Interview: Amanda Coulson

Entrance to VOLTAshow 03

Why did you start the VOLTAshow ?

It was three gallery owners; Kavi Gupta (Kavi Gupta, Chicago), Friedrich Loock (Wohnmaschine, Berlin), Ulrich Voges (Voges + Partner, Frankfurt) and myself, we had the idea of doing something in Basel, because we felt there were somehow a vacuum being created by the fact that you couldn’t do Liste for more than 3 years, and the fact that Art Basel Art Basel is a closed system. So we decided to create VOLTA, and my feeling of there being a vacuum has now been be proved... Art Basel have now created the ’Art Premiere’ section, where they take in younger and cutting edge galleries.

You’ve been quite successful?

We’ve been very successful!

VOLTAshow 03

There seem to be a very cosy and relaxed atmosphere at the show, is that intended?

The point is to be a contrast to the main fair. The main fair is of course fantastic, and you’re going to find the most amazing art there, but a lot of it will be art that you perhaps are familiar with already, and what we intend here, is that you can make discoveries of both artists and galleries. There exists sort of an international check list of hot galleries, and of course they tend to be the ones with the right connections, knowing the right curators etc., and so we make an effort not just to have known galleries, that work with emerging artists, but also really try to take in 5 or 6 galleries that perhaps nobody has seen or heard of. And to stage more. People keep asking us if we will expand, but maybe only 5 more, because the point still is to be a contrast.

But if you would, you could...

We could if we wanted to, but then we would be just be another shopping mall. And the point is to be small, and like you said, there’s a relaxed atmosphere here, that we also work to maintain. We take all the dealers out to dinner all together, and we really try to create a feeling of support for each other, and we also develop new ideas, this year with the boat shuttles and the outdoor projects, in order to get people outside, to get them on the river. You know, if you’re going to the big fairs it’s like being on an air plane; you don’t see day light, and you see the same people walking up along the aisle for five hours, and you feel like you just flew to Tokyo and back. So we really want to allow people space to breath; for them being able to go back in and look at art with a relaxed and fresh mind.

Wohnmaschine, Berlin		Peter Stauss: Rebel, 2007 at Ritter/Zamet, London
Fredericks & Freiser, New York		Galica arte contemporanea, Milan

This year you have a Nordic Focus – why is that?

Well, it came out of a collaboration with Zoo Art fair, the London art fair. Just as we try to encourage sort of a collaborative process within the fair itself here, we were constantly asked: when are VOLTA going to London, or New York? But instead of just moving around, I thought it would be more interesting to do a collaboration. So Zoo had for two years been a fair for only British galleries, and they were thinking of expanding and to bring in international galleries. But because they hadn’t been in the international fair business, they hadn’t perhaps so much expertise, so they invited us to co-curate their international section. And as the second part of the collaboration I wanted to invite Zoo back here, so we were just coming up with ideas of what we wanted to do, and we thought it would be interesting to focus on a region, and we felt that there were a lot of interesting things happening in the nordic region. Particularly in Copenhagen there is a lot of excellent young galleries, and we just thought it was an interesting area to throw a spotlight on. Normally at a fair like this, you wouldn’t get 8 or 9 northern galleries. We all agreed that what was happening in the northern arena was worth spotlighting.

Have you been there yourself?

Yes, I have. I travel a lot, and I go to a lot of art fairs. My first job is as an art critic, I write for Frieze Magazine, for Modern Painters etc., so I do have an overview of the art scene and of the art world. In particularly I’m interested in cutting edge and emerging artists. So what informs my job as a fair director, it’s actually being an art critic – you know, to make a fair, that I as a critic really would enjoy to go to. I love the main fair, but it’s like going to a museum. I wanted a fair that was more for somebody like me – with new stimula.

V1 Gallery, Copenhagen		bendixen contemporary art, Copenhagen
Transit Art Space, Stavanger		Galleri K, Oslo

I heard that you arrange sort of a get-together with the gallerists and some art collectors?

Everybody still asks us: when is your party? But we don’t have a party, we want people to connect with each other, and to exchange information and things like that. So instead of having a big party, we created these dinners, quite small with only 120 people. Our sponsor brings then some of their best clients, who are also interested in art, and then we invite curators and collectors of our own, and the galleries are invited to bring two collectors. And then everyone sits at big tables, and everyone gets to know each other. I try to make people sit with new people, so they not just stay in their little cliques. And these dinners are very successful – in the end of the night everyone’s very happy and have had a wonderful time.

How does this cosines work together with business?

