20–23 September 2012
Messe Wien, Halle A, Vienna
www.viennafair.at
Christina Steinbrecher and Vita Zaman are the new artistic directors of VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary.
“We see enormous potential in Vienna’s role as a hub between the Western hemisphere and the emerging economies of the East, which has only begun to come to fruition. We strive to further build upon the synergies that have already been established in earlier editions of VIENNAFAIR and to facilitate stronger connections between the markets. The new team of artistic directors of VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary provides us with the best possible conditions to realize these goals—both from an artistic point of view and from the perspective of the art market decisive for the participating galleries,” says Sergey Skaterschikov, founder of Next Edition Partners and majority shareholder of VF Betriebsgesellschaft mbH, on the topic of VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary’s new artistic directors. “As the artistic director of Art Moscow, Christina Steinbrecher has already gathered in-depth experience in the field of international art fairs, and I’m delighted about her readiness to contribute her expertise in the further development of VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary. Vita Zaman brings equally extensive knowledge of the international gallery scene to the new team. Between 2009 and 2011, she was the director of the Chelsea Space of the renowned Pace Gallery in New York. The third person in the curatorial cluster has many years of curatorial experience in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, and excellent connections with the Viennese gallery and museum scene—and thereby also guarantees the continuity of our engagement for galleries and art institutions both in Vienna and the Eastern European region. Due to legal reasons, we can only announce this name in the coming week,” concludes Sergey Skaterschikov.
The team’s intensive contacts in Great Britain and the USA in particular, but also in the so-called emerging markets and flourishing art scenes in the Middle East, guarantee the exciting development of Austria’s most important art fair into a fixed point in the international art fair calendar.
For more information and application visit www.viennafair.at/exhibitors/registration
Art Vectors Investment Partnership, the new art fund initiated by Sergey Skaterschikov, will launch at VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary 2012. An international acquisition jury composed by Edelbert Köb will make a selection of artworks at VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary to be purchased for the fund. “Naturally, an art fund is about investing in art, but it is important that the art collection set up for this purpose also follows a coherent concept in which not only the financial but also the artistic added value is apparent for the investors,” reasons Edelbert Köb for the selection of a jury consisting of international art experts.
In the coming five years, a minimum of one million Euros will be available annually.
The International Art Industry Forum strengthens Vienna’s role as an information hub at the intersection of culture and economy. Just before the opening of VIENNAFAIR The New Contemporary 2012, Skate’s Art Market Research in cooperation with Deloitte Luxembourg, the Art Investment Council, The Art Newspaper, and leading personalities from cultural industries are warmly invited to participate in the first International Art Industry Forum. “We find ourselves in a time of rapid innovations, which will have a sustainable effect on cultural and creative industries. New business models are emerging and are in search of financing. Cultural institutions in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe need support in setting up their structures, and the latest technological developments present new chances but also bear risks. A new generation of specialized, globally networked, and technologically advanced companies is cropping up at the intersection of culture and economy. The International Art Industry Forum will bring together representatives from diverse areas of cultural industries—from investment firms, art insurance companies, and consultancies to auction houses, galleries, and the media—to introduce the latest developments in a unique setting with sufficient time for discussion and networking,” says András Szantó, a New York based author and art consultant, and the curator of the International Art Industry Forum.