From 12 to 14 April 2024, Art Düsseldorf will once again open its doors at the Areal Böhler. Exhibition director Walter Gehlen spoke to VIVID about the development and profile of the unique event, the importance of art in a crisis-ridden world and how art can also influence a company.

Since 2017, your goal with Art Düsseldorf has been to be a leading platform for new art talent and diverse perspectives. How has the fair evolved over the years?

Art Düsseldorf has become a dynamic platform in recent years. It has been confronted with many difficult issues, the biggest challenge being the Covid pandemic. This has shown how innovatively the fair adapts to circumstances. For example, we developed new technologies for this crisis that allow people to see, understand and buy art online in the context of a fair. One example of this quality: in 2022, we were the first art fair ever to offer a 1-to-1 guide that guided visitors through the fair online. Today, we don't see ourselves as a four-day event, but rather as a year-round marketplace where we bring collectors and galleries into dialogue as partners.

Art Düsseldorf 2023, Sculpture Square, Bettina Pousttchi: Vertical Highways A5, 2019, Buchmann Galerie.

How does the international importance of Düsseldorf as an art market manifest itself in your fair?

On the one hand, we have all the important galleries from Düsseldorf at the fair, which of course also have a connection to the city and the Kunstakademie as an international training centre. The list of artists who have made their mark here and achieved worldwide success is very long - from Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter and Imi Knoebel to Katharina Fritsch, Candida Höfer and Paloma Varga Weiss. It is particularly exciting for our guests from abroad to experience this environment and to find points of reference throughout the city where contemporary art history becomes visible.

The 57th Art Cologne will take place in November 2024. How does Art Düsseldorf differ and how do the two fairs complement each other?

Düsseldorf and Cologne both play an important role in the German art market with their institutions, galleries and collections. In order to make this enormous potential reasonably visible, it makes a lot of sense to give visitors the opportunity to experience both locations on different dates each year. It turns out that Art Düsseldorf is a perfect addition to the exhibition portfolio in the Rhineland and in Germany, because it works. And I think we can also be satisfied in Cologne. In terms of content, the two events complement each other very well: while Art Düsseldorf focuses on contemporary art, Art Cologne moves between classical modernism and contemporary art.

You just mentioned digital tools. What role will they play at Art Düsseldorf this year?

In the past, as I said, we tried 1-to-1 guides, which were immediately available digitally. We also tried permanent live streaming. And we had an online shop where you could buy or reserve art. Overall, we found that there is now a lot of interest among collectors in seeing art on site. That's why this year we're focusing more on live streaming of guided tours and less on online sales or online marketing.

Art Düsseldorf 2023, Next, Joel Stevenett, Boa Basedonart, Düsseldorf

Your fair explores and negotiates contemporary global positions and new discourses. Could you please give a few examples?

The themes are negotiated both in the artists' exhibition programme and in the talks and supporting programme. For example, sustainability and transformation, postcolonial art, social justice and, of course, technological innovations such as AI, blockchain and social media. For example, we are asking our partner E.ON: How will we deal with resources in the context of art in the future? Galerie KOW presents a collaboration with CATPC, a group of Congolese plantation workers. This organisation has set itself the goal of offering the local community a way out of poorly paid plantation work through its own agriculture and, above all, through remarkable artistic projects.

These examples also show the everyday relevance and potential of art in our crisis-ridden world!

Absolutely! In the case of deep conflicts that are accompanied by a certain speechlessness, art opens up an alternative possibility of encounter, because language is not the focus. It is an important task for art fairs to promote diversity and encounters between different cultures. And this, of course, is what Düsseldorf stands for.

TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

Walter Gehlen has three tips for anyone who wants to start collecting art:

1. Visit art fairs
Art Düsseldorf, for example, is a great place to get information and a good overview of the contemporary art world (over 100 galleries on site!).

2. Become a friend of the museums
Joining a “circle of friends of museums” is a great way to exchange ideas and network with other art lovers in a city.

3. Consult your own accountant
What role can art play as a personal investment tool?

Like the previous fairs, Art Düsseldorf 2024 will have different thematic sections. Could you give us a brief insight?

With "Next", for example, we have a section in which comparatively young galleries are given a presentation space for their programme and young positions. This newcomer programme at Art Düsseldorf has already proven to be very successful in the past, which makes me incredibly happy. The tried and tested "Joint" section is an exciting approach to cooperation: galleries can appear in dialogue or present an artist together. "Solo" offers visitors the opportunity to delve deeper into an artistic position. Topics range from photography to Retromania and Future Bodies. The "Sculpture Spots" section, where impressive sculptures will once again be curated, is a particularly good way to experience the fair.

Why are art objects attractive to entrepreneurs, perhaps even as an investment?

Many people who are interested in art prefer to engage with art without the expectation that buying art has to yield a return in ten years' time. And I think that should be the basic attitude. If you can't enjoy art, you shouldn't use it as an asset class. But if you're interested, then of course it's fantastic. Then I have an investment that is not in my stock portfolio, but something I can look at every day, something I can talk about, something that inspires me or my employees if it is a business purchase, for example. Art also gives a completely different dynamic and soul to a workplace. If you see art as a source of inspiration and a place of encounter, you can integrate some of it into your immediate environment. And that in itself is a great value. •

ABOUT WALTER GEHLEN

•Director and co-owner of the Art Düsseldorf art fair; as co-initiator in 2017, significantly involved in the founding of the fair

• Since 2003 managing partner of art.fair International GmbH (organiser of Art Düsseldorf): advises collectors, galleries and companies on art market issues

• From 2003 to 2016 Director of ART.FAIR, the modern and contemporary art fair in Cologne

• Studied economics and art history at the University of Cologne and economics and social sciences at the University of Glasgow, Scotland

• Born and raised in Düsseldorf, since 1990 in Cologne

Text: Tom Corrinth
Fotos: Sebastian Drüen, Achim Hehn, Felix J. Hild

Art is always a way to encounter