FIAC, Paris’ foremost contemporary art fair, has announced it will broaden its scope for the upcoming 43rd edition and expand with two new section in two new spaces.
The fair, which will take place from October 20-23, will host 185 galleries from 27 countries, which means 12 more exhibitors than last year, including 42 newcomers. Of that total, 52 galleries are French, 35 come from the US, followed by 25 from Germany, 14 from Italy, and 13 from the UK.
Heavyweights include Air de Paris, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, Galerie Buchholz, Blum & Poe, Sadie Coles HQ, Paula Cooper, Gladstone Gallery, Marian Goodman, kamel mennour, Metro Pictures, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner.
Two new venues have been prepared to host the two new sections: On Site will be staged in the Petit Palais, just opposite the Grand Palais, and will present over 30 sculptural works and installations curated by the Petit Palais’ director, Christophe Leribault, in collaboration with Lorenzo Benedetti.
The other new addition is the use of the Salon Jean Perrin at the Grand Palais, where nine galleries will present exhibitions by historic artists from the 1970s, including Darío Villalba (Luis Adelantado, Spain), Nil Yalter (Espaivisor, Spain), Henri Chopin (Richard Saltoun, England), William S. Burroughs (Semiose, France), and Tetsumi Kudo (Christophe Gaillard, France).
But while the main fair is certainly expanding, the organizers decided earlier this year to drop its satellite fair Officielle, which ran for only two years.
Ellis King at (Off)icielle. Courtesy Fiac, photo: Etienne Pottier
The fair, which acted as an extension of FIAC dedicated to emerging art, was staged in the city’s Docks-Cité de la Mode et du Design, which many perceived as too remote from the city center, where the main fair is held.
“We have failed to create the conditions that could make such an event at the Cité de la Mode et du Design an unconditional success,” FIAC’s director Jennifer Flay said on a joint email with Maxime Hourdequin of Reed Expositions that was sent to staffers in February.
It seems that FIAC’s own Salon d’Honneur, Upper Galleries, and Lafayette sector, all devoted to emerging and groundbreaking artists and galleries, as well as the new gallery-run fair Paris Internationale will be go-to destination this year for lovers of younger and newer art.
The news about the end of Officielle came shortly after Reed canceled Paris Photo LA, a satellite to Paris Photo, after three editions, and announced that the plans for a FIAC edition in Los Angeles would be put on hold indefinitely.
This edition of FIAC promises to elevate the competition with Frieze Week in London to new heights.
Usually held back to back, Frieze one week and FIAC the following, the arrangement facilitated and encouraged the attendance of overseas collectors to both.
Collector and patron Valeria Napoleone visits the booth of David Kordansky during the preview of Frieze London 2015. Photo Linda Nylind, courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze
This year, however, the organizers of Frieze London and Frieze Masters have moved the fairs forward to avoid a clash with the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur on 11 October.
Frieze Week, thus, will take place from October 5-9, while FIAC will run from October 20-23. The nine-day gap might force some collectors to choose one fair over the other, rather than attending both consecutively.