Market watch: November 2007
The stands have gone, the tent has been packed up and the 68,000 visitors have gone home: the Frieze Art …
The stands have gone, the tent has been packed up and the 68,000 visitors have gone home: the Frieze Art Fair is over for another year.
Like last year, private collectors dominated.
Many curators visited, but the combination of high prices, limited acquisition budgets and the length of time approval committees take mean that art fairs are difficult places from which to buy for museums.
The Tate has the biggest advantage, thanks to the £150,000 the fair gives it, and its privileged access (Nicholas Serota was spotted hours before the 11am start offered to ultra-VIP collectors on the preview day).
The time was used to buy a sculpture of a windmill by German artist Andreas Slominski, a series of photographs by Mauro Restiffe, a two-screen slide projection by Armando Andrade Tudela, and an installation by Polish artist Pawel Althamer.
As the Tate uses the fair to spot up-and-coming artists, its curators clearly think these four are names for the future.
"One thing that irks the Guggenheim is that the Tate is in before any other museum," former Guggenheim director Lisa Dennison told a packed crowd. Despite having moved to a major auction house (Sotheby's), she still thinks like a Guggenheim curator.
"Fairs are a great opportunity for curators to take the temperature of what is going on," she said. "But they shouldn't react to trends, and I think there are questions to be asked about whether most museums should be buying at fairs."
Like last year, private collectors dominated.
Many curators visited, but the combination of high prices, limited acquisition budgets and the length of time approval committees take mean that art fairs are difficult places from which to buy for museums.
The Tate has the biggest advantage, thanks to the £150,000 the fair gives it, and its privileged access (Nicholas Serota was spotted hours before the 11am start offered to ultra-VIP collectors on the preview day).
The time was used to buy a sculpture of a windmill by German artist Andreas Slominski, a series of photographs by Mauro Restiffe, a two-screen slide projection by Armando Andrade Tudela, and an installation by Polish artist Pawel Althamer.
As the Tate uses the fair to spot up-and-coming artists, its curators clearly think these four are names for the future.
"One thing that irks the Guggenheim is that the Tate is in before any other museum," former Guggenheim director Lisa Dennison told a packed crowd. Despite having moved to a major auction house (Sotheby's), she still thinks like a Guggenheim curator.
"Fairs are a great opportunity for curators to take the temperature of what is going on," she said. "But they shouldn't react to trends, and I think there are questions to be asked about whether most museums should be buying at fairs."