FIAC 2005 : Quality & Energy
The 32nd edition of Fiac closed on Monday October 10th. Almost a quarter of the participating galleries were new exhibitors (53 of the 220 galleries present). The reinforced presence of French and international collectors and art world professionals was manifest. This edition was also marked by Fiacs presence in the Grand Palais, making it the first fair to return to the Grand Palais since the building was reopened in late September. Several thousand visitors attended the four evening events organized by Fiac in this historic site.
Attendance : Over 83 000 visitors
– With regard to the general public, attendance figures remain stable
– A marked increase was registered in attendance figures concerning collectors, art world professionals, press and the specialized public. Public, institutional and private collectors :
Attendance figures are up 25% with respect to 2004: 2647 visitors from these fields attended Fiac in 2005.
Collectors and art world professionals spent an average of one and a half days at Fiac. Artists : over 500 international artists were present at Fiac. Press : over 2500 journalists received accreditation, over a third of them from the international media (journalists from 49 countries covered Fiac). Extensive media coverage : press agencies, newspapers, magazines, television and radio (over a 100 TV shows, 170 radio programmes, and some 600 articles in the French and international press). General public : 37% of visitors indicated that they were visiting Fiac for the first time. The average length of their visit was 6 hours.
Sales :
220 galleries exhibited at Fiac 2005. 26 countries were represented.
115 foreign galleries and 105 French galleries participated.
The overall volume of transactions is considered to be extremely positive by the vast majority of exhibitors, French and international alike, with a marked increase in sales with regard to previous years.
It can be noted that :
Galerie Baronian Francey (Brussels) reported that sales figures had doubled compared to 2005 ; Galerie Rodolphe Janssen (Brussels) announced that sales were equivalent in volume to those made by the gallery during their extremely successful participation at the last Frieze Art fair ; Galerie Lelong (Paris/New York/Zurich), exhibiting an impressive ensemble of works by Appel and Alechinsky, announced that Fiac 2005 had been their best fair in many years. Galerie Daniel Templon (Paris) confirmed that sales at Fiac had not been better since the exceptional results achieved in their 1989 participation ; Galerie Xavier Hufkens (Brussels) reported significant commercial success across the board. Sales of works by Michel François, Roni Horn and Erwin Wurm were exceptional ; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropas (Paris/Salzburg) confirmed that the exhibition of recent works by Georg Baselitz, one of the highlights of the fair, had been sold out ; Galerie Henze & Ketterer (Wichtrach/Bern) reported overall sales figures totalling 2.400.000 euros, and confirmed important transactions of major works by Kirchner and Nolde.
Among the sales reported by Galerie de France (Paris), a work by Zhang Xia Gong was sold to a private collector for 200.000 euros and a sculpture by Martial Raysse was acquired by a corporate collection for 230.000 euros.
In the space on a few hours on the opening night, Galerie Art & Public (Geneva) sold 1000 red monochromes painted in China and presented by the Swiss artist Raphael Julliard. Luxe Gallery (New York) and Hiromi Yoshii (Tokyo), like many of the galleries present in the Perspectives and Future Quake sectors, reported that all works presented at Fiac 2005 had been sold.
In the design sector, Galerie Kreo (Paris) reported important sales for all the designers produced by the gallery: the Bourellec brothers, Pierre Charpin, Marc Newson, Hella Jongerius and Martin Szekely, whose works were sold out at the fair.
Galerie Italienne (Paris/Turin) confirmed the resounding success of Gino Marotta, and reported that all works presented by Johanna Grawunder had been sold.
Galerie Downtown announced impressive sales of pieces by Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, Pierre Jeanneret and confirmed that works by Ron Arad were sold out.
The Fonds National dArt Contemporain (Fnac), the French state acquisitions fund for contemporary art, held an unprecedented acquisitions committee on site during Fiac, purchasing works for a global sum of 420.000 euros from French and international exhibitors. Among the works acquired, a large sculpture entitled « Pole Position » by Daniel Firman at the Galerie Alain Gutharc (Paris) and an important installation entitled « Köln/Bonn 05 » by Manfred Pernice at the Galerie Nächst-St Stephan (Vienna).
