17th Art Frankfurt – Young Arts Fair
April 29 to May 2, 2005
Vernissage : April 28, 2005
Messe Frankfurt, Hall 1, City Entrance
Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage 1
60327 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Opening hours: Daily 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
on May 2, 2005: until 6 p.m.
-Some 150 international galleries will show what the contemporary art market has to offer
-Art Frankfurt 2005 attracts galleries, collectors and art experts to the city on the River Main
From April 29 to May 2, 2005, the 17th Art Frankfurt will be opening its doors with a total of 155 exhibitors. For collectors, experts and art lovers, it will provide an informative and compact overview of current developments in art production and the latest trends on the art market. Works by nearly 1,500 artists will embrace a scope ranging from the art positions of the past 40 years through to new productions by the youngest generation of artists. Art Frankfurt succeeds in combining established positions and young talents to create a stimulating and up-to-the-minute spectrum of contemporary art.
American pop art by Roy Lichtenstein and works by artists ranging from Robert Rauschenberg through to Andy Warhol will be represented, as will those of Gerhard Richter, Markus Lpertz, Sigmar Polke and Georg Baselitz. However, the focus of Art Frankfurt is on artists who have already established a good market position but have still to achieve a final breakthrough – an emphasis laid by the fair for many years now and making it particularly attractive to collectors who can make purchases before prices start to climb and so see promising prospects for their investments in art. “But young artists at the beginning of their careers are given special attention too,” according to Art Frankfurt director Marianne El Hariri. “At Art Frankfurt, collectors have the chance of not only picking up new developments but also tracking down young talents who will be the stars of tomorrow.”
21 percent of the galleries come from abroad, including countries like Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands, together with Italy, Turkey, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Many of the international exhibitors use Art Frankfurt as a gateway to Germany, an art market well-known for its inquisitive and cosmopolitan collectors.
Art Frankfurt 2005 is divided into three exhibition sections that unite what the art market has to offer this spring in a clearly arranged structure. Modern in Hall 1.2 links art productions of the recent past with the contemporary developments they have seen. Avantgarde in Hall 1.1 concentrates on the present. Along with artists who already play a major role on the international market, there are primarily works of young talents on show. It is here that many gallery owners and artists present their works to a wider public for the first time and use Art Frankfurt as a launching pad to enter the art fair market. Edition, also in Hall 1.1, is the treasure chest for multiples, artists’ books, photographic and video editions and covers everything from classics to new publications.
These three exhibition sections are supplemented by a number of sponsored stands offering in-depth treatment of the theme of art. Of particular interest for collectors and “explorers” is the area entitled New & Upcoming, where gallery owners introduce their new young artists not yet seen at art fairs. Projects offer room for installations and media works and One Artist Shows are what the name suggests – the work of one person only.
This year, two special exhibition projects complete and supplement the programme of the participating galleries in an ideal way:
Romance and beauty are in great demand. Today, many artists no longer comply with the criteria of progress in modern art. Current art production is increasingly seeing differentiated presentations of emotional and physical conditions, primarily resembling the era of Romanticism in historic terms. Ludwig Seyfarth, Hamburg, and Nina Koidl, Berlin, are the curators of a special exhibition entitled “Passionate fraud – romantic atmospheres and states of matter”, supported by three Frankfurt galleries (Galerie Anita Beckers, Galerie Schuster, Galerie Martina Detterer) on their premises. The exhibition shows the works of contemporary artists who open the door to fiction and are not afraid to tell stories in pictures.
“Subjective obsession – students from the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) at Art Frankfurt” is the name of the second exhibition project. Painting has always been an area of emphasis in the studios of the Berlin University of the Arts. As part of the “Junge Wilde” (young and wild) movement, an entire generation of artists from Berlin took the world by storm in the 1980s. The art market is in a similar situation today and young art is experiencing a renaissance of interest. The exhibition shows a number of positions selected by the Berlin gallery owner Michael Schultz which may be relevant to the art market of the future.
Art Frankfurt 2005 has again aligned its programme very closely to the art world this year and stands for both topicality and variety. Art Frankfurt is more than purely a sales venue – it provides new stimuli and with its exceptional projects, it encourages visitors to deliberate on the content of contemporary art. So this spring, it undoubtedly represents one of the most important meeting places for gallery owners and collectors.