artgenève

The « trademark » of our fair is its human scale. It creates a real comfort of visit and allows attendees to meet and discuss. Above all, we have thus been able to open a wide space entierely dedicated to non-commercial exhibitions from museum, fondations, art centers and private collectors. This is therefore this dialogue between the art market and the institutional setting that defines the DNA of artgenève.

The fair focuses on modern – 20th century abstract art – and contemporary art. Most of the participating galleries come from Europe but this is slowly changing as exhibitors from other parts of the world arrive. We invite every 1 or 2 years fairs and shows specialised in different fields to expand the offer. For example, after 2 years of Design with PAD, we collaborate for this 2020 edition with LOOP Barcelona, dedicated to art video.

The price range is very wide. Collectors can purchase artworks from less than 10k CHF but most of the pieces are sold between 10k and 80k CHF. Meanwhile, there are many commercial transactions over 100k CHF and always a few over 1 million CHF.

artgenève was originally created for major local collectors and seasoned buyers from the city of Lyon, the ski resorts and the whole Lemanic Arc. Most of the galleries are international. As a result, we quickly have had collectors from London and Paris, then from North Italy and German-speaking Switzerland. But it’s not all about private collectors. Visitors also include professional of the art market, as press officers, journalists, curators and some artists themselves even though they don’t often show up in fairs. Finally, by its great diversity, artgenève welcomes as well the general public.

In addition to my first answer about the DNA of the fair, I would say that we ensure a good quality visit by creating unprecedant exhibitions that cannot be seen in other art fairs. I’m thinking for example of the over 40 meter Wall Drawing by Sol LeWitt that has been drawn 5 weeks before the opening of the fair, or the light feature by Anthony McCall, as well as his exhibition in the Hamburger Banhof in Berlin. For the 2020 edition, we will highlight among others, massive architectures by Mario Merz. There is also the VIP programme which attests the pride and great involvement of local collectors. Geneva is well-known for its discretion. That is the reason why this programme is particularly attractive.

Alongside the show itself, artgenève continues to exist all year long through many different events all over the world, as musical encounters and artist performances. This really enforces our community approach. To conclude, even if artgenève is an international art fair, we aim to reflect the Swiss economic activity, perhaps better than Art Basel.

This is a tricky question as I appreciate many different art fairs with their own speciality. I very much like the discovery side of Artissima and I hold Art Basel – maybe the greatest art fair ever – in high esteem.