Art Genève 2023: The joy of experimentation
Not everything at the eleventh Art Genève is for sale. An institution like the Museum Frieder Burda from Baden Baden presents here in January photographs by Andreas Gursky from its own depots, and the Fondation Dubuffet is also not interested in selling the works of the French Art Brut icon. their exhibitions flank a fair with a daring balance between art since modernism and its commercialization. It all has to do with director Thomas Hug. He conceived his “Salon d’Art” ten years ago with a three-fold aspiration: in addition to the initially manageable number of galleries, he invited private museums and publicly funded projects to Geneva in order to present as much contemporary art as possible in an environment that was more hostile to images because it was influenced by Calvinism to confront. In addition, there is “Art Genève Musique”, an avant-garde project of an acoustic nature, which refers back to Hug’s time as a gallery owner in Berlin: Here he displayed experimental, music-based works until 2010.
As a native of Geneva, he was probably the best possible person for the demanding task of establishing another trade fair in Switzerland three hours by train from Basel. There is now also a sculpture garden as a biennial on Lake Geneva, which brings the art from the exhibition center in the middle of the city. This unique profile helped Art Genève – and you can see it again and again Art Basel flagships also in Geneva. This time, well-known galleries such as Urs Meile, Almine Rech, Eva Presenhuber, Perrotin, Continua, Gagosian or Thaddaeus Ropac are taking part, who will also be bringing along works by Imi Knoebel and Wolfgang Laib. Most were already present at previous editions of the fair, but hesitated during the two Corona years and are now present again. A development that Hug is particularly pleased about. Among other things, a work by General Idea hangs on the stand from May 36, while Thomas Brambilla from Bergamo has an early self-portrait in the forest by Klaus Rinke. Appropriately for the season, Swiss gallery Monica De Cardenas has Stephan Balkenhol’s sculpture “Woman with Boots and Winter Jacket” (2021), while Knokke’s Edouard Simoens Gallery shines with a small, early floor sculpture by Carl Andre, which she recently offered at the fair in Luxembourg for over 300,000 euros.
At the same time there are newcomers like the Mario Mauroner gallery in Salzburg. Among other things, it presents works by Rashid Al Khalifa, whose aluminum friezes take up the architectural structures of the Near and Middle East and interpret them artistically. “Spectrum XVI”, a work from this year should cost 39,900 euros. For Mauroner it is the perfect opportunity to meet the gallery’s collectors from the French regions as well as western and eastern Switzerland. He calls Art Genève an “interesting stage” that the gallery has chosen to start the new trade fair year – before it then goes to Dubai next.
There are 90 participants in total, including the institutions – and thus a few more than in 2021. They include current neighbors such as the Center d’Art Contemporain Genève, but also the Serpentine Galleries from London, the Ringier Collection, the “Poush” scholarship program from Paris and the Musée du quai Branly for non-European art. In Geneva, the important Parisian house is showing works from the same context, but these are not part of the collection but of the offer with which the fair wants to expand its focus beyond European art. There will also be talks and performances, and in the entrance area there will be a considerable exhibition area for works from the estate of the written artist Barry Flanagan, all of which revolve around the motif of the rabbit. A curated show with artists such as Nancy Spero (Christine König Gallery, Vienna), Meret Oppenheim (Knoell Gallery, Basel and Larkin Erdmann Gallery, Zurich), Regine Parra (Jaqueline Martins Gallery, Sao Paulo) and Ada Friedman (Kendra Jayne Patrick Gallery, New York/Bern) explores the metaphysical in contemporary art. Here, too, it is noticeable that the galleries participating in the fair are not the only ones who can provide works for the other projects. If necessary, Hug asks the protagonists extra to realize those other projects that make his fair somewhat unique.
Last but not least, she boosts the ambition of the galleries with the “Prix Soloartgenève-FP Journe”. The award was launched right after the premiere and focuses on trade fair stands with a solo show. This time the tenth anniversary is being celebrated and all the works that have received awards in the past are once again being brought together in a retrospective. This is said to be a challenge for the galleries that have now assembled, 21 of which are planning a monographic presentation. A good record too.