Kobel's Art Weekly

Kobel's Art Weekly 34 2025

The fair calendar kicks off with Art SG in Singapore, which some observers consider to be the marketplace of the future. Overall, however, the outlook does not seem so rosy, as the second part of the season review suggests.

In the run-up to the third edition of the Art SG fair, Lisa Movius portrays the Singapore location in The Art Newspaper: ‘While Singapore's art punches up for its size, with a population of 6 million, its market is also fuelled by its regional positioning. It particularly draws from the rest of Nusantara, also comprising Indonesia and Malaysia, which have vibrant artist and collector scenes but fewer institutions. The wider region of Southeast Asia looks to Singapore as its most developed centre, and the city-state also enjoys strong ties with East Asia and the West—particularly Australia.’

Christiane Meixner is delighted with Brafa's 70 years in the Tagesspiegel: ‘Financial resources have never been an issue at Brafa. Its audience is interested, knowledgeable and willing to invest large sums. There is no other explanation for the long history of the Brafa or its renowned exhibitors. [...] And yet the current distribution of art dealers in the halls of Expo Brussels is confusing: the traditional dealers such as Heutnik Ikonen, J. Baptista from Lisbon with his historical silver or Lowet de Wotrenge (Antwerp) with a classic genre painting of Venus and Cupid from 1670 are located in the last aisle of the second exhibition hall.’

Ursula Scheer presents the premiere of the new House of Galleries format in Frankfurt in a preview in the FAZ: ‘The 43rd and 44th floors of the crisis-stricken Trianon high-rise, which until recently served as the headquarters of the Deka-Bank, will be transformed into the ‘House of Galleries’ for 28 art dealers from 24 to 26 January. Each participating local gallery was able to invite a partner gallery from a different city.’

Matthias Sander's otherwise critical report on the Art Genève fair for the NZZ is a little too concerned with being witty: ‘Some would rather be would rather be somewhere else. Local artists are delighted to have Art Genève as a big stage. And thirdly, a few well-known galleries are absent, which raises the question of what makes Art Genève what it is, its raison d'être, its identity? There is a wide range of galleries on offer, but this also means a certain arbitrariness. Around eighty galleries are present, many from Geneva, some from French-speaking Switzerland and Zurich, others from Paris and London, and a few from outside Europe are also taking part. There is a lot of painting, a few sculptures, a little photography, and a lot of design, or more precisely: ‘wearable art’ – namely colourful belts.’ Lisa-Marie Berndt selects the six best stands at the fair for Monopol. I didn't notice many belts when I visited the trade fair for the Handelsblatt and the Tagesspiegel.

Maximilíano Durón from Artnews is full of praise for 1-54 in Marrakech: ‘The fair, which is spread across two venues, opened on a rainy Thursday morning. From its opening minutes, the intimate hall of the five-star La Mamounia hotel, which is host to 22 of the fair's 30 booths, was packed, with the aisles crammed with collectors, curators, critics, and more. [...] The fair attracts an international audience, with a significant amount of visitors hailing from Francophone countries, given Morocco's prior colonisation by France and given that French is widely spoken here.’

At the Zona Maco in Mexico Cityin early February, Harrison Jacobs of Artnews noted fewer international visitors, but strong local interest: ‘For the smaller and midsize galleries, sales seemed more sporadic, though multiple dealers told ARTnews they remained optimistic due to the level of foot traffic and the apparent interest from collectors, both local and international.’

The India Art Fair in New Delhi is benefiting from the strengthening of the Indian market, observes Anindo Sen at Artnews: ‘’For emerging or mid-career artists, buyers still have more leverage because the market remains in a phase of growth and exploration,' said Ameya Dias, an art adviser to some of India's most prominent collectors. ‘Prices have been steadily going up for successful artists due to growing interest not just within India but from international museums as well.’ Another recent development is that many of these collectors are also looking to expand their holdings to include international art, likely a major reason that Zwirner and Lisson have returned to India. Their presence, she said, ‘is enabling easier access and acting as a catalyst.’’

