The Age Of The Art Fair: Supermarket 2019
Words by Sabrina Garnier
Supermarket Independent Art Fair is an artist-led, independent art fair. Founded more than 10 years ago by co-founders Andreas Ribbung, Pontus Raud. First established as a collective exhibition, acting ironically off the official contemporary art fair during the official Art Week in Stockholm.
This year, Supermarket 2019 took place at Sickla Front, a week before the Stockholm Art Week (Supermarket)
Data Bosma, ‘Poes’, Installation 2017 at The Independent Supermarket Art Fair 2019
Nieuwe Vide,
Haarlem, Netherlands (Supermarket)
Collaboration weighs heavier than money
More than just an Art Fair, Supermarket strives to offer visitors an art experience, rather than focusing on the buying experience and art sales. The artists present aren’t here to compete with each other or small talk about who sold the most art. Instead, the aim is to stimulate the public's interest in issues, themes and trends relevant to contemporary art.
“We are driven by passion and joy. Supermarket sounds like something very commercial, you have to get the irony of our name. ”
This year’s theme…
‘Temporary Moratorium: All Allowed?’
On cover of issue 9 Supermarket Art Magazine“Both Worlds” (2009) Art work by Cecilia Paredes Supermarket)
What is a moratorium?
“Loosely interpreted, moratorium is a state or a situation when some laws or agreements are temporarily invalid. You could think of it as a bubble separated for an agreed amount of time from certain laws on the outside, but still complying with the remaining laws.” Read more about it online Supermarket Art Magazine #9
Supermarket Fair 2019 Highlights
More than 150 artists, 53 Galleries from 45 cities and 22 countries, from around the world all gathered under one roof to exhibit, share and discuss their art at Supermarket Art Fair 2019.
This year’s newcomers at Supermarket 2019, included the Turps Art School, founded by YBA painter Marcus Harvey, linked to Turps Banana Magazine from London, UK.
Tongues’ (acrylic and oil) by Gina Birch was exhibited at the fair.
Gina Birch is a painter, filmmaker and founder member of feminist post-punk band The Raincoats Birch’s work tracks “Moments in her life that have tripped her up and made her stronger.”
‘Tongues’ by Gina Birch, Turps Art School London UK
Artist Charles Inge, Turps Banana
Photographed by Florian Tuercke
Sweden’s Minister of Culture joins Supermarket 2019 in Stockholm
Minister of Culture Amanda Lind held an opening speech at Supermarket 2019, showing her support for the independent art fair as an institution in its own right.
“It is with great enthusiasm that we see that the Minister of Culture expresses a genuine interest in it the art-driven art scene and not least the values we continuously work with promoting. We see it as an important signal that grass root movements are not overlooked. ”
Three Creative Directors of Supermarket, Andreas Ribbung, Alice Maselnikova, Pontus Raud and the Minister of Culture Amanda Lind, Photo by Anna Ekros
“Both Worlds” (2009) Cecilia Paredes, Peruvian performance artist and photographer. (Supermarket)
First established as Minimarket Fair in 2006, a few years later as the fair developed with a growing network of international artists, it then became Supermarket Independent Art Fair.
Born from a passion for art, the goal was to showcase artistic initiatives from all over the world and create opportunities for new networks on the Swedish and international art scene. Supermarket offers what most commercial art fairs completely lack today.
The chaos and energy during Supermarket Art Fair come from the shared passion and enthusiasm for art between the artists, professionals and art lovers. The Fair encourages discussions, artistic collaborations and emphasis on the art experience. While at commercial art fairs, the hustle and bustle are driven by sales. Conversations between artists, dealers and buyers tend to revolve around the buying experience and the popularity of the art.
‘THE AGE OF THE ART FAIR’
In 2005, the art magazine ‘Art + Auction’ dubbed our art generation as ‘the age of the art fair’ ( Eckstein (2006) and Paco Barragan’s (2008) publication.
“Art fairs are more popular than ever. If in the 90s every city wanted a biennial, today they all want an art fair with international allure. It seems just a question of time before the art fair pushes the biennial out of everybody’s mind.
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Art Fairs are essentially informal meetings linking up art dealers, professionals, collectors to create a network within the art world, all under one roof. Starting to reinforce weak ties in the art market, Art Fairs first emerged in places far from the art market hot spots. Cities like Basel, Cologne, Ghent, Madrid, Brussels and Bologna before the 90s were not thought of as art hubs. Art fairs were supposed to increase commercial networking and generate greater art sales and demands. By establishing new cities in the art map, those cities would act as a place to host informal meetings between art dealers, artists and professionals from all the art capitals around the world.
In recent years, Supermarket Independent Art Fair has developed from a kind of institutional criticism to becoming Stockholm's largest art fair, emphasising the social aspect of art and firmly establishing Stockholm on the art world map.