Today, South Africa’s first international art fair opened. Everyone is excited. The galleries are bustling, the credit cards flashing. None of us is used to this kind of action. How do we understand an art fair and where do we situate it?

Art fairs are a distinctly different beast from other large scale art events. They are not biennales, of which South Africa and Africa have plenty, some more successful than others. A biennale often has a specific agenda from its director, it’s a curated show which aims to either showcase local offerings or establish a city/place as cultural hub and show that off. Art fairs are also not art competitions. These often function as a way for a corporate to establish its identity as liberal, cultural and creative. Essentially, they are an extended exercise in advertising, in which the artists do the work. They can be quite prestigious, someone ends up with a bunch of loot, but at the bottom line there is only one winner. Of course, both of these creatures generate audiences for art, and hopefully new ones.

An art fair has elements of both these things within it, but they are overshadowd by a fair’s funtionality. It is set up as a market, which although plays the showcasing role, and the advertising role, is mainly there to sell work. This is the bit that is exciting. There is faith from the organisers, backers and galleries, that our economy can sustain an enlarged art market. This bodes well for the industry, as everyone from the artist up relies on the sale of work to make a living (or at least would like to). A bigger market makes artists rich. The flip side of this industrialisation of culture. The commodification of the art object chips away at its integrity, turning intellectual capital into good old capital capital. The art object becomes reified, taking on meanings that are not intended. The artists respond to market forces, as opposed to cultural or intellectual forces, which cuts down on diversity and experimentation. This, in return, affects what a market has to offer. This is the beast with two backs, each needing each other to function, but slowly gnawing on each others innards. There is no solution to this conflict, except for each of us to be responsible for what we think, create and look at.

Labels: Joburg art fair