ART.FAIR celebrates its premiere at the koelnmesse

 ART.FAIR celebrates its premiere at the koelnmesse –
On October 23, the 12th edition of the ART.FAIR | Fair for Modern and Contemporary Art will begin. For the
first time, the fair will be presented in halls 1 and 2 of the koelnmesse.
COLOGNE, Germany, October 20, 2014—The vernissage on October 23 forms the kickoff of the ART.FAIR | Fair for
Modern and Contemporary Art 2014: Beginning this year, it will take place in the koelnmesse, one of the five largest
convention centers in the world. ART.FAIR will be the first fair for art to be held in halls 1 and 2. Through October 27,
the ART.FAIR will once again be offering its visitors a platform where they can discover promising young talent
alongside top positions.
With over 100 German and international galleries and an exclusive program of events, the ART.FAIR is
addressed to collectors and young art lovers alike.
Kunsthandlung Osper | PKO Projektraum Knut Osper (Cologne) has placed the focus of its presence at the
ART.FAIR both on contemporary works by artists including Gerhard Richter and Georg Baselitz and on their
presentation of classical modernist works by the Cologne artist Anton Räderscheidt. Paintings by the Persian artist
Alireza Varzandeh as well as sculptures and cast bronze works by Hannes Helmke round off their program.
At the stand of the GALERIE HAFENRICHTER (Nuremberg), big names in Pop Art, among others, will meet with
street art: Robert Indiana, Andy Warhol and Mr. Brainwash are just a few of the top positions that will be presented.
The Galerie Philine Cremer (Düsseldorf), which specializes in Asian art, will be introducing promising newcomers
alongside established positions. The presented works by Chinese and Korean artists include, for example, those of
Zhang Fangbai and Ce Jian.
Visitors can gain an overview of the art scene in the Baltic states at the stand of Maksla XO Gallery (Riga); among
other artists, it will include works by Guntars Setins, who is seen in Latvia as an exceptional talent in the area of
contemporary graphic arts.
ART-isotope (Dortmund) will also be represented at the ART.FAIR. The gallery is specialized in contemporary art, with
a focus on painting, sculpture, and editions. Works by the artists Mechthild Ehmann and Sonja Tines await visitors.
A four-ton, 6.5-meter Cadillac swing by the renowned Fluxus artist Wolf Vostell will greet visitors to the art fair. This
work from the collection of Bernd Reiter hangs from a steel structure similar to that of a fairground boat ride. Inside the
Cadillac, which was driven by Vostell himself prior to his death, 33 integrated television sets show news from around the
world.
Gallery debuts at the ART.FAIR
Along with the premiere of the ART.FAIR at its new location, there are also highly anticipated debuts within the fair
itself:
Participating in the ART.FAIR for the first time, Kunstraum 49 Galerie Shia Bender (Düsseldorf) will be presenting
exclusively works by the Japanese-German multi-media artist Kanjo Také. Along with a 10-meter work from the cycle
NOWHERE OR 36 VIEWS OF FUJIYAMA, the gallery will be showing works by the artist in the areas of installation and
projection.
At the stand of VIERTELNEUN Gallery (Vienna), viewers can gain an overview of Vienna’s young art scene. In addition
to Fritz Biedermann, the gallery will be presenting Martin Granits and Judith Rohrmoser, among others.
BLOOOM – the converging art show
For five years, the BLOOOM has been providing an important complement to the ART.FAIR. Around 30 international
participants will present new forms of expression in art, linking street art, fine art, design, fashion, photography, and
more. These include the Galerie Eigenheim (Weimar), for example, which will be relying on a combination of Chinese
and German positions for its second appearance at the BLOOOM. DEVEARTS (The Hague) is celebrating its debut at
the BLOOOM and will be showing exclusively African artists. The gallery has set itself the task of supporting artists from
so-called developing countries and offering them a platform.
