How do gallerists navigate a challenging art market? At the Talking Galleries Symposium in Barcelona, veterans like Massimo De Carlo and mid-sized dealers shared insights and business strategies.
Create Cultural Depth with Non-Commercial Art Spaces
Rather than franchising around the world, mid-sized galleries opt for non-commercial spaces to strengthen trust with collectors. For example, Miguel Ángel Sánchez of ADN Galeria has opened a small speakeasy space in Paris hosting intimate events, which, as he observed, also led to more sales. “Two or three times a year, we gather 35 to 40 people just to thank them. Of course, there is always a protagonist: one or two artists, a performance, a presentation, or a book launch. But it’s done in a very cozy, speakeasy-style, without bothering anyone,” he explained.
Paris-based gallerist Jocelyn Wolff, who works with many sculptors, opened an off-site sculpture park in Normandy, where artists can experiment with large-scale pieces and work on commissions outside of the traditional gallery setting.
Additionally, he also inaugurated a new gallery space in Seoul together with German gallery Meyer Riegger. This allows him to share operational costs and expand into new markets without carrying all the risk on his own. “I think it's important at the moment to be in more than one city because of the political instability in France,” he explained.
Berlin-based Jennifer Chert of ChertLüdde gallery created the space Bungalow, inviting emerging artists to exhibit their work. Since 2019, they host 4 to 5 experimental exhibitions each year helping new talent to gain visibility and expand on artists’ ongoing research projects.
Invest in Cultural Capital
ChertLüdde also cares for the Mail Art Archive, a massive collection of historical East German art and correspondence. Jennifer Chert said that uncommercial projects like these are not only culturally fulfilling but vital to grant the gallery more depth, soul, and institutional trust than commercial inventory alone ever could. “It's a collection of mail art that Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and Robert Rehfeldt received in former East Germany where they were based over 25 years. And it features hundreds of artists from all over the world. It's classic mail art that we digitize and archive, but also really render it available for consultation and loans requested by institutions and scholars.”