during the year. Somehow, Art Basel Basel (“Basel” mentioned twice to some people’s amusement) has long been considered the mothership of contemporary art fairs.
- Frieze Art Fair (London) – next up is on October 8, 2024. A major fair in a major European city, which acquired the US fairs The Armory Show (New York) and EXPO Chicago in 2023, and runs its Frieze fairs in Los Angeles, Seoul, and New York.
- Paris Photo (Paris) – next up on November 7, 2024. The largest fair dedicated to photo art and usually held in Paris’ iconic Grand Palais.
- India Art Fair (New Delhi) – next up on February 6, 2025. Cited as the largest art fair in South Asia, and mentioned among other large Asian fairs like Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Taipei, and others.
- Art Dubai (Dubai) – next up on April 18, 2025. It is often cited as one of the biggest fairs across the Middle East region.
There are of course other major fairs on all continents, and for a more extensive calendar overview of art fairs around the world, you can check it here.
How are art fairs structured?
Often, art fairs stretch over three or four days (usually, from Friday to Sunday) so that the public can access the fair, and most major fairs will have a pre-viewing day for invited VIPs followed by a vernissage, to officially kick off the show. The typical venues for art fairs are large conference centres or event spaces, and on rare occasions, a parking building in a mall district, like Art Fair Philippines (which I enjoy highlighting).
Art fairs, usually, have a reception and ticketing area, but, it is often cheaper to buy the tickets before-hand online, along areas for media and VIP reception. Ticket prices vary greatly from fair to fair depending on the country and region, and perhaps some would argue, based on the prestige of the fair.
Moving on to my hobby-horse regarding art fairs, the catering. A properly organised art fair should have both cafes and casual dining areas with proper seating, at various points in the venue. Please, no more dry sad-looking sandwiches and bottled juices, nor exclusive Michelin-style restaurants. Just keep it basic and enjoyable, reasonably priced and accessible, that’s it (disclaimer: I do have a very strong opinion about art fair food and have been on the receiving end of mockery, but, I will save that for another article).
The exhibition space is where the beautiful chaos begins. A monster event like Art Basel Basel, accommodated 284 galleries from 36 countries at its 2023 edition. In comparison, Art Dubai hosted 130 galleries from 40 countries in 2023, and India Art Fair, had 80 exhibitors from India and internationally. That’s a lot of art to process in a very short time. Entering the fair, you instantly feel the concentration of art around you. Since galleries rent booth spaces of various sizes, often square, with at least three usable walls, the restricted exhibition format makes some artworks more suitable for fairs than others. Shipment is also a factor, as many artworks are shipped in for the fair, they often consisting of small-medium sized paintings, sculptures, and photography, and less commonly, of video art or larger installations.
Certainly, the major art fairs carry a level of perceived prestige, which often manifests a level of exclusivity. An art fair with high focus on attracting collectors, publicly known art practitioners, and celebrities, might offer exclusive VIP lounges and parties, art fair vernissages, as well as pre-viewing days, in some instances, even pre-pre-viewing events. This might lead to the most sought-after artworks being sold before the fair even opens to the public, or even before the pre-viewing for the VIPs.
For a gallery to participate in a fair, some financial risk is involved, as it is not cheap to participate. Apart from the fair fees, materials, and transport, galleries commonly budget for collectors lunches or dinners during the art fair, which could cost a small gallery around $50,000, a medium-sized gallery $150,000, and large galleries could easily spend $400,000 in total costs (2018 numbers from Artsy for Art Basel participants).
Are art fairs all about selling?
Posing the above question, it already sounds like a point of criticism. This is an interesting topic that both seems quite obvious, especially considering the breakeven costs, but at the same the questions hits a sensitive nerve.
At its core, art fairs are major events for commercial galleries to showcase and sell art. Reportedly, art fairs made up 29% of all art sales in 2023, with other sales channels being, galleries, auction houses, online markets, direct sales, and others. There might also be important secondary participants, such as, critics, art institutions/schools, art magazines and media, and other entities or bodies participating from the art world, however, these events are, mainly, for selling art.
Due to the busy fair schedule, the time constraint adds a lot of pressure on gallerists to sell, and ideally, sell quick. This might force gallerists to have to chose more strategically with whom to engage. People relevant for galleries are of course buyers, representatives for art acquisition, or other individuals considered to have strong influence or network in the art world. This might make some gallerists seem a bit uptight, arrogant, or disengaged from the general public, which, I would not take too personally. That said, there are many gallerists who enjoy a chat, or have a team with them to engage with inquiring individuals who have no intention of buying. I believe that art fair gallerists would have, eventually, developed a sense for quickly screening such viewers, to determine how much time they would be willing to set a side for them.
It is true, the art fair is a selling event, but, it should, also manifest an increased willingness for public engagement, non-selling curated shows, and the inclusion of the host city to organise the fair along a local art week. Many art fairs, nowadays, have an art program with talks, screenings, performances, or other art-related events to complement the fairs. After all, since everyone interested in art is there, why not, also take the opportunity to, actually, discuss art?
