Art Paris Celebrates its 25th Anniversary under the Banner of Commitment
In a quarter of a century, Art Paris has become one of the most important artistic events of the Parisian spring season. After a 2022 edition focused on the links between art and the environment, the fair is back in full swing and brings together over 134 galleries from 25 different countries. Among those we find, as is customary, big names like Templon, Perrotin, Kamel Mennour or Almine Rech, but also new foreign entrants such as the Ugandan gallery Afriart, the Chilean AMS, the Korean H.A.N Gallery, 313 Art Project or the modern Monegasque gallery Retelet. This year, the fair aims to assert its upscale character and ever-greater international openness by renewing 33% of its participants, while also endeavouring to maintain its strong ties with France – which is cultivated by exhibiting a majority of French artists since 2018.
For this anniversary edition, Art Paris offers an unprecedented programme structured in two parts, each of them addressing a fundamental theme for contemporary art: a first one focused on the ties between art and commitment, under the direction of writer, art critic and curator Marc Donnadieu; and a second one conceived as a reflection on the topic of exile, curated by Amanda Abu Khalil, founder of Temporary Art Platform.
Alongside these two highlights, Art Paris will, as usual, dedicate several spaces like “Promises” to emergent creation, thus highlighting young galleries like Baert Gallery Los Angeles or This Is Not A White Cube from Lisbon. The fair confirms its commitment, both to offer a broad representation of contemporary art, whose strength lies in its diversity, but also to promote proximity, local production and favour local transport solutions, which they do since 2022 by means of an eco-design approach.
On Wednesday 29, all leading figures in the art world attended the opening of this special anniversary edition. Present alongside Art Paris’ CEOs Valentine and Julien Lecêtre, and the general curator Guillaume Piens, were major figures of the cultural and artistic scene such as the minister Rima Abdul-Malak, gallery owners Kamel Mennour, Daniel Templon, Emmanuel Perrotin and Nathalie Obadia, but also artists and curators like Chris Dercon, Laurent Grasso and Yvon Lambert.
Text: Emma Grossi
Photos: Jean Picon
