“Yes, I like art. Especially painting!”
Emma sits on a bench and looks a little fixedly at the large photograph by Andreas Gursky that hangs in front of her. “Do you like contemporary art?” I ask her politely. She rolls her eyes and thinks for a while. Then her mouth opens, jaw dislocating strangely. “Yes, I like art. Especially painting!”
Emma is a robotic sculpt by Louisa Clement and an emissary of thehe current “Transformers” exhibition at the Frieder Burda Museum in Baden-Baden. In the trade fair situation, she occasionally loses track and turns itself off – there are simply too many people coming at the same time, dying to throw a few words at her, the chat program can’t keep up. With her preference for painting, however, she is quite right at the fair.
For its 11th edition, Artgenève is proving to be an established salon fair that is not experimental, but plays perfectly with the well-heeled clientele in Geneva and the surrounding area with pleasant quality. Many of the approximately 90 galleries in the airy hall of the Geneva exhibition center Palexpo come from Switzerland, and France is also well represented.
Fairytale narrative bronzes
But Gagosian does not resist the performance either and shows a somewhat strange combination of Edmund de Waal and Theaster Gates – yes, both make ceramics, but the symbolically highly charged assemblages with fine vase-like objects and gold plates of the Briton and the intentionally coarsely fired vessels of the African American Gates connects little else.
Most large galleries then prefer to combine good individual works without major curatorial activities – why should they, like Thaddäus Ropac, radiant Portraits by Alex Katza painted Soulages of Robert Longo and works by the Swiss artists Sylvie Fleury and Not Vital. In addition, the tower sculptures made of beeswax by Wolfgang Laib fill the bunk with a delicate scent.
At Galerie Continua, fairytale-like narrative bronzes by Kiki Smith stand out, while at Eva Presenhuber the computer-based painting of the young Louisa Gagliardi makes a big appearance – she precisely her horror film-like, eerie scenes on smooth PVC and brings them back into the three-dimensional with glittering nail polish Reality.
Noise concert in the club
The exhibitors appreciate the Artgenève audience: young, well-informed collectors with purchasing power are wanted here, says the Viennese gallery owner Christine König, who sold very well right from the opening. At the same time, the fair manages to create an atmosphere with many special programs and institutional exhibitors that goes beyond pure sales.
More than 30 special booths are reserved for institutions and collections. The Ringier Collection showed a homage to the recently deceased Rodney Graham, the Barry Flanagan Estate an expansive presentation of sculptures, the Prix Mobilière of the Swiss insurance company of the same name showed its young award winners. The theme of the special show was music, with a special project by Saâdane Afif. The concert that the artist organized in a club turned out to be painfully noisy. But that was pretty much the only discord – and it was intentional.