Glorious deplorable; are art fairs ripe for change?

Art fairs, oh art fairs! The buzz, the views, the fizz, the queues.

They are glorious and deplorable, essential yet fanciful. A global trotting pageantry that keeps us on our toes and occasionally painfully aware of our feet.

As Andrew Stramentov, ROKBOX CEO and founder says, “Art fairs are high energy, high octane, celebratory. A circus of sorts, but one of the most enjoyable things you’ll ever be part of.”

Love them or love to hate them, art fairs are arguably the life blood of the global art scene. They deliver oxygen to the art world geographic hot spots as galleries, insurers, shippers, collectors - and of course the art works - jet from country to country, supported by a cast of local ancillary workers.

Art fairs, in the beginning

Early religious festivals are said to be the pre-cursor to art fairs. Elaborate annual gatherings and pilgrimages saw the wealthy and high born come together to exhibit rare items and artefacts, often displayed in tents, temples and houses.

Artisanal fairs were borne from this, and were popular throughout history, save for a brief quite time in 5th to the 7th century, when they returned with a bang at the Saint-Denis fair near Paris.

Fast forward several centuries and the contemporary art fair, as we know it now, stems more directly from the New York City Armory show in 1913, where 1,000 works by over 300 artists where shown in one month.

Pour forth positive change

Whilst our modern annual calendar of art fairs is undeniably sacrosanct, but are there some elements of the pilgrimage that can be improved?

If your feet and throat are sore and croaky from the art fair circuit this season, you may have noticed a soft ripple of change in the air. The conversation keeps coming back to climate and sustainability.

The question that’s tickling our prefrontal cortex this season - apart from our delighted curiosity about why, like airport lounges, it’s acceptable to drink alcohol at 8.55am on an art fair day (we’re not complaining) - is, what exciting changes are afoot?

How can we protect the things we love most about art and inspire each other to adopt new practices that will cut carbon and save our galleries, art and homes from extreme weather and climate change?

In her recent Art Newspaper column, Louisa Buck said that “packaging may not be the most glamorous aspect of an art fair but it is certainly one of its most essential and also undoubtedly one of its most environmentally problematic, with every fair generating a mountain of waste in its wake, which then invariably ends up in landfill or worse still, our oceans.”

Voices from the art world

We asked some of our favourite people what they’d change or protect about art fairs.

Chris?Bentley, Head of Art & Specie at UK & Lloyd’s AXA XL said:

“I would like to see a shift to smaller, higher quality art fairs, rather than big supermarkets where quality is often diluted. TEFAF is still the gold standard and manages to remain huge but also retains a high quality of engagement and output.?I would like us to protect a global footprint for the annual art fair calendar, which allows people from all over the world to access art fairs without travelling long distances.”

Globe trotting is delightful and we are chomping at the bit for news on electric aircraft and green jet fuel. However a re-localising of art airs feels intuitive. It is curious that a collector in New York could travel to Switzerland only to buy a paining from a New York Gallery, by an American artist.

“I would like us to protect a global footprint for the annual art fair calendar, which allows people from all over the world to access art fairs without travelling long distances.” -Chris?Bentley, Head of Art & Specie at UK & Lloyd’s AXA XL

Chris Kneale, Business Development Director at ROKBOX and ex-shipper is fully behind the gathering of the art world, in a more equitable way:

“I would like to protect the wide range and variety of artists, galleries and collectors all getting together under the same roof. I would vote for a fairer ticket policy, where charitable donations are given for free passes, and there are cheaper tickets for those who need it.”

The shock of the new processes

Jason Bailer Losh of Dietl agrees with Louisa Buck on the waste issue.

“The big takeaway is the amount of waste at fairs, and finding solutions to these issues is not simply changing how a work is shipped to the fair. The entire fair process is a massive undertaking, that's been refined from a logistics prospective over many years, and any adjustments to how it's managed may negatively impact a galleries revenue without careful consideration and working directly with all parties involved to find solutions." He goes on to say:

"There has to be a balance between economic investment in ESG programs and practice application in order for galleries to commit to becoming part of the solution.”

A call for consideration of efficiencies is echoed by a gallery director in London who says art fairs “remain a fantastic avenue for face time with existing clients and for generating new business. However the high volume of fairs alongside the global art world calendar means that it’s harder to hold clients attention, and the overall pacing can put a strain on gallery resources.”

“The big takeaway is the amount of waste at fairs, and finding solutions to these issues is not simply changing how a work is shipped to the fair.” -Jason Bailer Losh, Director?of?Business?Development, Dietl

Working together to fix the future

ROKBOX collaborates with some of the most forward thinking shippers, insurers and galleries and everyone agrees - whether it’s at art fairs or day to day art world manoeuvrings, everyone wants to help play a positive role in tackling climate and efficiency issues.

It’s now a case of imagining what's possible then mapping it out the small steps needed to affect big change.

What would you change or protect?

What would you change or protect about art fairs? Something to mull over perhaps are your next trip.

You may even agree with this cheeky art world professional, who has been around long enough to remain anonymous. “I’d change people who attend and 95% of the art being displayed and I’d protect the?satellite?drinking and eating."

What is ROKBOX?

ROKBOX is redefining art shipping by eradicating packaging waste and lowering carbon emissions and costs.?We work?in collaboration with forward thinking shippers and insurers, and is backed by climate scientists and the GCC. ROKBOX has?been featured?in The Art Newspaper, Art Basel Magazine, Forbes and more. We have been awarded the prestigious Red Dot ‘Best of the Best’ Award 2019 and UK Enterprise Awards Best Sustainable Art Shipping & Storage Solution 2022.

Our address is: Office 136, China Works, 100 Black Prince Road, London, SE1 7SJ, United Kingdom

Email us at: [email protected]

Or give them team a call: +44(0)20 3176 8573