Vitalizing the Discurse  Interview with Boris Ondreička, the viennacontemporary 2023 Artistic Director

This month, we are heading to Vienna, where viennacontemporary Art Fair will take place between September 7^th and 10^th. Before we see each other in Kursalon Vienna walking around and exploring presentations of 61 galleries from 20 countries, we would like to encourage you to read our interview with the Artistic Director, Boris Ondreička. This is the best way to prepare yourself and fruitfully spend time during this year’s viennacontemporary.

Dobromila Blaszczyk: In today’s post-pandemic times and the reality of what has been going on for more than a year in Ukraine, any activities aimed at fostering cooperation and showing the strength of communities are particularly vital. What does strengthening relations through culture and art means in this context? How can art and culture strengthen the sense of unity?

Boris Ondreička: First of all — art itself carries very specific magnetising quality of gathering initiation. That specificity means a huge variety of professions, generations, but also classes and world-views come, meet, and have a dialogue. Art is a medium here, and it means diversity, liberty, but also very sharp social and political critical focus. There are ways in which certain things can and are communicated through arts which are not that open in any other discipline. Rather than the term ‘strengthening’ I like to use ‘vitalizing’ when describing discourse. This is what VCT tries to be engaged in very much indeed.

DB: What makes (and in what way) VCT Art Fairs an important format for exploring European identity? 

BO: Art is very much about mobility. Art sees no borders but is very sensitive to aspects of local at the same time. Our physical focus is in Central Europe and that’s what makes it different from other fairs. Even the topic of the accompanying Statement project is ‘Political Homelessness and Contemporary Citizenship.’ Citizenship is a certain level of identity. In this context when we are thinking about citizenship we mean an European citizenship and the rich environment of the cultural crossroad of CE as a perfect laboratory.

DB: We are currently facing a looming financial crisis all over the world. To what extent do you think it will affect art fairs? Is viennacontemporary bracing for its impact?

BO: On the one hand there is loss of finances both in private and public sectors (not in arts only). On the other, in times of crisis art, as a speculative commodity, receives particular attention. And it is not only its nominal (object-related) price but also symbolical (psychological and intellectual, subject-related) value. The result of this impact is a conjunction of all factors mentioned.

DB: So, is it a good time to buy contemporary art? Has the political, social, and financial situation led to a lot of new art being shown by the galleries? Which type of art is most represented by the galleries right now and why?

BO: As I said, hard times do not necessarily mean less interest in arts, sometimes somehow the complete opposite is true. We are trying to build and control the diversity and perfect balance inside. The balance means proportions of emerging (which is about 25% this year) and well-established and even shifting the focus a bit to the late modern, variety of media, local (which provides us with a stable ground of collectors for example) and international (which is more than 50%). We would like to ensure stability and sustainability, but sustainability also means an element of surprise (the new) — so people do not come only one time, but always return.

DB: Do you expect a lot of new art collectors to visit viennacontemporary or rather rely on the old network? Do you know which type of art they will be searching for?

BO: It is not actually about ‘expectations.’ We have to be pretty proactive in addressing particular personal and institutional subjects. Not only that, we have to be engaged in inspirational education of the future one. We have more than 800 art-lovers registered from all around the world. There is a lot of curiosity around us and we are extremely happy about such a significant rise of interest since last year. Yes, there are some particular collectors we know are interested in something particular and we inform them about potential offers in advance.

DB: How to attract new art buyers in current circumstances? Is there any advice you would like to share with our readers and gallery owners?

BO: There are many angles. One is, let’s say, investment approach, where one should trace some trajectory of a particular artist from past to future (potentiality), the other is pure love — introduction of great sensitivities and narratives to fascinating forms.

DB: Each year, the art fair brings together thousands of visitors. What are the demographics of viennacontemporary — are most of the visitors experienced art collectors?

BO: Our success is mirroring the successes of galleries, and so, of course, we are trying to gather as many experienced collectors as possible. All together they are about 10% of our entire visitorship.

DB: With the help of innovation and technology, we found new ways to connect using digital solutions and virtual reality. How will their presence/participation/help in functionalities be marked at the fair?

BO: Together with and at MAK — Museum of Applied Arts we organise a talk ‘Design and Engagement — Digitalization in a Globalized World’ featuring Zach Stubenvoll (Head of Brand Design @Meta, Reality Labs, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp brands, San Francisco, US), Stefan Sagmeister (designer, Sagmeister Inc, New York, US), and Paula Strunden (VR artist, founder of XR Atlas, Vienna, AT / Amsterdam, NL), moderated by Marlies Wirth, Curator Digital Culture and Design Collection, MAK. On top of this we also organise VCT ACTIVATION VR environment by Christiane Peschek, curated by Francesca Gavin (who is a curator of Zone-1, section of emerging arts at VCT), right at Kursalon. Both events are made in collaboration with Meta as well.

DB: Can you tell us more about the artists we will see at viennacontemporary this year?

BO: As a representative of the Art air I can’t highlight any personal positions explicitly. At viennacontemporary 2023 you have a chance to explore presentations of 60 galleries from 20 countries, 27 Austrian (out of which 23 are Viennese), and 33 international. Within these numbers our invitations were kindly accepted by 15 first-timers and we have 15 more we can still consider as emerging galleries, which means 25%. Artists presented come from more than 80 countries. We embrace nearly the entire spectrum of media, from drawing to VR. 

DB: Viennacontemporary 2023 will include VCT Sculpture Project and VCT Statement sections. Can you tell us more about their role and what they will feature?

BO: VCT Sculpture Project tries to expand the range of media presented inside of the fair to outdoor (and more monumental) sculpture. Splendid spontaneous surroundings of Kursalon (our venue) — Stadtpark really encourages such acts. Going outside means direct questioning of public issues. VCT Statement consists of two main platforms: debate panel of highly prolific experts in arts, culture, and politics, and exhibition at partner institution das weisse haus curated by Laura Amman (curator at Kunsthalle Wien) both under the topic of ‘Political Homelessness and Contemporary Citizenship.’ Statement itself is a format which tries to address the most urgent issues of our times as well as challenge what the Art air can do itself towards the questioning of cultural, social, and political common good. Statement project expresses our idea of being an integral and active part of urban dynamics (not only of the market).

DB: What is the highlight of the programme beyond viennacontemporary? What are the must-sees this year?

BO: With no doubt it is the gallery-festival ‘Curated by,’ this year under the provocative umbrella topic of ‘Neutral,’ conceived by Maximillian Geymüller. VCT is happy to partner with ‘Curated by.’ Together we create a very strong reason for art-lovers to come to Vienna that particular weekend.

DB: Thank you for your time and see you during the fair in Vienna this year.