ART COLOGNE 2014

Art Cologne 2014 Dike Blair at booth Linn Lühn, Düsseldorf Florian Meisenberg at booth Wentrup, Berlin Grayson Revoir at booth Jan Kaps, Cologne Michail Pirgelis at booth Sprüth Magers, Berlin, London Tatiana Trouve at booth Johann König, Berlin Paul Cowan and Tony Lewis COLLABORATION at booth Shane Campell, Chicago David Ostrowski at booth Peres Projects, Berlin Liam Gillick at booth Kerlin Gallery, Dublin // all images by artfridge // Courtesy the galleries // © the artists

"The white colour on the painting has a different tone, than the one on the wall behind it," a galerist explains a curious visitor, who was interested in the artist's motivation to present a blank canvas at the art fair. Its official: The new minimalism hit its peak. This is one of the most predominant trends, currently displayed at the 48th edition of ART COLOGNE: From predecessors, such as Günther Förg (Galerie Bärbel Grässlin) and Imi Knöbel (Galerie Nächst St. Stephan), to current emerging artists, such as Sergej Jensen (Galerie Neu), David Ostrowski (Peres Projects), Michail Pirgelis (Sprüth Magers) and Paul Czerlitzki (Laurent Godin) – minimal and beautiful, physically scant and reduced wall objects are setting the tone of the fair's contemporary segment in 2014. 

Speaking of wall objects – the transgression from two into three dimensionality is an aesthetic decision, that several represented artists employ. Cornelia Baltes (DREI), for example, placed her red, luminous canvas on the booths floor and supports the object with a stone. Jonas Maas (Figge von Rosen), who received additional space in his NEW POSITIONS solo booth, applied three large grid-objects on the wall and covered them with colourful plates in different shapes and forms, causing them to step out of the flat wall. And also Henrik Olesen (Galerie Buchholz) made use of the interface between painting and sculpture, by adding a flat iron in a cardboard box underneath his paper collage. The crossing of these thresholds causes a doubt the notion of particular genres, allowing the hybrid-works to appear as on-site installations rather than static objects. This is most obvious in Tatiana Trouvé's bronze pillow installation, which is squeezed between the wall and a black collumn at Johann König's booth. 

221 galleries participate in the current edition of Art Cologne. Only half of them are German – a positive development thanks to director Daniel Hug, who has increased the fair's (contemporary) relevance immensely. This might also be the reason why both, Galerie Esther Schipper and Contemporary Fine Arts, two significant German galleries that are based in Berlin, returned to this year's fair after a long pause.  

While the original model for the fair's two-year-cooperation with the New York’s New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) stopped, Art Cologne introduced a new segment called COLLABORATIONS – a mixing of NADA galleries and patrons, of artists and curators. Each couple could choose independently how to realise the cooperation, in order to highlight the benefits of a collaborative practice. Obviously being able to get a much cheaper spot, most couples shared their space in a relatively conservative manner. A very exciting project was created by the Chicago-based gallery Shane Campell, who showcases a collaborative working process of Paul Cowan and Tony Lewis. Layering their works on top of each other and neatly next to each other, this booth clearly deserves special attention for its outstanding concept. Another successful collaboration takes place between the Cologne-based newcomer gallery Jan Kaps and Bergamo-based gallery Thomas Brambilla, who both share the representation of American artist Grayson Revoir. Covering the head wall of their shared booth, Revoir placed four large, nailed down wooden panels on the wall, revealing a poster saying "Erotic Messe" (Erotic fair).

Besides the COLLABORATIONS, another new feature of this year's Art Cologne is the introduction of FILM COLOGNE – a 9 hour program of selected, prominent and avantgardistic art videos from the past and the present, curated by Alec Crichton, curator of the broadcaster SOUVENIRS FROM EARTH. The exciting part: the program is broadcasted live on cable TV and also accessible via online stream at www.sfe.tv, thus opening the movies to a larger audience. The fair's dedication to the moving image is however not only apparent in the new segment, but also in the raising dominance of video art in several gallery booths. A pleasant development, that is enhanced by the curated video-exhibition "Eden was never so close" of city's media art academy Kunsthochschule für Medien (KHM).

To sum up, Art Cologne – the world's oldest art fair – slowly manages to transform an art fair into an accumulation of many small and high quality exhibitions, while simultaneously remaining a classic fair. Eden or not.

48TH ART COLOGNE

10.-13. April 2014

Day Ticket: 25€ / 20€

Opening Hours: daily 12h-20h / Sunday 12h-18h

Koelnmesse
Messeplatz 1
50679 Cologne
Germany

Paul Czerlitzki at booth Laurent Godin, Paris Berhard Pffaretti at booth Klemms, Berlin Daniel Gustav Cramer and Kris Martin at booth Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf Marcel Dzama at booth Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf Cornelia Baltes at booth DREI, Cologne Claire Fontaine at booth Galerie Neu, Berlin Florian Baudrexel at booth Lullin and Ferrari, Zurich Brock Enright at booth Kate Werble Gallery, NYC Pia Schauenburg at booth Kunsthochschule für Medien, Cologne Reinhard Mucha at booth Sprüth Magers, Berlin, London Sayre Gomez at booth Parisa Kind, Frankfurt am Main Sergej Jensen at booth Galerie Neu, Berlin Susan Hefuna at booth Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris Sylvie Blocher at booth Nosbaum Reding, Luxenburg TAL R at booth Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin Gert und Uwe Tobias at booth Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin Monika Sosnowska at booth Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Berlin Michael Budny at booth Galerie Nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna  Lone Haugaard Madsen at Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne, Bonn Kader Attia at booth Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne, Bonn Keith Allan at booth Jan Japs, Cologne Kaspar Sonne at booth V1, Copenhagen Jonas Maas NEW POSITIONS at booth Figge von Rosen, Cologne, Berlin Ignacio Uriarte at booth Figge von Rosen, Cologne, Berlin Johannes Wohnseifer at booth Johann König, Berlin Booth COLLABORATIONS Nanzuka Japan and Warhus Rittershaus, Cologne Alexander Wolff at booth Natalia Hug Gallery, Cologne Joep van Liefland at booth Galerie Gebr Lehmann, Berlin, Dresden Booth Esther Schipper, Berlin Christoph Westermeier at booth Max Meyer, Düsseldorf Javier Peres in front of Dorothy Iannone painting at booth Peres Projects, Berlin Henrik Olesen at booth Galerie Buchholz, Cologne, Berlin Heidi Pfohl at booth Kunsthochschule für Medien, Cologne Günther Förg at booth Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt Ai Weiwei at booth Alexander Ochs, Berlin, Beijing Carsten Nicolai at booth Eigen and Art, Berlin, Leipzig // all images by artfridge // Courtesy the galleries // © the artists