Fairs, Festivals and Ferrero Rocher

I realized this week that every shitty job serves a purpose. Even if it teaches you a small, unexpected lesson.  This summer I did an internship in which I was working with an Egyptian artist in a residency program near Torino.  She was a pleasure to work with, even though most of the tasks involved being her personal assistant.  I admit I had hoped for more responsibility beyond translation and transportation.  Luckily she was very open and spent time describing her work to me in detail, explaining the ins and outs of the art market, and she even asked for my research and logistical help in executing the video artwork she completed in-residence.  I'd met an international artist, attended high-profile events and gotten a new perspective on the art world - I thought I'd leave the experience at that.

Artissima! giant fair pavilion featuring hundreds of international galleries

The artist had kept in touch with me over the past few months, and 2 weeks ago she emailed me about her involvement in the upcoming international arts fair in Turin, Artissima.  The fair is in its 18th year and continues to grow in prestige and popularity.  She was invited to participate in a competition among 15 other emerging artists from across Europe by displaying an artwork at the fair.  She wanted me to be there and help with the booth because I knew the work personally and watched her develop it this summer.  I of course said I was interested and her gallerist in Amsterdam said she'd be happy to have me and pay me a total of…. *drumroll please*… 50 euros!  For a whole weekend of work.  Let's not even try to do the math on that, ok?  Believe me, by now I've worked for so long sans payment that somehow pennies an hour seems like a blessing.  And I would have done it for free anyway just to gain some practical knowledge.

Artissima

Thursday I worked all day at the booth.  (Ferrero Rocher was a sponsor so naturally I've eaten at least my age in small spherical chocolate confections over the past few days.)  It was great to see the artist again, and her gallerist was such a pleasure to work with, she was only 29 years old!  I asked her about her education, interests, and how she managed her gallery in Amsterdam.  She happily answered all of my questions further debunked my theory that all for-profit arts professionals are aloof and elitist.  I stayed there talking with passersby who watched the video and held an interest in the artist's work - at one point I was discussing Egyptian superstition with a German collector and at another I was describing the artist's process (in Italian!) with an older couple from Venice.  Crazy!  Amazing!  :)

Artissima

I met an "artist liaison" at the fair who is working for White Cube gallery in London (huge!) and as it turns out she's originally from Texas (well, Dallas, and we all know what that means).  We talked a bit and she told me about working for another gallery in Rome for several years.  Ahhhh, too cool.  Among others I met some Milan gallerists, American curators, a Swiss art critic and a Spanish hypnotist/artist.  There was even a pavilion of designer cakes decorated each as an homage to a specific artist - gotta love edible exhibitions.

Art Cakes!

The judges for the emerging artist competition came by to talk to the gallerist and artist, see the video and her portfolio - it was fascinating to see the "fair dynamics" and the anxiety everyone felt in presenting the works.  By the end of the night, at the fancy invite-only opening party, it had leaked out "secretly" that our artist won the prize!  We were all so excited - this meant the artist would be awarded 5,000 euros by illy (the coffee company) and the opportunity to design a limited edition mug!  This was so overwhelming for everyone, especially the artist because this signals a big turning point in her career to be recognized this way.

Artissima

There was a small press conference the next day, and I made sure to be there.  It's crazy to think that this summer I was toting her around Turin in a car, helping her communicate at events in Italian and collaborating on her video production which was then given the only prize awarded at this huge international contemporary art fair.  How cool is that??  Even today the news just got better because her gallerist sold the first edition of the video to a Dutch collector.  So exciting!  It's great when things come full circle and you can be there to see a project succeed in the most positive way.

And the winner is...

I suppose I could mention that this weekend I've ALSO been volunteering at Paratissima, an "off" festival in an artsy/multicultural neighborhood in Torino that's an alternative response to the commercialism of Artissima.  I figured if I wanted to really learn something I might as well do both, get the experience from the for-profit art market side, then the non-profit grassroots side.  I feel as though these past few days have been very necessary to supplement my theoretical education thus far.  In fact I ran into two of my professors at the show and they were proud of me for taking the initiative to find my own way into these events for the purpose of gaining experience.  One more day of work at Artissima then it's back to the books because I haven't studied all weekend.  Though oddly my biggest worry right now is weening myself off the free Ferrero Rocher...