The_Art_Newspaper_-_November_2016

6 THE ART NEWSPAPER SECTION 2 Number 284, November 2016

SPECIAL REPORT

PHOTOGRAPHY

ART FAIRS

Paris. Christoph Wiesner, the artistic

director of Paris Photo, was appointed in

2015 along with the fair’s new director,

Florence Bourgeois. Their first edition

was cut short by the November 2015 ter-

rorist attacks on Paris and the fair closed

after three days.

A curator and art historian, Wiesner

was the senior director at Yvon Lambert

gallery in Paris from 2012, previously

working with Schipper & Krome and

then Esther Schipper in Berlin. He spoke

to us on the eve of Paris Photo’s 20th

anniversary edition of the fair held at

the Grand Palais (10-13 November).

The Art Newspaper: Last year’s Paris

Photo closed early because of the

terrorist attacks. What are your

feelings one year on?

Christoph Wiesner: It takes more than a

year to prepare such a fair, so of course

it was a huge disappointment. But

the shock of the attacks obviously

overshadowed the whole event. Finan-

cially, the impact was terrible. We had

37,000 visitors over three days and had

been expecting almost the same attend-

ance over the weekend, before closing

down the fair. For the smaller galleries

the weekend is fairly important. Some

very important customers were supposed

to come back to close their deals. Insur-

ance does not cover such an exceptional

risk; Reed [the fair’s owner] decided to

refund the galleries for 20% of the rental

cost. The gesture was significant but of

course could not cover their entire loss.

Paris Photo also gave up its show in

Los Angeles after three editions.

We feared the fair would have diiculty

maintaining the prestige required of

the event. Although Los Angeles has a

passionate and dynamic artistic scene,

with increasing numbers of galleries

and collectors, the market there is not

yet mature enough for such a project.

It was a bold attempt and we knew it

would be diicult, but it was certainly

worthwhile trying.

“Extensions of the

fair abroad are under

consideration. New

York comes to mind”

CHRISTOPH WIESNER

‘Photography

has become the

seismograph for

contemporary

society’

Christoph Wiesner, the artistic director

of Paris Photo, identifies new trends in

collecting ahead of the fair’s 20th edition

Paris Photo returns to the Grand

Palais this month (10-13 November).

Christoph Wiesner became the fair’s

artistic director in 2015

What about Asia?

The market there is growing slowly

but surely. This year, Paris Photo will

include 13 Asian galleries. The presence

of several from Japan is an indicator of

the vitality of the scene there. Two mon-

umental Asian works will be presented

in the Salon d’Honneur.

So are you giving up on any interna-

tional expansion?

First and foremost we have a fabulous

event in Paris that we can further

magnify and develop. We introduced

new elements into the show in 2015,

with the Prismes segment [including

large-format works and installations],

and will also have new additions to

this year’s programme. But extensions

of the fair abroad are under considera-

tion. New York comes to mind, but for

the moment this is just an idea being

tossed around.

Are you concerned by the drop in

tourists coming to Paris, especially

from the US?

We have a splendid list of French and

foreign galleries participating; more

than 250 candidates applied and 30% of

the 153 galleries accepted come from

the US, the UK and Germany. Despite

everything, Paris Photo remains one of

the key dates on the international calen-

dar. It’s the showcase for photographic

creation and history.

This is a very young segment of the

art market and only a handful of

artists can command top prices. Is

this an obstacle?

Contemporary art photographers still

command the top prices: Gursky, Cindy

Sherman and so on. There is still a

strong trend for classical photographers

like Gustave Le Gray, Anna Atkins, Irving

Penn or Helmut Newton. But this is not

the main characteristic of Paris Photo.

We are happy that visitors can find

prints for 1,000 euros or so. What we are

looking for is a large variety of prices,

styles, nationalities or techniques, to

attract as wide an audience as possible.

We are also pleased to welcome experi-

mental artists.

Another trend that is quite interest-

ing is the appearance on the market of

performance art photography. These

images are the only trace left by per-

formance artists and some galleries are

now specialising in this field. For a long

time such photos were considered as

simply documentation; they are now

recognised as the legacy of an artistic

practice and thus part of the oeuvre.

Some artists today are influenced by the

images produced on Viennese Action-

ism; this year’s fair will also see a great

fresco by the Brazilian photographer

Caio Reisewitz, a sort of collage invaded

by the jungle; and there will be a huge

retable by the Polish artist Zofia Kulik,

along with William Klein’s views.

We’re living in the era of Insta-

gram. Has that had any impact on

the fair?

Instagram is the new frontier and a

source of inspiration. Photography has

become— more than ever— the seismo-

graph for contemporary society.

One interesting practice spread-

ing in response to the massive flow of

information and images comes from

people looking to find a link with

history through archives. There is all

this work being done around the war

archives in London, for example. Some

artists are interested in actual docu-

ments, others are building fictitious

archives. You have this work by Thomas

Sauvin, called Beijing Silvermine. He

collected half a million images from a

storage area where they were supposed

to have been destroyed to recover the

silver. I find this work on archives and

their destiny fascinating.

Do you see a common trend run-

ning through this edition?

We are looking for variety so we are not

imposing or even proposing any specific

topics or themes. I have noticed that

several galleries, especially from the US,

are proposing shows around landscapes,

and America in the 1960s. We will see

Danny Lyon’s series on bikers and Paul

Fusco’s portfolio of Robert Fitzgerald

Kennedy’s funeral train, which brought

his coin from New York to Washington.

Last year there was a focus on women.

The Orsay museum and L’Orangerie, in

the Tuileries, had exhibitions on female

photographers, so it made sense. We are

happy when a connection can be found

with museums and other institutions.

This year we will show a sample of the

Centre Pompidou’s acquisitions over the

past decade [see opposite]. Friends of the

Tate have also organised a trip to the fair,

where they will hold an acquisition com-

mittee, and we know they defend young

photography as well as the classical

icons. You know that, with the exception

of New York’s Museum of Modern Art,

photographic collections are quite new

in museums, especially in Europe. But

they are really important because they

help to shape a view on this art form

and users and collectors. They also help

collectors to collect more sensibly—to

structure their vision and to enhance

their collection to museum-level quality.

One must also take into account

that, for many, photography serves as an

entry to contemporary art. People often

start by collecting photography before

trying to buy other forms of living art.

Vincent Noce FAIR: ORSOLYA ELEK/PARIS PHOTO. WIESNER: JÉRÉMIE BOUILLON