September 24–27, 2020
For over a decade, Latitude has successfully supported the Brazilian art market internationally. A partnership between ABACT [Brazilian Association of Contemporary Art] and Apex-Brasil [Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency], Latitude – Platform for Brazilian Art Galleries Abroad offers its participating galleries opportunities to expand their activities worldwide through the support for participation in art fairs and international events, the funding of market research for a better understanding of their market, and the provision of opportunities for engagement and exchange between art professionals from abroad and Brazil’s art scene.
In the face of the current Covid-19 pandemic and the new needs to comply with isolation and social distancing regulations, art galleries from around the world are having to adapt their business models and commercial opportunities. In this context, Latitude has reshaped its plans for the whole year ahead so as to offer its galleries the necessary support to adapt to the art market’s new landscape.
“Latitude usually offers support for galleries to join international art fairs and, with all fairs being cancelled, we quickly realised the importance to plan, together with our galleries, how we could best support each other through this moment, to adapt as our reality requires and create new alternatives together.”
Luciana Brito, president of the Brazilian Association of Contemporary Art Galleries
Latitude will be hosting the Latitude Art Fair in partnership with Artsy. The online fair will include viewing rooms, a function for sales inquiries, opportunities for collector conversations, and an augmented reality feature. Nearly the entire membership of ABACT associated galleries will participate in the Latitude Art Fair, amounting to a total of 53 galleries, including 13 galleries only recently becoming associates, largely prompted by the opportunity to expand their digital activities. The online fair will be held between September 24–27, 2020, and access will be free and open to all. Press and VIP guests will be able to access the online event first-hand, from September 23, 2020.
An additional, unprecedented partnership between Latitude and Artsy has made it possible to introduce 17 Brazilian galleries to the sales platform, which is one of the largest international portals currently operating worldwide. Each gallery’s page gives visitors access to their current exhibitions—including prices of each artwork available, views of previous fairs and events, and the opportunity to browse through their list of artists.
Furthermore, Latitude has supported the participation of its member galleries at select international art fairs since the project was created in 2007 and continues to do so online. Latitude is supporting the participation of Brazilian galleries at BA Photo in September 2020 (Galeria Aura, Galeria de Arte Mamute, Luciana Brito Galeria, Galeria Luisa Strina, Galeria Karla Osorio, Janaina Torres Galeria, Múltiplo Espaço Arte), Frieze Viewing Room in October 2020 (A Gentil Carioca, Galeria Nara Roesler, Mendes Wood DM Vermelho) and Artissima XYZ in November 2020 (Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Galeria Jaqueline Martins, Mendes Wood DM, Sé Galeria).
Following the newly presented art market landscape, in June 2020 Latitude began running a sequence of workshops which bring gallerists together to discuss and explore new alternatives through the digital realm. This initiative is carried out against a backdrop of Latitude’s consistent input in the structuring of its market. One of ABACT’s key missions is to support galleries through professionalisation—of their own businesses as well as of the market as a whole. Subsequently, Latitude aims to support such professionalisation across the international scene—through the proposal of thematic meetings, workshops and seminars, a help desk for applications to international art fairs, project incubator programmes and informative manuals.
