Running parallel to the Artfair in Vienna in 2007, ARTmART demonstrated that under the right conditions it is possible to create an attractive market for contemporary art, aimed at those who have not yet started to buy or collect art.

ARTmART, an “exhibition with the characteristics of a fair” is a display of the potential of the young art scene and, at the same time a quite unusual artist-organized market.  ARTmART reacts to and furthers the current rise in new types of buyers and people interested in art. Young artists, being frequently exhibiting while at the same time underrepresented on the international art market, face an economic gap. ARTmART kicks in with an attractive way of creating an exceptional market-situation. For a whole week each individual art piece is available for the same price of 80 Euros.

ARTmART is the art of seduction. The strategic staging of the ARTmART Exhibition – from its flirtation with the allurement of the spectacle to its substantial integration of established artists – hosted in a central location in Vienna creates a social meeting point for artist and public. Here artists, collectors, and the art-interested can readily talk about art. Aside from “fast cash” for artists the more substantial result is the sustained interest for art which ARTmART creates.

Without reducing connectivity to the established art market, ARTmART makes it possible for young artists with a “yet undeveloped” income to generate cash flow from their pieces through direct sales– for some artists, for the first time and often coupled with such a high volume.  Established artists use ARTmART as a testing ground for new series or concepts, and to create with newcomers a self-confident, temporary communication platform.

more info

www.artmart.at (official ARTmART website)
www.esel.at (Photo gallery and article by eSeL)
www.flickr.at (ARTmart on Flickr)