If you thought art fairs were just about collectors, investments and making money, you’d be mistaken. They offer “a rapid education about what’s happening in the visual world — a cultural turbocharge”, says Mark Read, chair of the Everard Read group of galleries. They’re about “the importance of the cultural message”, says Laura Vincenti, director of the Investec Cape Town Art Fair. And they’re “invaluable at growing the art market”, says Glynis Hyslop, MD of Joburg’s Turbine Art Fair.
If anything, art fairs have become major cultural and social events in many of the world’s biggest cities. The phenomenon has been evolving for decades, starting with Frieze London and Art Basel. Today Art Basel is hosted not just in Switzerland, but also in Miami and Hong Kong. Frieze is held in Los Angeles, London and New York, and the Armory Show (now also owned by Frieze) takes place in New York.
“Those three stalwarts are the biggest fairs in the world,” says Vincenti. And it’s such big business that there are travel agents whose sole work involves booking collectors into art fairs around the world.
South Africa is no slouch either. Both Joburg and Cape Town play host to art fairs. The Investec Cape Town Art Fair, held last week, is not just the biggest in Africa, it’s also attracted the attention of Fiera Milano Exhibitions Africa, subsidiary of Fiera Milano Spa, listed in Italy. It’s the only art fair Fiera Milano runs outside Italy.
“The aim when we started this adventure in Cape Town was to expand the [Fiera Milano] portfolio in Africa, and we scouted all over Africa and found that South Africa and particularly Cape Town was the right place to open a market,” says Vincenti.
The fair last week certainly attracted a throng of art enthusiasts, local and international. “I should have brought my own champagne,” said one person, navigating the never-ending queues for drinks, while a group of (many) foreigners discussed the value of some artwork in euros.
Read says he loves wandering around fairs such as Cape Town’s. There’s a “frisson of excitement around a top art fair”, he says, with buying on the go and top artists walking the floor.
In Joburg, the experience is distinct from that of Cape Town. The excitement is “palpably different” in the two cities, says Read. “Cape Town gets a lot of sophisticated international clients flying in and the demographics are most definitely paler than [in] Joburg. Joburg has a feeling of a real African art fair. Not as much power buying perhaps, but full to the brim with people wanting to become part of this wonderful cultural phenomenon and to view what’s emerging on our extraordinary continent.”
People like to be seen; there’s a commonality of spirit that all mixes in this exciting little dish called the art fair
— Mark Read
An inclusive community
Art fairs aren’t just about big- money investors and dealers rubbing shoulders with artists and prospective clients — they’re for anyone who’s just curious about art, or the event, or who simply enjoys the social scene.
As Read explains it: “People like to be seen; there’s a commonality of spirit that all mixes in this exciting little dish called the art fair.”
The big thing for the Cape Town fair is getting people together, creating networks and possibilities, and offering opportunities for a younger generation of artists. It’s a platform for everyone, Vincenti says, with a deep educational angle. “That is what the art fair should be, not just commercial.”
The fair’s broader aim is to market galleries representing arts from across Africa. But there is an international flavour in the mix. Alongside “foreign collectors who are coming to Cape Town to buy contemporary art from Africa ... we have local collectors who are eager to see new trends from Europe [and] America, who are coming to the fair to buy foreign art. So it’s a perfect match,” she says. And buyers are also from a diverse community, ranging from more established to younger collectors.
Within this artistic ecosystem, the curator is super important. “They are the ambassador in the world; they can shape the career of an artist, they can create trends in the market,” says Vincenti.
“I always say to young people and artists that the first thing to get into the market is to ... get to know curators to show your work, to accept their advice and follow what they are suggesting because they really are the people who can drive your career.”
Like the artists themselves, she adds, fairs are about including curators at different stages of their careers.
To find new talent, she travels the world scouting for new galleries and curators who can nurture the talents collectors want. She speaks to people and curators, galleries and collectors. “Sometimes, collectors have a very good eye for new talent. It’s very much about speaking to people, going to shows, museums, fairs and using my own eye to find new talent.”
I don’t believe in pure investment in art; it always has a kind of ‘falling in love’ with the work you want to buy, otherwise the investment doesn’t work
— Laura Vincenti
The bottom line
Despite perceptions to the contrary, fairs aren’t money-spinners. Art fairs allow enthusiasts to see an enormous amount of art in one space — and they know they’re going to get top quality, says Read. “I don’t think any gallery will spend the kind of money required to partake in a fair without bringing their A-game.”
Indicatively, at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair the maximum cost per square metre for a stand in the main section is between R2,500 and R3,000/m². Cost does, however, depend on the section; emerging artists and galleries pay less.
Sadly, says Hyslop, art fairs simply aren’t lucrative. The high cost of mounting means they’re totally dependent on generous funding from corporates. “It’s not a venture one goes into in order to make money. It’s essential to have a very clear target market or a unique selling point. It’s the same as any other business — you must have a clear differentiator and know exactly what you’re hoping to do and to whom you are appealing.”
Certainly, for those putting together the event there is a “core” that is commercial, Vincenti explains. “They have to be sustainable, so they have to make money, but they don’t make huge money from the side of the organisers.”
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Still, they remain important dates on the calendar, as they “do everything for art”, says Vincenti. For a start, they offer exposure artists won’t get at a gallery exhibition. There, audiences are smaller and more niche; at fairs, artists get the best possible exposure given their wide reach. They “really help to improve the artist’s career”.
They also work to grow the art market, says Hyslop, exposing attendees, potential and existing collectors to a wide variety of artists in different mediums and styles, revealing the scope of the art market, honing their preferences and potentially purchasing artworks.
As for those looking for investment works, Vincenti has some advice: there’s no investment if you don’t enjoy what you buy. “It’s always about feeling something, get[ting] emotional in front of a work. Of course, it can have an investment side that you could always sell, but I don’t believe in pure investment in art; it always has a kind of ‘falling in love’ with the work you want to buy, otherwise the investment doesn’t work.”
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