Photo: Art15
The London art fair Art15 has appointed Kate Bryan as its new director. Bryan follows Stephanie Dieckvoss, who directed the fair’s first two editions. The appointment is the fair’s latest effort aimed at positioning Art15 as a serious contender in the Frieze-dominated London art fair game (see “Art15 Announces Three New Appointments” and “London’s Art15 Moves to an Already Cluttered May“).
“I am thrilled to be taking up the role of fair director,” Bryan said in a statement on Wednesday. “My ambition is to make the fair global in all regards, from galleries to artists, and from collectors to not-for-profit spaces. I will draw from the knowledge of our expert advisory board that supports us throughout the world including South Korea, Indonesia, France, China, USA, Italy, Dubai as well as here in the UK.”
Bryan was previously director of contemporary art at The Fine Art Society, London’s oldest commercial gallery, where she was responsible for building the contemporary art exhibition program and fostering a collector network with a focus on Asia and the USA. Her recent exhibition at the gallery “What Marcel Duchamp Taught Me” generated the highest visitor numbers for any show in the gallery’s history (see “Just How Influential Was Marcel Duchamp?”).
Bryan lived in Hong Kong from 2007 to 2011, where she served as director of the Cat Street Gallery, one of the founding galleries that participated at ART HK.
Bryan, who recently won the Women of the Future award in the arts and culture category, is also a seasoned art broadcaster, having presented programs on BBC, Sky Arts, and Channel 4.