It does work together! Of course everyone’s here to make money, it’s the market, and I don’t try to pretend, that we’re not a fair. We have to create something, where the collectors want to come and shop. But to create an environment around that business, where people are relaxed and happy is not a bad thing, because you could easily become very tense at an art fair. A lot of the collectors are coming back several times – sometimes just to hang out. So if you could inspire someone's enthusiasm for art, it can only be a good thing. Everyone’s doing well inside, it’s not like the collectors all flock around the same gallery.

Work by Tracey Snelling at Taché-Lévy Galerie, Bruxelles		Voges + Partner Galerie, Frankfurt am Main
Grace Li Gallery, Zürich		Leo Koenig Inc., New York

How do you choose the represented galleries?

Well, that’s a very complicated process. There are several factors that definitely come into consideration. First thing we did this year, we invited curators to help us with the selection. We don’t have a gallery committee, because I think perhaps that’s a conflict of interests. It’s natural to work with people that have a similar aesthetic that you like, but there is a tendency to form cliques. So we brought people in from the outside on purpose; curators that could bring in a different point of view. Secondly, I definitely look for galleries who took age out of priority, because I don’t think you have to be young. There’s a lot of older galleries here, because there’s no talent in being young – wether you’re an artist or a dealer! Rather having had a gallery for 14 years, and only ever representing emerging artists, who half the time then, when they start becoming successful, go off to leave you for a gallery in the main fair. But to stay in business that long; always representing emerging artists, always doing the art schools, always doing studio visits, I think that says a lot. So I look for galleries, that work with the artists from the beginning, not poaching other people’s artists – that’s very important to me. It’s quite easy if you’re an gallery from an outer line area to have an amazing artists list, but you did not find or build careers for any of those artists. Other galleries did. I really like to give the chance to galleries that aren’t in the network for some reason. And then I do a lot of fairs, where I look a lot at the booth presentation. Galleries can have an amazing artists list, and then they just hang everything on the wall, but I don’t see how that makes an interesting exhibition. So we also try to encourage specific booth presentations, not giving directions, but encouraging them to have a strong concept or idea behind it – a bit like ’Statements’ I’d say.

But a lot of galleries want to be here, it must be difficult to choose?

It is very difficult. This year we had 317 galleries that applied, and we have 48 booths. So we have to turn down a lot of very good galleries. And of course there a considerations like having a good mix of countries, and its upsetting for the galleries that don’t get in, but it’s not just that you want to represented so and so many countries, it’s also about the collectors. No matter how much they love art, they can be shy – even if they’re good collectors and they’re wealthy. If there are one gallery from their country, then they know they can come and feel at home somehow, and after that of course find something new, so it gives them that ease. No one wants to hear it, and probably no fair director would say it, but it’s not about the quality of the gallery after a certain point. Because at a certain point, when you get to the short list of say 75 of 48, they’re ALL good. At that point, of course other things come into play. Sometimes you have two, three galleries that represent the same artists, but if you only have 48 booths, I don’t want to have the same things hanging in different booths. At that point it’s poker!

Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York. Work by Anna Galtarossa & Damien Gonzales to the right

Jaime Pitarch: Chernobyl, 2007 at Spencer Brownstone Gallery		Work by Tessa Farmer at Spencer Brownstone Gallery

So this year it’s the great year for the northern countries, next year it’ll be something different?

Yes, it might not be a geographical focus, it might be sculpture or something.... The project section obviously changes every year. To throw something different in each year, it keeps people curious. Curiosity is what keeps us going in life!

What about the future of VOLTA, I read that you have made a new partnership?

Yes, we have made a partnership with a company in America called Merchandise Mart Companies Incorporated. They own a lot of property and large buildings and centers in America, and they recently bought the Art Chicago, which they are trying to inject with new life, and they also entered into partnership with the Armory Show. So that was very excellent for us, because they wanted to buy the two best art fairs they new, so they bought the Armory and us! Not bought like that, because it is a partnership, but it allows me to expand in other directions. Because normally I just run our business from my kitchen with my partners, so now I can do a bit more. We wouldn’t expand the VOLTAshow in Basel, because as I said before, the main fair and Liste covers what it covers, so I think we’re are just right. But I think that we might expand in other locations, but we would always remain here in Basel, where I’m very proud and very happy about our VOLTAshow!

Could you say something about where?... Copenhagen? :-)

It’s not going to be in Europe, that’s all I can say...

Thank you •

Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago

Clementine Gallery & Derek Eller Gallery, New York. Works by Ivan Wittenstein in front		Alon Segev Gallery, Tel Aviv
Kuttner Siebert Galerie, Berlin		doART Gallery, Seoul
David Risley Gallery, London		Work by Ester Partegàs at Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica
Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam		Canada, New York

Hyonsoo Kim: Rabbit-Moon boy at doArt GAllery, Seoul