Regine Müller is impressed by the relaunch of Art Karlsruhe, as reported in the Handelsblatt: ‘The last Art Karlsruhe attracted 50,000 visitors. This year, three days before the opening, there were already twice as many registrations as last year. The concept seems to be working.’ Christiane Meixner, writing for the Tagesspiegel (possible paywall), takes a more critical view of the offerings: ‘Even though the new dual leadership of Olga Blaß and Kristian Jarmuschek has tidied up the fair, which has existed since 2004, and given it a more visually calm look, in some places there is still a colourful, distractingly decorative offering. In particular, there is a lot of noise building up in Hall 4. It is quite difficult to discover the pearls in between. But they do exist.’ Brita Sachs's verdict in the FAZ is also mixed.

The fire disaster does not appear to have harmed the success of Frieze LA, rather the opposite, as the report by David Cassady and Maximilíano Durón for Artnews suggests: ‘In 1897, amid rumours that Mark Twain was seriously ill, the famed author told a reporter, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” That statement might as well have described Thursday at Frieze Los Angeles. By the end of VIP Day, the fair had sent out a 1,500-word email reporting ‘strong sales’, an ‘energetic opening day’ and a long list of sold-out booths and major sales.’ The picture painted by Carlie Porterfield from California for The Art Newspaper is not quite so rosy.

Paul Ingendaay sees Arco in Madrid in early March as being well positioned in his fair report for the FAZ. However, VAT is also an issue here: ‘The dispute over Spanish VAT on the purchase of works of art remains unresolved. López complains that the 21 per cent in Spain – compared to seven per cent in Germany and 5.5 per cent in France – creates unequal competition among gallery owners. In protest, the Spanish galleries switched off the lights for a few minutes on Wednesday. The director believes that the government should accommodate the domestic art trade by reducing the rate to ten or even four per cent. I was in Madrid for Handelsblatt and Artmagazine.

Ursula Scheer describes in the FAZ (Paywall): ‘The aim of the new managing director Dominique Savelkoul is to maintain and expand the position that has been established over decades. As the first Belgian to hold the position, which has seen a lot of change in recent times, she comes from the Mu.ZEE in Ostend and has a few cautious innovations in mind, such as a digital signpost for young collectors. It leads to works for less than 20,000 euros. On the dealer side, the generational change is also underway’. Scott Reyburn of the New York Times assesses the current edition of the Maastricht fair.

Christiane Meixner from the Tagesspiegel newspaper sees room for improvement at the Spark Art Fair in Vienna: ‘Not everything is consistently at this level and some absences of important galleries from Austria are due to the parallel event Stage in Bregenz. [...] The new team at Spark since last year, Walter Seidl and Jan Gustav Fiedler, have made the cut, but can still sharpen the programme in a few corners. In the Vienna-Bregenz remote duel, Patricia Grzonka at Monopol sees the Spark in the lead: ‘Many of the major Viennese galleries are taking part again this year – including Lombardi-Kargl, Hilger, Krobath and the Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder. Some of the mid-range galleries are missing, however, not least because they are represented at the concurrent Stage Bregenz. Ultimately, the competition speaks for Vienna as a centre for art – a city where the range of high-profile institutional exhibitions is already of above-average density.’ Nicole Scheyerer reports for the FAZ. I was in Vienna for the Handelsblatt and Artmagazine.

At the same time, Stage Bregenz is trying a different approach at the Festspielhaus there, as Justine Konradt observes for Monopol.

If you know how to decode the language of the art market, you will notice that the usually rosy fair reports in the relevant media are unusually restrained when it comes to this year's Art Basel Hong Kong. Harrison Jacobs observes for Artnews: ‘At the blue-chip and mega-galleries, sales were swift, with many works pre-sold or already on hold by the time the figurative starting bell rang at 12 pm. But, in conversations with dealers at around a dozen small- and medium-size galleries, most relayed that they had sold only a few middle-tier or lower-priced works by the end of the day. ‘This is not a first-day fair,’ a sales director of a US-based gallery told me, before asking if I might wait to write the sales report until later in the fair, which runs until Sunday.’ Vivienne Chow and Cathy Fan manage to squeeze a critical sentence into the middle of the text at Artnet (possibly paywalled): ‘A number of galleries from Asia and the West said that they were happy with the first day of the fair, though some said that sales were moving slowly. Most dealers played safe with their choice of works.

The two concurrent fairs Salon du Dessin and Drawing Now in Paris are a successful duo, according to Bettina Wohlfarth of the FAZ: ‘Initially, each show had its own audience. Now, a growing audience of interested parties, private and institutional collectors, are taking an interest in the drawings at both fairs. And because art begins with drawing, they have become a school of seeing. While at Drawing Now you can buy works by young artists for as little as three or four hundred euros, at the Salon du Dessin prices start at several thousands.’