As a part of the BLOOOM, a special exhibition will display the ten best works from among the more than 1200
submissions from 65 countries for the BLOOOM Award by WARSTEINER. For five years now, Warsteiner has
committed itself to the active support of artists through this international competition for creatives. In this context, the
brewery is particularly concerned with the long-term effectiveness of this support. Thus, the first-place finisher can look
forward to a one-year mentoring program, among other things. For its commitment, Warsteiner was recently honored
with the International Sponsoring Award of the FASPO, the professional association for sponsorship agencies and
service providers. On October 23, this year’s winner will be announced during the award ceremony moderated by Anja
Backhaus.
This year, Warsteiner is additionally represented through its cooperation with the Art Department Babelsberg. As a
subsidiary of the Studio Babelsberg, the Art Department has been responsible for realizing very diverse film sets, for
example, those of the Academy-Award-winning Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds or Wes Anderson’s The
Grand Budapest Hotel. With the help of Warsteiner beverage crates that will be transformed to display a realistic
marble or wood optical effect, visitors can experience firsthand how painting creates complete material and surface
illusions.
Artful program of events
The German-American fashion label Ludwig & Schwarz will be using its collection as an artists’ canvas for the second
year in a row—this year in cooperation with the street artist The Pony. The new edition of the Moving Canvas Collection
will be presented during a fashion show at the vernissage.
The premium sparkling-wine brand Mumm will be offering another exciting live performance: At the fair, the New
Yorker illustrator Anja Koencke will be painting 100 Mumm bottles with individual motifs, thus creating an over-sized
artwork. The unique bottles can be purchased at the fair. This action will serve to kick off the Mumm artists’ edition,
which will appear in the spring of 2015.
Our newfound automobile partner SEAT will be presenting the new SEAT Leon X-Perience at the ART.FAIR; the car was
only recently unveiled at the Automobilsalon in Paris. Together with the 3-D video-mapping specialists from
dreambeam, they will be staging the vehicle’s presentation in a very special form.
Artist talks with HA Schult and Udo Lindenberg
As part of the program 15 Minutes of Fame, in cooperation with Zerooverhead, more than 30 galleries will be
presenting their curated exhibition projects from October 24 to 26. Visitors are awaited, among other things, by artist
talks with HA Schult (Galerie Schrade, Ehingen/Donau, October 24, 4:00pm) or also with the painter Burkhard Driest
and with an artist whose portrait he has painted, Udo Lindenberg (kunst-raum schulte-goltz+noelte, Essen, October 25,
4:00pm). Galerie Freitag 18.30 (Aachen) will be showing a documentary film on Werner Blaser, a companion of Mies van
der Rohe (October 26, 6:30pm). Galerie Terminus (Munich) will be presenting the artist Christian Awe, who originally
came from the street art scene and is now internationally in demand for his intensely colorful paintings in acrylic and
spray paint (October 26, 3:30pm). This series of events is intended for gallerists, curators, artists, and visitors alike.
Dates and hours of the fair
The ART.FAIR begins with the public vernissage on October 23, at 5pm. Tickets for the vernissage can be purchased for
30 € at the ticket booth. On October 24 and 25, ART.FAIR and BLOOOM are each open from 12 noon to 8pm. On
October 26 and 27, the fairs already begin at 11am and they close at 7pm. Day tickets cost 16 €, reduced price 10 €.
The ART.FAIR agentur: the company behind the ART.FAIR
This event and communications agency is the organizer of ART.FAIR and BLOOOM and positions brands and
companies within the art market by means of goal-oriented communications campaigns.
You can find out more about ART.FAIR and BLOOOM at www.art-fair.de and www.blooom.de.
You can also secure your accreditation on site for the ART.FAIR and the press conference in the halls of the convention
center (October 23, 11:00 am).
Christiane Dethlefs would be happy to help you with any inquiries. An overview of this year’s exhibitors is enclosed.
Christiane Dethlefs
ART.FAIR agentur – Agentur für Kommunikation und Events
Alteburger Str. 36 | 50678 Köln (Germany)
Ph: +49 221 420 393-16
E-mail: [email protected]