Some highlights:
On Wednesday October 5th, Fiac was inaugurated by the Minister of Culture and Communication, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres.
Fiac was the first fair to be present at the newly reopened Grand Palais. A series of memorable events were organized in this historical site, situated in the center of Paris: - Fiacs inaugural party on Wednesday October 5th.
More than 5000 guests from the art, fashion and media worlds together with the movie industry attended. The event is already considered as one of the most memorable parties to have taken place in Paris for many years.
– Evening rendez-vous at the Grand Palais on October 6th, 7th and 8th :
More than 30 artists including Daniel Buren, Emmanuelle Antille, Franz West, Jeff Mills, Ange Leccia, the Neistat Brothers, Erwin Wurm, Atelier Van Lieshout and Roman Signer presented new or rarely seen works, avant-première film projections and live performances. Several thousand visitors attended. Over 2000 visitors were present on the evening of October 8th alone.
The Marcel Duchamp Prize : On the occasion of this 5th edition of the award, co-organizers the Adiaf (whose membership is composed of prominent private collectors) and the Centre Pompidou, chose to announce the prizewinner at Fiac on Saturday October 8th in the presence of the Minister of Culture and Communication, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres. The prize went to Claude Closky (born in Paris in 1963) for his work « Journal » (2005) seen for the first time at Fiac.
The Forum: more that 50 international guest speakers
On Monday October 10th, the French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, chose the Fiac to deliver an important speech announcing significant measures in favour of contemporary creation and the art market. The Prime Ministers visit to Fiac included a visit to the exhibition devoted to works by Paul Rebeyrolle at the Galerie Claude Bernard (Paris) and the group exhibition organized by Galerie Hans Mayer (Dusseldorf) and Annely Juda (London), together with visits to the young galleries present in the Future Quake and Perspectives sector such as gb Agency (Paris), Maisonneuve (Paris) and Luxe (New York). Among other works, the Prime Minister admired major paintings by Pierre Soulages at Karsten Greve (Paris, Cologne, Saint-Moritz, Milan), and the monumental sculpture by Alexander Calder presented by the Galerie Daniel Malingue (Paris).
Among the prominent public and political figures present at Fiac :
Jean-Jacques Aillagon, Martine Aubry, Thierry Breton, Jean-Pierre Chevènement, Bernard Kouchner, Madame Georges Pompidou, Catherine Tasca, Jacques Toubon, Simone Weill, Christine Lagarde,
Prominent collectors, media and show business personalities included :
Azzedina Alaïa, Bernard Arnault, Edouard Baer, Claude Berri, Liliane Bettencourt, Amira Casar, Emmanuel de Brantes, Florence Darel, Jean-Luc Delarue, Guillaume Durand, Jane Fonda, Bernard Giraudeau, Ulysse Gosset, Christian Lacroix, Monique Lang, Sophie Marceau, Alain Minc, Christine Orban, François Pinault, Charlotte Rampling, Hedi Slimane, MC Solaar, Sharon Stone, Beyonce et Jay Z
The 33rd edition of Fiac will take place from October 26th through October 30th 2006.
Some 200 galleries will be present in Halls 4 and 5.1 of the Parc des Expositions, Porte de Versailles.
Fiac 2006 will also present a new sector situated in the Grand Palais, and occupying the totality of the surface area of this prestigious venue. The characteristics of this new sector will be made public in late 2005. This new sector underlines Fiacs capacity for innovation and bears witness to a desire to reinstall the fair durably, through an original and forward-looking concept, in its historic site in the heart of Paris.
Press contact:
Claudine Colin Communication
Nathalie Marchal / Pauline de Montgolfier / Aurélia Marcadier
5 rue Barbette 75003 Paris / t : 33 (0)1 42 72 60 01 / f : 33 (0)1 42 72 60 01 / fiac@claudinecolin.com
