We had a conversation with director Kamiar Maleki, who is now in charge of VOLTA and PULSE art fairs. Kooness wants to underline how important is for the art market to be driven by a patron of the art system and a collector. Maleki represents, in fact, different sides and approaches towards the contemporary art system: he could be on the side of the galleries and on the one of artists. In this short interview, the director explains us about the importance of the historical VOLTA fair, and about its developments during these years and how “Running an art fair right now is more than just about the showcase: it’s about cultural tourism”.
Voice to Kamiar Maleki and his “cultural tourism”: a patron of the art system now in charge of VOLTA and PULSE.
Dear Kamiar, you are worldwide known as a collector and patron and, also thanks to your experience with Contemporary Istanbul in 2016/2018, a right director for an art fair. Last November you were in fact called for the role of director for both VOLTA and PULSE art fairs. What are the challenges for this new turn of events?
Thank you very much for your kind words. Indeed this is an exciting new challenge for me and Ramsay Fairs who have acquired the fair in October. For us, we always wanted to be a boutique art fair in the heart of NYC. VOLTA has a rich history of attracting some of the best young galleries and showcasing mid-career artists that have great talent but might not have the opportunity to show at the bigger fairs. Over the last few years this might have dwindled down but we are extremely ambitious to position ourselves as one of the best satellite fairs around. With over 360 art fairs in the world, our challenge remains the same, to create an amazing showcase so that galleries and artists can sell art at the highest possible opportunity. Through careful curation and with a slick selection committee which we are still developing this will be made easier.
Do you think the art system needs more art fairs to spread the work of artists and galleries?
As long as the fair does what it sets out to do, I don’t see why there should be a sudden cull of art fairs. Running an art fair right now is more than just about the showcase. It is about cultural tourism. People have less and less time to visit galleries in their own hometowns but prefer to visit an art fair in a city they love, or in their own city where they can see all the galleries in one space. Again: as long as the quality is upheld there will be more art fairs popping up. We believe that in our vision.
