“Celebrate art!” – this is the motto of “ArtVilnius’24”. “The holiday can be both the subject of art and the reason for its appearance. In general, fairs are usually festive and noisy”, says the curator of the project zone of the fair, writer and art critic Dr. Valentinas Klimašauskas.
The fair has withstood all the adversities
When the doors of the first international contemporary art fair “ArtVilnius” opened in Vilnius, art critic V. Klimašauskas had recently published the dystopian novel “Alfavilnius” and had already worked as a curator at the Contemporary Art Center for at least five years.
“Curating projects at fairs in itself is not something very unexpected for representatives of my profession, but the format of the fair is something special, because it clearly intersects the paths of art and capital, which are still very different discourses in our region,” he says and reminds that the first fair was created by financial during the crisis, when it received a one-time sponsorship of the project “Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009″. – Be that as it may, the fair withstood all the adversities and is successfully planning its activities further. Therefore, it was and is necessary.”
Art critic professor dr. Raminta Jurėnaitė says today that “Vilnius – European Capital of Culture” in 2009 was a good opportunity for the start of the art fair. None of the Baltic countries had a contemporary art fair, but the organizers of the first “ArtVilnius” put forward an ambitious plan – to create such an event that would remain even after the year of the European Capital of Culture. “That’s how it happened, ArtVilnius is the only event of that period that had continuity and survived even in the most difficult years”, says the professor and adds that, despite the strange skepticism, which, by the way, is still present today, the first ArtVilnius fair many galleries from abroad arrived.
“It was clear to me that if you invite professionally, the galleries will come, this is very important in the art world. Diana and I have successfully done this, overcoming many obstacles. From today’s perspective, we were very brave – after all, we were holding an international and also a contemporary art fair for the first time, there was no statistical knowledge, no logistical traditions. We could only offer art galleries our professionalism, nothing else, we talked about the growing art scene, interesting Lithuanian galleries and collectors.
Photo by Audrius Solomins/Raminta Jurėnaitė
I didn’t promise foreign galleries anything that we couldn’t implement, I tried to be as honest as possible. I received incredible professional solidarity and support from colleagues, we had a lot of strong galleries and famous names at the fair. The fair organization team also worked well, the fair was very successful. It was so successful that it was absolutely impossible not to allow it to be held next year”, – remembers the fair held fifteen years ago. R. Jurėnaitė.
D. Stomienė, founder of ArtVilnius, president of the Association of Lithuanian Art Gallerists, remembers the creation of the first fair well: “In 2009, when we were creating ArtVilnius, the manager of the contemporary art fair Frieze London, founded in 2003, visited Lithuania. At the meeting, someone from the Lithuanian art community asked if it was wise to create an art fair in Vilnius during the economic crisis? “Now is the best time to create, because the crises are over and the fair will be in full swing,” was his answer. The oldest and most influential European art fairs, such as the Cologne fair founded in 1967, Art Brussels, which started in 1968, and Art Basel, which started a few years later in the 1970s, as well as ArtVilnius, were founded by gallerists, so we continue the tradition of establishing European fairs.”
D. Stomienė emphasizes that the project “Vilnius – European Capital of Culture 2009” gave the fair a historic opportunity to create a continuous event. The team spent two years developing the model and structure of the international fair.
It took ten years to win positions
Every year, the art fair brings news, with new content every time. The founder likens the art fair to the cultural industries that no doubt boost tourism, adding the fair to the calendars of gallerists, artists, collectors and art professionals. This is the goal of the organizers of the fair – to stimulate the art market, to activate the synergy of art and business, to develop international networking, and most importantly, to create the tradition and foundations of art collecting.
Photo by Mika Savičiūtė/D. Stomienė
D. Stomienė estimates that it took at least ten years for the “ArtVilnius” fair to create its name and gain positions. “We did not aim to compete with major European art fairs, but the fact that today there was and still is not a larger art fair within a radius of 1,000 kilometers from Vilnius is our achievement. People travel a lot around the world, see what is happening in the best galleries and museums, and the demands of visitors grow every year. At the same time, it becomes even clearer how important players the fairs are becoming in the field of art – after all, the most famous art museums and private collectors buy works in them,” the manager of the fair is convinced.
An important point for art collectors
If it weren’t for the pandemic that hit the world and the war that started in Ukraine, Vilnius would be a very important point on the map of European art fairs “ArtVilnius”. Today, the geopolitical situation of Lithuania often prevents foreign visitors from choosing the direction of Vilnius.
