From Brussels to Miami, here’s our subjective guide to favourite fairs happening around the globe in 2019.
The Hong Kong show, held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, features premier galleries from Asia and beyond. Underlining Art Basel’s commitment to the region, half of the participating galleries once again have exhibition spaces in Asia and Asia-Pacific. The show provides an in-depth overview of the region’s diversity through both historical material and cutting-edge works by established and emerging artists.
Date: 29-31 March
Sheduled between the Grammy Awards and the Academy Awards, this is the most sought-after debut of a brand-new fair in 2019. The cinematic setting of Paramount Pictures Studios’ backlot will be filled with artist projects, installations, talks, film screenings and restaurant pop-ups. Bettina Korek was appointed as Executive Director of the fair and Los Angeles-based curator Ali Subotnick will oversee a site-specific programme of artist projects and film.
Inside the fair tent (designed by the architect Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY), you will find works from artists Doug Aitken, Kathryn Andrews, Tracey Emin, Gajin Fujita, Jeppe Hein, Secundino Hernandez, Peter Hujar, Camille Henrot, Mike Kelley, Kiki Kogelnik, François Morellet, Jordan Nassar, Mark A. Rodriguez, Allan Ruppersberg, Cindy Sherman and many more.
Date: 15-17 February
Art Brussels, one of Europe’s original and most established fairs, celebrated its 50th-anniversary last year. Since its inception, Art Brussels has evolved into one of the top European contemporary art fairs and is a must-see in the international art calendar.
“We have a very loyal base of collectors, because they know what to find in a fair like this,” Vierstraete said for Artsy Magazine. “There is a very thoughtful collector base, they have much knowledge about art history and they really come up for the artwork itself—not because it’s trendy to collect this or that. ‘Spec-collectors’ as we call them—we don’t have those collectors here.”
Date: 25-28 April
Art Brussels, 2018, photo Contemporary Lynx
The eighth edition of the fair will take place on Randall’s Island from Wednesday, May 1 through Sunday, May 5. Applications for Frieze New York 2019 are now open.
Date: 2-5 May
Frieze New York 2018, Photo by Mark Blower, Courtesy of Mark Blower and Frieze
Basel – a small Swiss city, located where the German and French borders meet, attracts the leading gallerists, collectors, art enthusiasts and representatives of both public and private arts organisations. In 1970 Basel gallerists Ernst Beyeler, Trudl Bruckner and Balz Hilt created an international art fair that proves to be a success from the start. More than 16,000 visitors attend the inaugural show to see 90 galleries and 30 publishers from 10 countries. Every year, Art Basel brings the international art world together. Exhibitions and events are also offered by cultural institutions in Basel and the surrounding area, creating an exciting, region-wide art week.
Date: 13-16 June
Since its inception in 1996, LISTE has developed into one of the most important fairs for mostly new, but also to some extent a middle generation of galleries. LISTE focuses on introducing young galleries with primarily emerging, as yet little-known artists.
Date: 10-16 June
Oktem Aykut, Courtesy LISTE – Art Fair Basel, photo: Daniel Spehr
This fairly young art fair provides us with an opportunity to visit the capital city of Austria and explore the rich and diverse art programme offered by the fair’s organisers and many of top art institutions, galleries, and satellite fairs.
In its latest edition, viennacontemporary demonstrated its outstanding position among the international art fairs. With 30,863 visitors at the vernissage and the following four days of the fair, viennacontemporary was able to surpass last year’s figures. In addition to the many local art enthusiasts, the fair for contemporary art enticed numerous international art collectors to visit the light-flooded booths of the 118 galleries and institutions from 27 countries in the Marx Halle in Vienna.
Date: 26–29 September
Frieze London and Frieze Masters
Art collectors, aficionados, professionals, and luminaries from all around the globe flock to London to explore astonishing exhibitions, spectacular events and innumerable champagne receptions. Frieze London and Frieze Masters feature hundreds of top galleries and internationally acclaimed artists catalysing one of the most exciting weeks of the year. Alongside the fairs, London’s diverse community of galleries, international institutions and arts organisations present some of their most ambitious projects during the week (M. Wolynski)
Date: 4-7 October
Richard Saltoun, Sex Work section, Frieze London 2017, photo Contemporary Lynx
Artissima is Italy’s most important contemporary art fair. Since its establishment in 1994, it has combined the presence of an international market with a focus on experimentation and research.
Date: 1-3 November
Joanna Piotrowska, Galeria Madragoa, Artissima Fair 2017
In American show, leading galleries from North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa show significant work from the masters of Modern and contemporary art, as well as the new generation of emerging stars. Paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, films, and editioned works of the highest quality are on display in the main exhibition hall.
Date: 5-8 December
Edited by Sylwia Krason
