KAMIAR’S MONTHLY REPORT

ARCO Madrid one of my favorite fairs due to its elegance, operational facilities, partnership engagements and vast number of visitors.

ARCO, that was postponed from its original time slot, implemented larger isles, temperature checks and timed tickets. These seem to be the norm these days, but it was great to be in a large fair format again. While there were very few international visitors, the fair boasted wider booths, elegant VIP rooms, international collectors lounges sponsored by Iberia Spain’s largest carrier that provided the international collectors that made the trips with delicious free meals.

The joy of being a feeder fair to larger fairs is to see the large number of VOLTA graduates to exhibit in Spain. Of course, our aim is not just to be a number one satellite fair, one in which the bigger fairs come to year after year to take our best galleries, but the view for VOLTA is to get the best of the best galleries to exhibit with us again and eventually we would love the Hauser and Wirth’s, White Cubes and Thaddaeus Ropac’s of the world to exhibit their emerging artists with us. As we know that these do not often get the limelight that they should at the bigger fairs.

ADN Galeria from Barcelona had a strong booth, as well as Galería ALARCÓN CRIADO, Galería Ángeles Baños, Galerie Anita Beckers, ARTNUEVE, Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Espacio Valverde, Juan Siló, Galerie Kandlhofer, P74 Gallery, Ponce + Robles, Rosa Santos, Galeria Senda, Set Espai d’Art are amongst the more established galleries at ARCO that have all been at VOLTA over the last 15 years.

And of course, there were great galleries exhibiting and some new discoveries like F2 Galería, a strong presentation.

From Madrid to Monte Carlo, where Art Geneve hosted their annual fair unusually in July.

While traditionally I always felt that this or during the Tennis season is a good time to hold a fair in Monaco when everyone is there, this year still seemed a bit quiet. Fresh from the opening of their grand gallery in Monte Carlo, Hauser Wirth participated with a great booth. White Cube, Waddington Custot, PERROTIN, Pace and Dickinson were part of a strong stellar booth selection of around 30 galleries that attended this year. Wow, if I ever ran a small fair this certainly is the lineup I would love to cater to.

Monte Carlo is such a grand and beautiful place, with amazing collectors and a lifestyle befitting. The fair was elegant and boutique and everyone brought strong works. What I love is that every year on the second day of the fair, galleries get to invite guests to a dinner hosted at the fairgrounds. While some galleries have three tables; others have one and it is a great way to be in an intimate environment with your collectors surrounded by the art you exhibit so you can feel what it is like to entertain and have fun with all that amazing art around you. Brilliant idea and something I would love to steal for my fair. Bravo to the team of Thomas and Sonia who work incredibly hard to make these three fairs happen.

Text and images: Kamiar Maleki

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