IN ITS FIRST year under the directorship of young historian and art market expert Noah Horowitz, 36, Miami Art Basel’s format will not undergo major changes, at least for the moment. So explains the director himself, who has been ahead of the largest art fair in the Americas since August, after three years under the command of The Armory Show (New York). The young director is still adapting to the new position.
Appointed by Marc Siegler, general director of Art Basel, Horowitz says he is more concerned at keeping the performance of the fair at a high level and strengthening the bonds with art collectors and institutions in all Latin America.
While he was doing his job during the ARTBO in Bogotá, Horowitz spoke with ARTE!Brasileiros about his plans for the coming years and revealed the highlights of the fair in Miami, which will take place on December 3-6 with the presence of 267 galleries, among which 16 are Brazilians. Read the Interview below for further information.
ARTE!Brasileiros – You are now the director of one of the most important and renowned art shows in the world. What is the job like? Is there room to present new ideas and propose new paths in such a consolidated fair?
Noah Horowitz – This is all new to me. I should say that I started in August and most of the main decisions related to this year’s Miami Art Basel had already been taken. So I am still trying to understand how things work here, I will have more ideas for the fair that starts this year. In any case, my position is Art Basel “director of Americas” and if on one hand my main duty is to direct the Miami Fair, on the other hand, it is also my job to represent our name and institution in several countries of the Americas. So this requires a lot of traveling, including this trip to Bogotá, to know the local markets and production, to network with collectors and institutions.
And when the time is right, do you think there will be space for changes and new ideas for the fair?
It is early to say. There is the modernization of the Convention Center, where the fair takes place, and this is big news. The project will be ready for the 2017 edition. This alone will create many opportunities, give it a new face. Anyway, this is already the most important art fair of the Americas because of the figures involves, the caliber of the galleries and rigor and ambition of the works represented in it. The attending galleries are incredibly happy and they want to attend the event year after year. Our level is pretty high and it needs to stay that way. Of course we are talking about a very competitive market, all over the world, the number of art fairs, biennales and exhibits has escalated. We must keep innovating, creating special programs, debates and exhibitions, that go beyond what takes place in the gallery booths, we must keep strengthening the relationship between the fair and the city of Miami and so on.
In Bogotá you praised the dimension of the ARTBO fair, which gathers a modest number of galleries if compared with the Art Basel event. Under your directorship, The Armory Show also had a significant reduction in the number of participating galleries, and focused on quality rather than quantity. Do you have plans to do the same in Miami, to reduce the number of exhibitors?
In fact, this is a different context. There were more galleries in the Armory when I took over, than in the Miami Art Basel, and the space was much smaller. So we had to downsize. In Miami, the focus changes: to keep its high-level production, to continue to innovate with programs and projects, to empower the collaborative funding platform that started last year, which funds non-profit art projects and promotes the incentive to research projects that relate to our fair.
In addition to these projects, how do you plan to promote debates and discussions that go beyond the commercial interests of the market?
In my opinion, the programs, as well as the debates and talks promoted at Art Basel Miami are fantastic. They fulfill its role and there are activities promoted by the world’s most important museums and universities, when it comes to the quality of the guests and discussions. There are talks about the art world, collections, production and art practice. These talks are a great example of how art fairs can contribute to create a dialogue that reaches further than the acquisition and sale debate.
What do you have to tell us about the highlights of the 2015 edition?
Well, firstly, there is the Survey, a section that we started last year as a platform for galleries with historical works. Some examples are the project that the Spanish gallery, espaivisor, will develop with the Colombian artist Miguel Ángel Rojas, and the exhibition of works by Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994), which will be featured by Bergamin & Gomide gallery, in São Paulo. Also, sectors that gather young galleries are very thrilling in my opinion. Nova, for example, will feature solo shows by new artists. It shows part of what is going on in Latin America today in terms of production, and also in other parts of the world.
The economic crisis in several countries in the last few years does not seem to have affected the art market so much, at least when it comes to large fairs, such as the Art Basel. How do you see this situation?
Well, the major crisis in 2008 certainly affected the market in some way. But the recovery was really fast and vigorous. In my opinion, we have a much stronger market today if we look at the resources available and its positive impacts, and it’s also less vulnerable to local fluctuations. The strength of an international fair of such dimensions as the Miami Art Basel is precisely its vast network of buyers coming from everywhere, and that prevents the financial crisis in one country from seriously affecting the overall results. Naturally, this year we will keep an eye on the impacts of currency devaluation, for example, the Brazilian real, or the Colombian peso. But it seems to me that there will not be such major impacts, since Art Basel’s strength lies in its vigor and its network extension. Besides, one truth about the art world is that, if there is quality, things will come out right.
Now speaking of Brazil, how do you see the fine art scenario in the country, production-wise and market-wise?
It’s been amazing to watch Brazil gaining ground in the international art market, the art fairs taking place in São Paulo, Rio and Inhotim, for example. For us, this is an utterly important market. There are 16 Brazilian galleries in the Art Basel Miami edition this year, which is a very significant number, not to mention the huge amount of artists and collectors visiting the fair. Both for its market force and production quality, Brazil is not relevant only in South America, but in the whole world.
Art Basel Miami Beach
December 3 through 6
Miami Beach Convention Center
1901 Convention Center Drive – Miami Beach/EUA
artbasel.com/miami-beach
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