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| German fairs in turmoil |
| Time: 2008-03-05 |
MUNICH. Germany’s art fairs are in crisis as the competition to attract international collectors mounts. Two prominent fair directors—Art Cologne’s Gerard Goodrow and Peter Henrich of Munich’s Fine Art Fair—have left their posts and Frankfurt
Fine Art and Düsseldorf Contemporary have cancelled their 2008 editions.
Mr Goodrow, previously a specialist at Christie’s, became artistic director of Art Cologne, Germany’s longest-established modern and contemporary art fair, four years ago. Since then, pressure has mounted to compete with international fairs, culminating in an angry open letter that was circulated in October from 12 leading German galleries—including Christian Nagel and Gisela Capitain—and it criticised Mr Goodrow for significantly reducing the influence of the fair (The Art Newspaper, December 2007, p60).
Mr Goodrow, who left “through mutual agreement” at the end of January, had been expected to strengthen the fair’s position in relation to the success of fairs in London, Miami and Berlin, which is increasingly becoming the centre of the German art scene.
In January, the fair’s organiser Koelnmesse decided to appoint an international advisory committee. It is rumoured that members of the team assembled by the recently departed Art Basel director Sam Keller have been shortlisted to serve on this.
Koelnmesse has also decided to cancel Art Cologne’s Palma de Mallorca fair, which had one edition in September 2007, in order to focus on the main fair. The company would not comment on whether a new artistic director would be in place in time for this spring’s Art Cologne (16-18 April).
Meanwhile, in Munich, uncertainty surrounds the Fine Art Fair, which held its 52nd edition last October and which, for decades, has been the most important German fair for antiquities and modern classic works. Last year’s edition attracted only 15,000 visitors over nine days and director Peter Henrich, who had overseen the fair for the past 16 years, has said that he no longer wants to continue in the role. In addition, about half the 100 exhibitors each invested around $6,000 several years ago, which the management company is contracted to return to them by the end of March 2008.
A further blow is that many of the exhibitors have left over the past few years to participate in Munich Highlights, an international fair founded by Konrad Bernheimer in 2004.
In Frankfurt, dealer Michael Neff, appointed to overhaul the city’s art fair in 2006, has cancelled the 2008 Frankfurt Fine Art Fair edition, which would have been the third edition of his contemporary fair. In 2007, only 10,000 visitors attended and turnover was low.
The latest casualty, DC Düsseldorf Contemporary (which has also cancelled its 2008 edition), said in a statement that the “current crisis” was due to the competition from “a few art fairs with international and not just German significance”.
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