Being seen on the scene
I have a confession: I didn’t make it to the biggest contemporary art fair of the year in London. That’s none other than Frieze, which is split into two parts, the contemporary arm ‘Frieze London’ and the self-explanatory ‘Frieze Masters’. Opting out was a conscious decision made several weeks earlier. The responses from others have been intriguing, mostly along the lines of: “What?! You’re not going to Frieze?”
#FriezeWeek is THE topic of the London art scene. “Have you been to Frieze?” “What did you think?” “What shows have you seen?”
To be clear, I haven’t skipped out on the art week in entirety. #FriezeWeek incorporates many events in addition to the two main fairs, including satellite fairs and exhibitions that are staged by artists, gallerists and museums all over the city. (Notably the image above is outside PAD London, which integrates design and art.)
I was captivated by a conversation with one art dealer at his pop-up exhibition, for which he’s put tons of energy into closely working with the artist, securing sponsorship, promoting events, installing, and doing whatever has been needed to make the most of it. He confessed that this is first year since entering the art world that he won’t have made it to the main fairs (aka the ‘motherships’). He commented that while it felt strange to not attend, his priority must be making a success of his own show. He understands all too well that collectors from near and far are actively attending shows, critics are traipsing from event to event on the look-out for stories, and other professionals in the field are generally out and about.
While the central events might be the ones that are trending on social media, and are the primary focus of conversations and are where you see most selfies, you don’t have to be there to be part of the art world. And arguably, if you’re running your own art week endeavour or have other projects that are taking priority (as is the case with yours truly at present), you’re deciding what’s really important and building a career with a proactive approach. Feeling like you have to go to THE events results from social expectations of others as well as the fear of missing out.
Taking control of priorities and choosing what you attend and where you’re seen based on the larger context of your career not only provides you a sense of control with your career, it’s also essential to maintain a viable enterprise. It could be detrimental to attend events if doing so resulted in missing important deadlines, not completing a project, losing essential income and so on.
The result of being in control of what you attend (and what you don’t) is that you put increased effort into the events that you attend, in addition to having confidence that you’re prioritising the health of your business. And hey, as a result of staying on top of projects, income and other developments, you’ll have great conversation pieces when you are seen on the scene.
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Originally published at www.besmartaboutart.com.
