ART FAIRS:Art Cologne 2017
With Berlin divided after World War II, the new capital of West Germany became Bonn, which is a city located very close to Cologne, and Cologne basically became a cultural center for the time. Founded in 1967, as Kunstmarkt Köln ’67 by Hein Stünke and Rudolf Zwirner, Art Cologne had a profound impact on the international art market. The launch of the Kunstmarkt Köln was to have a profound impact on the international art market.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Art Cologne 2017 Archive
Now into its 51th edition, after its historical beginnings as Kunstmarkt Köln ’67, Art Cologne is still one of the most important art fairs in the world. And it still has its roots in Kunstmarkt Köln ’67, as a fair for classic modernism, postwar and contemporary art. Art Cologne 2017 presents 200 of the most important galleries of the international art world, 39 of them participate for the first time, the galleries present works by 2,000 artists that extend from Modern and Postwar Art to Contemporary Art in the sector GALLERIES. The New Positions offers space for exhibitors in the sector GALLERIES to present additional one-artist presentations of young emerging artists in separate rooms attached to their booths. New for 2017 is the Neumarkt section that presents a new focus on young galleries and on selected curated projects between galleries in the Neumarkt collaborations section. With the new format Neumarkt, young galleries that have not been in existence for more than ten years present themselves in three different stand areas. This means that the sections New Contemporaries and Collaborations are integrated into one platform and form the central location for young art at Art Cologne 2017. Thus, in addition to areas for small stands with special solo presentations, there will also be medium-sized stands with carefully selected group exhibitions with a maximum of three artists. In addition to this, Neumark also offers larger stands that are exclusively dedicated to curated presentations by galleries of all age classes, also in the form of pavilions. Prof. Günter Herzog, scientific head of the Zentralarchiv des Internationalen Kunsthandels (central archive of the international art trade) (ZADIK), is the recipient of this year’s ART COLOGNE Prize. The prize, honors exceptional performances in the communication of art and is awarded jointly each year by the German association of galleries and art dealers (BVDG) and Koelnmesse on the occasion of the Fair. The prize will be awarded on 26/4/17 in the historic city hall of Cologne. A site-specific installation of German artist Michael Riedel in the entrance hall of the fair welcomes the visitors. Michael Riedel has chosen to scrutinize aspects of the art fair and the art market. For the installation “L” Riedel has created a pattern text based on a transcription of one of the selection meetings of galleries to the fair, which concerned the approval or rejection of galleries applying to Art Cologne 2017. The approximately three hour-long recording resulted in a 29-page document with a total of 53,689 characters, in which the letter L appears 1,894 times. With the resulting “L” installation, Riedel presents an objective new visibility in which he makes the area of unrealised possibilities visible.
Info: Art Cologne Art Fair, Messeplatz 1, Cologne, Duration: 25-29/4/17, Days & Hours: Tue (25/4/17) (Vernissage) 16:00-20:00, Thu-Fri (26-28/4/17) 11:00-19:00, Sat (30/4/17) 11:00-18:00, Entrance fee: Vernissage ticket (valid only 25 April 2017): 46.75 €, Day ticket: 25.00 €, 2-day ticket: 35.00 €, Evening ticket (from 16:00 29/4/17 from 15:00) 20.00 €, Reduced day ticket: 20.00 €, Catalogue: 30.00 €, www.artcologne.com
