Every time I visit ARCO (or any other art fair) I can’t help but think about the difficult role of galleries at a time when artists, institutions, critics, curators and even collectors have long since redefined their roles. In a recent conversation, a German gallerist recalled how, in the 1990s, institutions and the market followed two parallel paths, with occasional exchanges. Right now, not only are they absolutely interconnected, but all too often, fairs and biennials end up exchanging roles. On the one hand, with artists’ projects that are shown at biennials, supported, financed and managed by powerful galleries with an influence and visibility in the market that few fair stands can offer. And, on the other hand, we also see the opposite path, curated programs at fairs, which become another workspace for independent curators, stars of this new social class of cultural precariats.
But if each fair has its own idiosyncrasy, ARCO has even more so, because it was born in Spain in the 1980s, a context and a moment of “modernisation of the country” (which we now see was not so much) and which has played a role in introducing contemporary art, creating a market, educating new professionals and being a meeting place (professional, social and fun – in that respect Madrid always has a lot to offer).
ARCO 2018 continues to promote this aspect of an indisputable meeting place that goes beyond the fair itself, with closed-door work sessions between heads of institutions and with debates and presentations open to the general public. In that sense, it is exhausting. Like a speed date, the gallery owners try to explain in a synthetic way the complexity of works that are impossible to get into in a few seconds. But, in reality, that is our present, an accumulation of inputs, images, ideas, news, novelties and events to which we often cannot devote more than a few minutes or a quick reading of headlines.
That said, the truth is that ARCO 2018 is not a loud or noisy edition, on the contrary, there is a certain moderation in the works presented and everything is very measured and ordered. While the spectacular and “unlimited” stands are left for Basel, at ARCO there are accessible works, in terms of size and also in terms of price. In its quest to find its place in the competitive world of fairs, ARCO has long been betting on future values, emergencies and curated spaces.
The future is precisely the guest country this year. Well, it is not exactly like that, but it does occupy a central and elevated space, designed by Andrés Jaque, in which the curators Chus Martínez, Rosa Lleó and Elise Lammer have commissioned new works from 19 artists. In a green space reminiscent of artificial grass where you can relax or play, but also of a chroma green, where you can project whatever you want, the artists show not just a future, but a present that would be worth projecting into the future. In the antipodes of Black Mirror, the works of Regina Giménez, Eva Fàbregas, Teresa Solar or Július Koller, among others, speak of nomadism, DIY, intergenerational relationships, sustainability, survival and creativity. And indirectly they speak of the need for the existence of art itself as a space of freedom if we really want a future to exist.
But we remain in the present and the tour of ARCO always brings gratifying moments. Here are some in a disordered way: the musical moments in Hauser & Wirth, courtesy of Dan Graham; the installation Extra in which Candice Breitz plays the role of Kow; Momu & No Es (Joey Ramone), the humanistic-scientific approach by Pep Vidal in ADN gallery and in Lmno; the inventory of elements of a woman’s wardrobe by Hans-Peter Feldmann (ProjecteSD); the comics that expand in the space of Francesc Ruiz (Estrany- de la Mota), the body-space relationships of Sigurdur Gudmundsson or the relatives of Ragnar Kjartansson (i8) or “the paintings made by others” by Ryan Gander in Esther Schipper and by Enric Farrés Duran in noguerasblanchard; among many others.
But ARCO is not an impregnable bubble and the controversy and irritation of the present have also crept into the fair, even before it opened. The controversy created by the withdrawal of Santiago Sierra’s work “Political Prisoners in Contemporary Spain” is a symptom of a here and now in which freedom of expression is being violated and, what is worse, the denunciation of this fact can even be annoying or tiresome for many. The reality is much crueler because what is being dismantled is the recognition of human rights that cost so much to achieve. For some time now, no one has appeared in the controversial ARCO photo in the media. A work by Eugenio Merino, who, I believe, has produced the most faithful portrait of our present this year.