J. Emil Sennewald emphasises the regional focus of Art Paris in early April in the Handelsblatt: ‘This time, the fair is going for a “French touch”: More than half of the 60 newcomers among the 170 exhibitors from 25 countries come from France. ‘Regional and cosmopolitan at the same time’, says Art Paris director Guillaume Piens, ‘geared towards discovery’. Above all, the event inspires confidence: with a consistently high standard, few speculative objects and affordable entry-level goods for new collectors.’

SP Arte in Sao Paolo also draws its strength from the region, reports Mercedes Ezquiaga at Artsy: ‘As the fair has grown more local, its audience is becoming increasingly international. ‘We have a record number of international visitors this year,’ noted Feitosa. “More than 80 collectors, curators, and advisors from countries like Japan, Australia, Germany, Poland, South Korea, and the United States have come.”’

Miart in Milan is characterised by a recovery in the Italian art market, writes Julia Stellmann in the FAZ: ‘After being outdone by its Italian competitors – Artissima in Turin and Arte Fiera in Bologna – the fair is clearly back on its feet again. After the low point of 2012, when only 92 galleries participated, the number of exhibitors under the direction of Nicola Ricciardi has risen again to 179 from 31 countries. This may come as a surprise in view of the looming global recession and the protests in Italy against the still-high VAT rate of 22 per cent on art. Moreover, as foreign gallerists report, the Italian market is said to be difficult to break into anyway.’ However, anyone who has ever visited the Arte Fiera in Bologna would find it hard to imagine that the Miart has ever been superior to it in any way over the last two decades, except in terms of the number of exhibitors.

Basel, we have a problem. The Art Basel UBS Art Market Report 2025, among other things, for the market leader, summarises Sigmund Skalar at Finanzen und Wirtschaft FuW: ‘Art fairs like Art Basel no longer have the importance as a sales channel for high-priced art that they once had. While in 2019 more than 40% of art purchases were made through art fairs, in the last two years it was less than a third. Art fairs have lost relative importance. ‘This is of course a problem’, [Art Basel CEO Noah] Horowitz also admitted. [...] For Art Basel, the consequence is that it should invest more in marketing and that gallery stands at the fairs themselves may become smaller and thus cheaper.’ But investors won't like hearing that. Especially since the Frieze is currently for sale at a really exorbitant price, as one hears. The results of the report were largely to be expected, states Ursula Scheer in the FAZ.

Silke Hohmann recommends seven stands to see at Art Düsseldorf in Monopol. Julia Stellmann assesses the fair for the FAZ: ‘With 108 galleries, 34 of which are from the Rhineland, Art Düsseldorf has once again successfully positioned itself as a regional fair, even though some Düsseldorf galleries no longer participate. This may be due to scheduling conflicts, as the fair's director Walter Gehlen says. Perhaps it is also due to increased prices for exhibitors or a less international audience. Above all, Art Düsseldorf attracts collectors from the region and from Frankfurt.’ Christiane Meixner sees the event as on the up for the Tagesspiegel.

Art Dubai embodies the tectonic shifts in the art market, believes Daniel Cassady of Artnews: ‘Beneath Art Dubai's flash lies a confident maturity. It isn't Art Basel, nor is it trying to be. This year's fair had around 120 exhibitors from over 60 cities, with a clear emphasis on regions not often featured extensively in European or American events of its kind. There are, of course, many artists and galleries from the Middle East and the Gulf, but the fair also featured numerous galleries from countries such as India, Iran, Morocco, China and Singapore, to name a few. ‘In the last 20 years, what was perceived to be the periphery has become the centre—and that means the city of Dubai itself, and the fair along with it,’ Antonia Carver, director of Dubai's well-regarded Jameel Arts Centre, told ARTnews. Carver was director of the fair from 2010 to 2016. Anyone who thinks art in Dubai is just about artwashing and cultural branding is missing the point, believes Lisa-Marie Berndt at Monopol.

For Alexandra Wach at Monopol, Art Brussels is a resonance chamber for the global situation: ‘Even though similarly strong positions on current political turmoil are few and far between at Art Brussels, which is traditionally playful but this time noticeably subdued, with 165 participating galleries from 35 countries, a latent unease can also be felt at the stands of other sections.’ Julia Stellmann found a whopping 66 first-time exhibitors at the fair for the FAZ. I was there for Handelsblatt and Artmagazine and Tagesspiegel in Brussels.

