Art Fairs: Museums for the Art of Here and Now
- By Priya Pall, Curator

The recently organized exhibition at the New Museum in New York titled The Generational: Younger than Jesus presents 25 artists from 50 countries all of whom are from the new generation of artists born after 1976. Spanning mediums that encompass painting, drawing, photography, film, animation, performance, installation, dance, Internet-based works, and video games, this signature triennial will be the first major international museum exhibition devoted exclusively to the Generation Y, as one calls it, and is said to be the only contemporary art exhibition of its kind in the United States. However, it does make me wonder if perhaps it is the only exhibition of its kind to be held in any museum across the globe.

Museums generally tend to hold in their collections works that are significant from a historical point of view and not necessarily in the contemporary context. Even the contemporary art museums tend to have collections that may well be over 100 years old. This is especially true in India, while elsewhere, the collections are at least 60 to 70 years old.

If one wished to get an overview of the contemporary art scene (and by contemporary I mean “of present day”) the most evident approach would be to visit art galleries. It might however, also be the most tedious and not necessarily the most satisfactory. Not only do galleries hold only a limited number of artists, one would only see works from current stock, not to mention that even if one were to visit several galleries in order to see a substantial number of artists, one would only see that which is being shown in the galleries in their city. To get an all-encompassing, comprehensive view of art that is being made today, may just prove to be next to impossible with this approach.

Art Fairs, which have been important art events in the Western world for some time now, however, fill in this gap that the galleries and museums leave wide open. A part of their mission being the same as the New Museum – “New Art, New Ideas,” an art fair is one of the few places where the focus is mostly on the current art trends. The temporary nature of an art fair makes this feasible, along with the fact that it is a result of a collective investment that may be partially relying on state support, if at all.

With a large number of galleries, anywhere from 50 to 300, exhibiting thousands of works by just as many artists, ranging from the great masters to the emerging stars, the number of artworks one may see at any given time in an art fair is considerable (The oldest and perhaps the most revered art fair, Art Basel defines itself as the world’s premier international art show for Modern and contemporary works). From the qualitative aspect as well, exhibitors curate their booths to showcase the best of their collections. As most art fairs are international, one can study, compare and examine works not only from schools of one geographical area but in fact globally as well.

Art fairs have become unique art events in that they merge the boundaries of commerce with the education of art. There is a large educational component to the art fairs. Discussions centered on topics pertinent to the art market and art research today are held. Workshops, curatorial exercises, artist walks, publications and dissemination of information in a well-thought out manner and outreach programmes, all form an integral part of an art fair. The amount of information available in an art fair about art, art practices, artists, the art market, curatorial practices and so on is vast and wide-ranging.

Of the diverse art events that take place around the world today, an art fair is perhaps unique, due to its nature and the information it can actually impart. A large-scale event, it is open to public, interactive and experiential. And while the core reason for its existence may be trade, successful trade of art relies on awareness and education that must be made applicable to the contemporary context. Hence rendering art fairs a place for the art of ‘here and now.’