Liste Art Fair Basel
16–22 June 2014
The Gallerist Programme is the first professional development programme for a young generation of gallerists, organized by de Appel arts centre, Amsterdam, and The Fair Gallery (gb agency, Paris; Hollybush Gardens, London; Jan Mot, Brussels; and Raster, Warsaw).
Over the past nine months, six young art professionals participated in the Gallerist Programme, a trajectory consisting of five intensive workshop weeks, each time located in a different context of the global art market. The five sessions took place in Amsterdam, Berlin, London, New York, Paris, São Paulo and Warsaw and included numerous discussions with collectors, artists and gallerists and practical workshops about the art market, leading to a final project that will be presented at booth 1-5 at Liste Art Fair Basel 2014.
The Gallerist Programme’s 2013–14 participants are Damiano Femfert (b. 1985, DE/IT), Mia Laska (b. 1985, AT), Alexander Mayhew (b. 1973, UK/NL), Aurelia Nowak (b. 1987, PL), Maria Fidel Regueros (b. 1975 BG/CO/ZA) and Diana Rodríguez (b. 1980, MX).
Throughout the year they zoomed in on the variety of ways gallerists support their artists’ careers, the formal agreements underlying friendly relationships between artists, collectors and gallerists, and above all the diverse motivations and strategies of the varying parties that make up the art world. Their final project at Liste allows the participants to put their considerations and experiences of the past year into practice.
On the opening day of Liste a tailor-made installation offers a preview of the six different projects presented throughout the week. Highlighting a selection of the works that will return over the course of the week, the installation also opens up to the audience a number of issues the participants have encountered and dealt with throughout the year.
Maria Fidel Regueros reveals alternative ways of engaging with the public and private by presenting the Chimurenga Chronic alongside the photographic work of Dean Hutton. As a living document, the quarterly gazette the Chimurenga Chronic explores new ways of critically articulating contemporaneity in Africa and its Diaspora, while Hutton in her presentation chronicles intimate moments as signifier for identity, dreams, aspirations, subversion, love, conceit, queerness, beauty and the evolution from collaboration to co-authorship.
Damiano Femfert investigates the ongoing influence of modern masters by presenting new work of multifaceted talent Adam Green: filmmaker, singer, songwriter, star of the anti-folk movement, and visual artist particularly inspired by the CoBrA movement. Green produced a series of works on paper as a direct response to two significant oil paintings from the sixties by Asger Jorn and to be shown alongside each other celebrating the 100th anniversary of Jorn’s birth year.
Mia Laska will test the fair’s site as a platform for performance art with a solo presentation by Albert Mayr. Crossing the borders between spatial installation, sound, space and performance, he will create a fictional photographic studio. By interlinking different kinds of industrial lighting, the artist will transform into his alter-ego Jonny Hawaii to create a lightning orchestra, conducting the technical objects as if they were musical instruments.
Alexander Mayhew‘s presentation of Paul Beumer’s work seeks to create a contemplative moment amidst the art fair’s buzz, inviting the hurried viewer to gaze instead of just glance. Beumer’s large painstakingly executed paintings are shaped the way landscapes are formed and are reminiscent of the slow crystallization processes in nature. They engage in an open-ended dialogue with the history of abstract painting, while simultaneously investigating notions of romanticism, spirituality and even kitsch.
With a particular interest in the post-internet production of art, Aurelia Nowak works with Tymek Borowski to challenge notions of analog and digital art. Instead of presenting works for sale, Borowski invites collectors to commission a new allegoric digital portrait of themselves or their collections in his particular surrealistic style, hailing back to a tradition of royal portraits and the tempting power of immortality of visual representations. Using the bold and flashy aesthetic of Polish 1990s advertising Borowski creates a special promotional campaign to entice the audience to get involved.
On the last day of Liste, Diana Rodríguez will present Enrique Ramírez, whose work lies in the gap where fiction and reality mutually enrich each other. Through metaphorical means, the artist questions our world and its migratory flows. His practice could be described as a sort of human topography, many of his works involving interviews and recollections of personal testimonies on displacement, creating geo-poetic spaces for imagination and wandering.
Dates:
Monday 16 June
Group preview
Tuesday 17 June
The Chimurenga Chronic & Dean Hutton, presented by Maria Fidel Regueros
Wednesday 18 June
ADAM & ASGER, presented by Damiano Femfert
Thursday 19 June
Albert Mayr, presented by Mia Laska
Friday 20 June
Paul Beumer, presented by Alexander Mayhew
Saturday 21 June
Tymek Borowski, presented by Aurelia Nowak
Sunday 22 June
Enrique Ramírez, presented by Diana Rodríguez
More information about the individual projects can be obtained from the participants.
For general information about the Gallerist Programme, please see de Appel art centre’s website or contact Nathalie Hartjes (coordinator Gallerist Programme) at nathalie [at] deappel.nl.
