Worlds first VIP Art Fair to hit Internet this month

By Ines Min

Ever wanted to attend Madrid’s ARCO, the hip Frieze Art Fair in London or Art Basel Miami Beach? If travel fare and schedule were factored out, the world’s art market could be at the fingertips of every art connoisseur and amateur — and now it is.

The world’s first online art fair opens for one week, everywhere and to everyone from Jan. 22 to 30. The VIP Art Fair brings together 139 blue chip galleries from 30 countries, catapulting the industry into the future using the Internet’s best trait: common accessibility.

Top American, European and Asian galleries have participated in the founding of the VIP fair, such as David Zwirner, White Cube, Gagosian Gallery, Xavier Hufkens and Seoul’s Gallery Hyundai, meaning that a wide range of works from both established names and emerging artists will be available at the click of a mouse.

The brainchild of couples James and Jane Cohan, and Allessandra and Jonas Almgren, the inaugural online event takes all the advantages of a bricks-and-mortar fair (physicality replaced with hi-def, zoom-in features) without all the pains (ease of surfing from online, in one’s pajamas). Another benefit is the lowered costs of the Internet, as each gallery can participate at a fifth of the cost of a regular fair. The largest available booth at VIP is priced at $20,000.

Entering the online fair is similar to the real-life equivalent. Visitors start in the atrium, where maps of the exhibition halls display each gallery booth. Entering the virtual cubes is as simple as clicking on the name. For those who aren’t sure where to start, “tours” will take a visitor along a specific route of galleries, or self-made tours can be shared with others via email or Facebook.

Though VIP stands for “Viewing in Private,” a small element of exclusivity lends toward the authenticity of the high end event. Galleries were asked to join on an invitation-only basis and, while everyone is allowed to browse the artwork, only those who purchase a ticket can interact with dealers.

This interaction is the highlight of the event. Taking place in real time, collectors have a chance to communicate with galleries via chat, messaging, Skype or even telephone. While buyers and sellers can be in locales as disparate as Tokyo to New York, booths will be actively staffed and dealers available for 12 to 18 hours a day. And for those with international branches, 24-hour availability is probable.

From there, dealers can invite collectors into a private “back room,” where other works not on display can be viewed at the discretion of the dealer and client.

“Just like in a normal art fair, we will have invited the people we want to attend. That doesn’t mean they will just buy from the gallery that invited them,” James Cohan told ARTINFO in an interview.

“What’s interesting to me is that, long term, people buy from a person, not from a place. That’s why we want to have that interactivity with a specific person. When it gets down to it, you are dealing with a human being and having that interaction is important.”

The fair is organized into three sections: VIP Premiere comprises 91 galleries presenting 15 to 20 works each; VIP Focus offers 24 galleries presenting eight works by a single artist; VIP Emerging brings 24 galleries showing 10 works by emerging artists created in the last two years.

On display will be works by Jackson Pollack, Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst, Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois and Thukral & Tagra, among others.

A special VIP Lounge (open to ticket-holders) will also allow a discussion space between fellow fair-goers, who can post their specialized tours for others to explore, see the top 10 most-viewed works of the event or catch up on the latest art news. A special series of videos by Art21 takes audience members on studio visits with 18 of the world’s best-known names.

Other Korean galleries participating in the art fair include PKM Gallery and One and J. Gallery.

Tickets cost $100 on either Jan. 22 or 23, but are only $20 for the remainder of the fair.

For more information, visit www.vipartfair.com.