María Paz Gaviria about ARTBO

Binder & Haupt: Evaluating the 10th Edition of ARTBO and looking back on the journey so far, are you satisfied with the results? In your opinion, which were the most important aspects this year?

María Paz Gaviria: Ten years ago, the Chamber of Commerce of Bogota decided to organize an art fair. The purpose was to position and promote Bogota as a cultural destination, as well as strengthen the visual arts in the country and create an inclusive city platform through an event that goes far beyond the market platforms. In its ten year’s existence, ARTBO has managed to consolidate all these objectives. We are extremely happy, both with the content of the fair and its results, the international visitors we had, the international press coverage, the presence of galleries that were here for the first time and for all the interchange the fair is generating in a key moment of the internationalization process of the Colombian art scene.

On the other hand, ARTBO has been essential for market growth in Colombia. Most notably, for instance, is the creation of parallel fairs in Bogota, a phenomenon that is not very common in Latin America but typical of very big fairs elsewhere. The fact that in recent years, alternative market platforms and other city events have been created and that ARTBO has been the driving force of new initiatives is also a sign of success for the fair: it is a success both for the scene and for the artists.

But ARTBO, apart from its essential commercial side, transcends this aspect. It does so in its spaces, its activities and its different sections, especially with a few we’ve added this year, and has a catalytic effect that contributes to position Colombian art in the international arena, becoming a much more open, more inclusive, and more educational platform and with a different format. I think the fair has more than accomplished this.

B&H: What level of internationalization has ARTBO reached in terms of participating galleries? And as sales are a crucial part of a commercial fair, how open is the art market in Colombia?

MPG: ARTBO always considered itself as an international fair and has put a lot of emphasis on this aspect. 80 percent of the 66 galleries and 14 projects are international. I don’t know whether one thing influences the other, but what is felt and observed in the Colombian market is that the Colombian buyer is very open to international art and also to emerging art.

The Colombian buyer is young, just beginning, but very well-disposed to buying outside Colombia, to buying emerging artists. And this is reflected both in the contents of the fair and in the sales. In general, the galleries left with very good results; of course Colombian galleries had very good results, but also international galleries, even those that were here for the first time. I’ve had lots of positive comments about the amount of new visitors but also to the healthy balance between Colombian collectors, new buyers, students, and international collectors and curators.

B&H: Where do most foreign participants and visitors come from?

MPG: In the last three editions, the number of represented countries has doubled and the number of international visitors has increased threefold. This year, the fair had a selection of galleries from 30 cities in Latin America, the United States and Europe. The countries from which we had more applicants were Spain and Brazil, but applicants from Europe grew significantly. In terms of foreign visitors, people came from several Latin American countries, especially from Brazil, many from Peru, Argentina, and a few from Mexico. This year, we’ve had the greatest number of non-Latin American visitors.

Europe and the United States are looking to Latin America now, especially to the ebullience of the art scene in Colombia. Also, the growing importance of the economies of these emerging countries has undoubtedly have an impact on their artistic market and made them visible to the world. In terms of fairs, this can be seen on the internationalization of ARTBO and the presence of Colombia in ARCO 2015 as a guest of honor.

B&H: In terms of galleries and collectors from countries that also have very strong art fairs, how do you explain their interest in ARTBO? Where is ARTBO in comparison with other fairs?

MPG: I think what sets ARTBO apart is the fact that it’s based on its own model as a fair, a model that transcends the commercial aspects. It has curated spaces and spaces that seek to draw people to art in a novel way, promoting other kinds of things that go beyond the commercial aspects.

From the commercial point of view, we have the main section of galleries in which ARTBO ̶ being a program of the Chamber of Commerce of Bogota ̶ has been very careful regarding its size and the quality of the selection and the offer. Its medium size allows you to concentrate on the rigor, quality and diversity of the exhibition, and it’s one of the things that set this fair apart. Curated sections like Projects, with 14 individual projects by artists and designers represented by a gallery and selected by José Roca for the exhibition called The Aesthetic Use of the Object , which this year has been differently laid out, hexagonally, creating a better unity of space and itinerary, and Referentes, curated by Carolina Ponce de León and Santiago Rueda, and focused on giving a historical context by exhibiting works of great referents in contemporary art, are also part of the commercial aspect of the fair but they provide a different look and feel, and also contextualize the artists’ works and processes for the visitors from the point of view of a curator.

But on the other hand, the fair also has non-commercial sections, which is something that definitively sets it apart from any other fair, sections like Artecámara, for instance, which is also a project of the Chamber of Commerce of Bogota of ten years ago, which is a hall for young artists from all over the country, artists less than 40 years of age without commercial representation, selected through a national open call. The possibility of having this space of visibility for the artists and of discovery for the public within a platform such as the fair and with the impact of art visitors that it has, changes the model completely and creates a different fair.

This year, Artecámara grew a lot, from 23 to over 50 artists. And for the first time, independent artist-run spaces were included. These kinds of spaces, which emerged in the country in the middle of certain institutional deficiencies and with uncommon activities within the art market, are undoubtedly among the initiatives that bring more vitality to the Colombian art scene and their presence also contributes to the different and unique model that is ARTBO. All these elements of size, quality, curatorship and non-commercial spaces set the fair apart and generate interest.

B&H: Which was the response to the new section Referentes? Are you going to continue with it in the future?

Referentes, though it’s a commercial space, is a curated exhibition (this year by Carolina Ponce de León and Santiago Rueda) featuring artists who set the standards in contemporary art, both at Latin American and international level. Collecting is a rather recent phenomenon in Colombia, something that has been changing and developing. You could say that both the interested individual and the buyer in Colombia have no real conscience of the importance of modern art and the origins of contemporary art. That’s why this section was set up. And the best way to do it was as a curated exhibition within the fair, with works from the historical collections of the participating galleries. It was an experiment that had marvelous critical results as well as wonderful sales and a great response in many senses, and of course, it will be continued.

B&H: And the other sections…?

Also the new section Libro de Artista is going to continue and be extended next year. And in Articularte, which was previously a space for small children, we have refocused the concept. This year, each station was designed directly by one artist, in order to try and get all kind of visitors involved in the experience of the workshop, so that you and your child sit down to do Antonio Caro’s activity, or Mateo López’s brick. It’s something we’d never done before: Pedagogy from the visual arts and the artists themselves.

B&H: Which is your greatest professional challenge for the future?

MPG: I tend not to conceive the future in a specific way; I’d rather concentrate my efforts in the present context of running the fair. The challenge is to continue to internationalize Bogota, to continue to internationalize the Colombian art scene, which I believe it’s vital for a scene that can be better developed, strengthen, and deservedly so. This on the one hand, and on the other, there’s an issue of democratization of visual arts, of visibility within Colombia of the power its art scene really has and that ARTBO is an event that not only will benefit artists, galleries, curators, collectors, etc., but also culturally transform Bogota.