INTERVIEW: Joanna Kamm

Beginning on September 1, 2018, Joanna Kamm took over as director of LISTE Art Fair, and continues the work of ensuring continuity, quality and the further development of LISTE Art Fair. Joanna Kamm from 1998 to 2001, managed the project space for contemporary art S.S.K., Berlin, and in 2001, she founded Galerie Kamm, which she ran until 2014. During the past couple of years she has worked on a variety of projects, and from 2017 to 2018 she was cocurator of “Stop Making Sense, It’s as Good as It Gets”, which involved a series of events exploring art, architecture, literature, and theory at BNKR in Munich. Our magazine has the great honor and pleasure to talk with Mrs Joanna Kamm about the present and future of LISTE Art Fair.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: LISTE Art Fair Basel Archive

Mrs Janna Kamm, you have a long and interesting career not only in the field of contemporary art but also and in LISTE Art Fair, since your Gallery had participated many times. What does it mean for you to take over the LISTE Art Fair as director?
The most important thing for me is to use all the channels at my disposal to point out the social significance of young art. It’s the young artists who not only try to understand the present with their art, but also produce it. This is of great relevance for me and in my opinion for an open-minded society. The position as LISTE’s director is a great opportunity to foster this aspect. That’s one thing. What means a lot to me in addition, but concludes out of this attitude towards the necessary visibility of young art, is about the support of the younger Generation of galleries. Through a platform such as LISTE I am able to offer this support. Because the galleries – and this relates to my experiences as a gallerist myself – are the ones who discover these young artists and – often without insurance that the market will embrace the work – enable artists to have their first solo exhibitions and present their art to international audiences at fairs such as LISTE.
Which was and which is now the Challenge?
As a former gallerist myself, I know the wishes, needs, thoughts and worries of our participants: that makes it easier for me to understand why galleries decide on something. So staying in close exchange and contact with the gallerists is definitely a task for me. But not in the sense of a challenge. The challenge is, but has always been, to maintain, proof and evolve LISTE’s clear concept: it’s about introducing the younger generation of international galleries and giving them a platform for their program.
But it is definitely not about turning something upside down, but about getting to know all the processes in the first year and then thinking about which adjustments might make sense. And in addition, keeping the context – the discursive but also societal – in mind. For example as a fair that shows the latest developments in contemporary art, I think it’s important that we offer a place where you can inform yourself and where new developments can be explained. So that one can keep an critical but open minded standpoint and reflect upon challenges that might arise for art, but also for an art fair itself.
How much does the history of Mr. Peter Bläuers work weighs on you?
I owe a lot to Peter Bläuer, who handed LISTE over to me with great confidence in my visions. From the very first time I participated in the fair as a gallerist, I had already begun to learn from him how important it is to offer support, to always have an open ear for all questions and concerns, and to act in a very human way in what can be a very hard business. Peter has given such a special spirit to the art market. I am of course a different person, but I hope to continue with this attitude in my own way.
What changes have been made for this year edition of LISTE Art Fair and what are your goals for the future?
As I already mentioned above, it is not about turning LISTE upside down. The success of the last 23 years under the direction of Peter Bläuer proves the relevance of this fair. I will take my time in the first year to get to know all the processes, sense LISTE from this new standpoint and then thinking about which adjustmenst would make sense in the future.
However, we have already made a few small adjustments this year. We initiated the Joinery as the successor to the performance project for example. It is located in a room on the ground floor, where the galleries can show videos and performances at no extra cost that exceed the possibilities at the stand, and where a discourse takes place on the latest developments in contemporary art. For this year we have invited Spike Art Magazine, which as Spike Forum has organized a series of talks on new artistic strategies in which artists such as Sandra Mujinga or Ed Fornieles, but also Elie Ayache, CEO of a financial software company and Kei Kreutler from Gnosis, a forecasting and information platform on the Ethereum Blockchain, participate.
LISTE Art Fair is an extremely successful institution with a tremendous history that has played a major role in the new and emerging galleries. Do you think about expanding it and in other cities like Art Basel did?
For now I am focusing on the 24th edition of LISTE in Basel. And this city is a fantastic place for our fair. You can have the strategy to bring the fair to the galleries and art centers or galleries from abroad to Basel. For our galleries, which come from all over the world, there can hardly be a better platform than to come to Basel, where the best professionals gather in one of the most important week of the international art calendar. But of course you have to stay open and flexible.

First Publication: www.dreamideamachine.com
© Interview-Efi Michalarou
Photo: Joanna Kamm, Director, © 2019 LISTE art Fair Basel, Photo: Diana Pfammatter