Maximíliano Durón gives Expo Chicago the thumbs down in Artnews:

Rahel Aima in The Art Newspaper finds something to like in Art Weeky Riyadh as a hybrid form with institutionally selected gallery goods: ‘For dealers, there was less freedom than found at a usual fair: curators selected artists from each gallery roster to correspond to the exhibition's themes. There were far fewer risks too: dealers didn't pay for space, production or shipping, only their flights and hotels if they wanted to attend; most did. Why wouldn't they?“

Of the ‘strong sales’ promised in the headline, little remains in the fair report by Daniel Cassady and Karen K. Ho of Frieze New York in early May for Artnews, apart from the usual reports of deals made by the major galleries: "But there's more in the air than just talk about the market. The aisles buzzed with conversations about the financial and political state of the world. “This week will set the tone for how the global market will behave in the coming months,” London-based adviser Arianne Piper told ARTnews. “The unfortunate truth is that the political situation has disrupted that. It's not so much the current economic situation but the fear of the economic consequences of that situation.” That said, Piper added that the people who made it out to the Frieze on Wednesday are buying. “It's not about the money. It's about the bandwidth.”"

Angelica Villa describes the mood and sales at Tefaf New York as subdued at Artnews: "[Fair director Will] Korner cautioned, however, that the downturn wasn't being felt at every level of the art market. ‘We wouldn't recognise that contraction as something that goes to all of the categories,’ Korner added. He conceded that things were different this time. There were fewer objects at the fair priced higher than $10 million, he said, and sales were occurring as quickly. ‘Some people aren't travelling as much as they were two months ago,’ he said. [...] [Thaddeus] Ropac said that at Tefaf, sales happened more swiftly than the gallery initially expected, reporting that the fair has the advantage of collectors being already experienced. During other moments of the fair week, closing sales was happening more slowly, but he was remaining patient, in keeping with the pace of the moment. ‘People are taking their time.’

Art Basel is launching a new fair in Qatar, it announced in a press release. In an interview with SRF, Monopol editor-in-chief Elke Buhr explains why she believes the expansion is necessary: "It's about maintaining and stabilising the overall business. Art Basel is an international company that competes with other art fairs – for example, the Frieze Art Fair in London. This fair has also continued to expand. If Art Basel wants to maintain its position as the world's most important contemporary art fair, it must therefore consider expanding." Scott Reyburn offers his assessment in the New York Times: "The government's efforts to increase its international relevance are partly motivated by Qatar's vulnerabilities, experts say. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar, which they accused of supporting terrorism and meddling in their internal affairs. Qatar denied the accusations but was effectively isolated in the region until relations were gradually repaired, beginning in 2021."

At Arco Lisboa, discussions seemed to revolve mainly around value added tax, according to Christof Habres at Parnass: "In an “absolutely destructive move” (Ilan Karpio, sales director at the Pedro Cera gallery), the Portuguese government has increased the tax rate on works of art to 23 per cent. This is a move that could well nip in the bud the delicate but steadily growing trend of relevant art purchases and the sustainable development of private collections. On the other hand, wealthy migrants and companies will enjoy preferential (tax) treatment for at least ten years.“

Art Basel in Basel reported 88,000 visitors for this difficult year, 3,000 fewer than in 2024. It was not only Americans who skipped the most important event in the art fair calendar.

Almost everything was as usual at Art Basel, reports Ursula Scheer in the FAZ on 21 June: "Even though the world's leading company also has events in Hong Kong, Miami Beach, Paris and soon in Qatar, the fair on the Upper Rhine is still the flagship with the highest density of internationally renowned galleries and the best, most expensive works of art: a feast for art lovers and a must-attend event for museum directors, curators, art consultants and ambitious collectors, especially those travelling from Europe, America and Asia – including, this time, celebrities such as actor James Franco. […] Nevertheless, there is no sign of a generally subdued mood. One can get used to ongoing political and economic uncertainty; the show must go on, and there is still enough money around. Scott Reyburn of the New York Times (subscription) did not come away with such a positive impression of the latest edition of the fair: ‘For some visitors, however, this year's edition was noticeably short on innovation, risk and shock value.“