In terms of art fair terminology, you might come across words like “blue-chip art” or “blue-chip galleries”, which refers to artworks by well-known established artists often with a track record of high sales prices, and the galleries selling them. Art fairs have different ways of assigning spaces to galleries, and they sometimes bundle all blue-chip galleries in one section, putting small or emerging galleries in another section, in order to thematise the space, and perhaps, also to justify different booth space prices.
Art fairs can also serve as great networking events, especially if one already has a foot in the door, and the art fair-goers is often a curious and open crowd. When you look around and think about it, you most likely have something in common with everyone there, you like art or you are curious enough to show up.
Some criticism and reactions
Art fairs can, serve as important platforms for showcasing artists, give a good snapshot of current trends, and, they can be used to opening up discussions in- and outside the art world.
However, the commercial nature of art fairs comes with some criticism. Like many other aspects of the art world, art fairs are, sometimes criticised for a lack of fair representation, concentration of powerful big players, commercialisation of art at the expense of artistic integrity, exclusivity and lack of inclusion, and environmental concerns regarding shipment and traveling for an event that will only last a few days, to name a few.
Some other criticism points includes art fair ownership groups acquiring new art fairs in strategic locations to boost sales while squeezing out existing well-liked fairs, along with issues of increased booth space pricing hitting small galleries disproportionately hard.
In terms of representation, however, some art fairs have faced the criticism of over-focusing on, either, Western galleries and artists, while also, overlooking a certain group of artists historically underrepresented, such as, female artists, accommodating too few galleries from non-Western countries, or, giving too high an emphasis on certain media, that they might be easier to sell.
It is important to point out, that not all art fairs operate with the same focus. So-called “satellite fairs” are, often, smaller art fairs happening at the same time as established art fairs, aiming to offer an alternative agenda, often with stronger focus on young and emerging artists and galleries, as well as more multi-disciplinary programming, such as.
- Art Central (Hong Kong) – which usually happening at the same time as Art Basel Hong Kong and Hong Kong Art Week.
- Liste Art Fair Basel (Basel) – which happens at the same time as Art Basel Basel, and focuses on “new discoveries in contemporary art”.
- SCOPE Art Show (Miami) – which happens at the same time as Art Basel Miami, and focuses on international emerging contemporary art as well as creative programming.
- VOLTA (New York) – which happens at the same time as The Armory Show in New York, and also focuses on young emerging artists.
Some personal experiences with art fairs
Over the past 10 years, my occasional involvements in art fairs have played a key role in my different engagements in art, as, gallery manager, art writer, art installer and gallery assistant, VIP area assistant, as well as a gallery-represented artist, and, of course, as a regular art flâneur.
I have mainly been involved art fairs in Europe and Southeast Asia, and in anything from the small to the mid-sized, to the largest of art fairs. They all more or less follow the typical format described above, each with their own style and energy, differing in their contribution depending on their host cities’ overall art scene buzz.
In larger European art cities such as London and Paris, the art fairs are important for the market, but, arguably there are so many other art events happening throughout the year, including, several fairs, that these are just one among many other events in the over-all art calendar.
In places like Hong Kong, the two key fairs during the Hong Kong Art Week all happen at the same time, attracting large international attention and visitors. In places like Jakarta, Manila, and Singapore, the art fairs are, perhaps, the most important events of the year. You feel this. There is an excitement and pressure to join, especially in regions where, the art market is still developing and trying to find its own identity, where, based on my experience, the crowd is often younger than European fairs.
What I find interesting about the contemporary art scene in non-Western countries, is, on the one hand the formatting and adoption of global art market practices, while simultaneously, the figuring out of how to inject it with a local touch and uniqueness, as well as, how these practices borrow from and influence the urban identity, which, in my opinion, gives it an exciting and different energy. Art fairs are very suitable for place marketing and strengthening a host city’s identity, offering it a great opportunity. However, the more generic and cookie-cutter-formatted the art fairs, the less interesting to visit, thereby, the intention of creating a buzz around their artworks, would fall short.
If you want to read more about art scenes and their mechanism, check out the previous article on the topic here.
Wrap up
The art fairs can be sort of a double-edged sword. It probably has a lot to do with how people personally expect how art to be shared and experienced. The scene for blue-chip art or highly-priced art, fits very well into a world of luxury goods and prestige. On the other hand, some critics might argue that this enables fine art to stay exclusive, and that art should, ideally, benefit a wider public rather than, ending up in closed private collections, only accessible to a few. Some art fairs, however, do offer opportunities for the public to engage, meet galleries, experience art, and shed light on emerging artists who, might otherwise, have limited opportunities otherwise to share their art.
Art fairs work as market places as well as a platforms for discovery, so there should be a way for all of us to find good use of it.
Further Reading
- Art fair calendar
- About pre-viewing issues at art fairs
- Art Basel
- Art Fair Philippines
- About Art Basel sales in 2023 edition
- Paris Photo
- Art Dubai
- India Art Fair
- About typical fee and costs for gallerists attending fairs
- About total costs for galleries attending Art Basel
- About major Asian art fairs
- About blue-chip art
- About criticism of Art Basel and satellite fairs
- About the art fair business model and digital platforms
- Art Central
- About satellite art fairs
- LISTE Art Fair
- SCOPE Art Show
