This month saw the seventh edition of Artgenève at Palexpo, the Romandy fair of modern and contemporary art. Eighty galleries from sixteen countries exhibited, including twelve institutions, notably MAMCO Genève (The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art) from the 1 - 4 February.
An acquisitional exposition stand
MAMCO’s director, Lionel Bovier, chose a novel way to expose at Artgenève. On the first day of the fair, the stand was completely empty with a sign indicating that the stand was 'acquiring.' Throughout the four days of the fair, Bovier, armed with 100,000 CHF from private donors, acquired pieces from fair stands, exhibited them and then moved them to MAMCO.
An emerging new medium
Traditionally, artworks have been associated with painting and sculpture. Among the many pieces and artists that GBN found intriguing is the work of Daniel Canogar, a Spanish-American photographer who uses curved LED screens to create animated art. The moving images are generated by real-time data of wind speed and direction. While video art has been in use since the 1960s, Canogar’s work explores digital art in a new way.
Artgenève bridges the gap between art and design
For the first time this year, Artgenève includes PAD (Pavilion of Arts and Design). Although seperate, visitors have access to PAD's exhibits on decorative arts, historic and contemporary design as well as primitive arts. Artgenève really is an unmissable event for art lovers. For those interested in buying, the selling price for some pieces of art reach several million CHF but others can start at a far more affordable three hundred CHF.
Photo: Gary Engelbrecht