“Of course, the galleries that are going to participate in the fair want to sell their works, we have to make sure that a buyer comes to the fair. Even such a famous art fair “ARCO Madrid” paid the travel expenses for hundreds of collectors and art professionals. Yes, year after year, he grew his army of fans of the fair. “ArtVilnius” is taking this path, we cooperate with the Lithuanian Institute of Culture, the Lithuanian cultural attaché in foreign countries, and we ourselves, with the help of sponsors, pay for the trips of special guests of the fair.
That’s not enough, we are an association, a non-profit organization, it would really help us if we received significantly more funding from the state for targeted visits by foreign guests. After all, when state organizations invite experts to Lithuania, they pay for their trips. We have something to show our guests in Vilnius and we show it – there are many good museums, interesting galleries, cultural events, wonderful nature, excellent restaurants and hotels.
Many of our guests return later, either for the fair, or to explore the city and our culture more, perhaps for a vacation. Collectors are rich people, they leave a lot of money in Lithuania, and their money returns to the state together with taxes”, D. Stomienė has no doubts.
Prof. R. Jurėnaitė agrees with her: “Galleries go to art fairs to earn money. It is their natural need that ensures the existence of the gallery and the artist. Collectors could, without a doubt, collect their collections without art fairs, but a tradition has developed in the world that it is precisely in such events of the art field that fellowship, acquaintances and, of course, transactions are forged.”
Photo by Mika Savičiūtė/Sonata Baliuckaitė
The professor is convinced that at the international art fair “ArtVilnius” world collectors can discover artists who cannot be found anywhere else. That is why the commercial side of the fair needs to be further strengthened. The visitor is very important, but it is even more important that representatives of the art scene come to the fair – gallerists, collectors, art critics, art critics. “Art is what generates money, more works are sold at world art fairs than in galleries,” says R. Jurėnaitė and adds that she would like to see more galleries that sell works of art at the “ArtVilnius” fair.
Art researcher Sonata Baliuckaitė, art director of the ArtVilnius fair, also stood at the origins of the fair. Having started working at the fair as a coordinator, later curating the exhibition of sculptures and installations “Takas”, the project area, today she is organizing the fair for the fourteenth time.
According to S.Baliuckaitė, the art director of the fair, working with “ArtVilnius” is an extremely unique, dynamic experience that accumulates experience in the international field of contemporary art.
“We have always learned and continue to learn from the best. We travel constantly, we visit the most famous European art fairs “Art Basel”, “Frieze London”, “ArcoMadrid” and others, in fifteen years we have made important international acquaintances – without them it is impossible to organize an international fair of such a scale as “ArtVilnius”, said S. Baliuckaitė , remembering that she, while still a student, was recommended to the director of the fair, D. Stomienei, by the art director of the fair, professor R. Jurėnaitė, to join the “ArtVilnius” team.
As the exhibition curator and fair organizer emphasized, working with world-renowned artists and well-known art curators, whom ArtVilnius invited to be part of the fair, is an invaluable experience for her.
“In 2015, the artistic director of the fair was the French Eric Schlosser, who still comes to ArtVilnius every year, we celebrated the ten-year anniversary of the fair with prestigious Parisian galleries and artists invited by the curator Aurelie Faure, in 2015 the focus was on video art, we worked with the video art festival from Germany Videonale is curated by Tasja Langenbach.
In 2016, the professor, the first art director of the fair, R. Jurėnaitė, curated the highlight of “ArtVilnius” – the Polish contemporary art scene, thus establishing a long-term partnership with the “Mocak” museum from Krakow. All these people have become long-term friends of the fair, permanent ambassadors of Lithuanian culture and “ArtVilnius” in the world. We are part of the world art community”, said S. Baliuckaitė.
Guests are especially welcome this fall – art creators from Northern Europe, together with Lithuanian artists, are ready to rethink the questions of aesthetics, politics, and statistical positioning, which are raised by belonging to one or another region. The art director of the fair has no doubt that getting to know the Scandinavian galleries, which were not many at the fair, will be interesting and useful.
The anniversary, 15th, “ArtVilnius’24” fair will be held on October 4-6 at the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Center “Litexpo”. More than 300 artists, 67 contemporary art galleries, 15 institutions from 14 countries of the world will celebrate art here. The fair is organized by the Association of Lithuanian Art Gallerists. The manager of the fair is Diana Stomienė, the art manager is Sonata Baliuckaitė. The event is financed by the Lithuanian Council of Culture, under the patronage of the Vilnius City Municipality. Patron – Cobalt law firm. More information is available here.
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2024-09-23 15:07:09
