Most art fairs have been cancelled for 2020, but if you’re selling digital art, now might just be the right time to start one. That’s the thought behind the new Daata Fair, which will present international contemporary video and digital art from 20 galleries in an online art fair debuting next month.
The event is the brainchild of Daata, founded in 2015 as a platform for collecting digital artworks. Over the last five years, the company has commissioned original digital artworks from a wide range of both established and emerging artists, including Tracey Emin, Ed Fornieles, and Chloe Wise, all available to stream or download on its website.
Most recently, Daata has also begun showcasing work from other dealers in a new online venture called Galleries at Daata. A standalone digital fair was a natural outgrowth of this business model.
“We are passionate about empowering all our peers in the art world to show and support artists’ video and digital mediums, and about finding new audiences, connections and collectors,” David Gryn, the founder and director of Daata, said in a statement.
The fair will open with a preview day on October 5, and will be open to the general public October 6 to October 25, timed to the digital edition of Frieze London and the now-cancelled FIAC fair in Paris.
It will also coincide with Digital Art Month, a celebration of digital and new media art organized by Contemporary and Digital Art Fair, another tech-flavored art fair which held its first digital edition in June. For Digital Art Month, CADAF held an open call for augmented reality and video art pieces, and will stage exhibitions both online and at sites in New York City and other to-be-announced participating locations.
At Daata Fair, each dealer will present no more than six works by a single artist.
The working list of participating galleries includes Galerie Allen (Paris); Canada (New York); Dvir Gallery (Tel Aviv, Brussels); François Ghebaly (Los Angeles); Frutta (Rome); Kavi Gupta (Chicago); Hauser & Wirth (Gstaad, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Menorca, New York, Somerset, Southampton, St Moritz, Zurich); Helsinki Contemporary (Helsinki); Hot Wheels Athens (Athens); Instituto de Visión (Bogotá); KÖNIG GALERIE (Berlin, London, Tokyo); kurimanzutto (Mexico, New York); Misako & Rosen (Tokyo, Brussels); Gregor Podnar (Berlin); Almine Rech (Paris, Brussels, London, New York, Shanghai); Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (Paris, Salzburg, London); and Galeria Luisa Strina (São Paulo).
The fair will also include a full docket of digital programming streamable on Instagram @daata.art. Daata plans to hold the fair regularly to coincide with major international art fairs, and a second edition is already slated for December 2020.