Art Stage Singapore puts region's art in global spotlight
Art Stage Singapore is helping to put the region's artists in the global spotlight, writes Clara Chow
Ask Art Stage Singapore's Lorenzo Rudolf how the contemporary art fair he founded, co-owns and directs has managed to stay in the game, despite competition in the region, and he'll reply with a mischievous answer: who are these rivals that people speak of? "I don't see so many players," he retorts.
One could, of course, reel off names such as the India Art Fair in New Delhi, the Affordable Art Fair in Singapore, SH Contemporary in Shanghai and Art Basel Hong Kong, to name but a few.
We are not a fair that wants to copy a western fair. People need to see the strengths of Asia
Smiling at the mention of Art Basel - Rudolf, a former director, is credited with transforming that modest event into a glitzy Miami Beach-style success - he says: "Competition is the best thing for the business. There are only two places where you can make an international art fair in Asia: Hong Kong and Singapore. It's the best thing that can happen for Asia - the biggest continent in the world and two fairs.
"Count all the fairs in Europe - it's 10 times more. Asia is a continent that's growing, increasing, which means they need platforms like that, a successful top fair in Hong Kong and Singapore, as long as the two fairs are not at the same time and do not have the same concept," the 54-year-old Swiss says, adding he is happy that his old colleagues from Art Basel have ventured to Asia.
"It's not a question of an increase, but a question of what you want," says the fair director. "It is typical of every contemporary art fair to try to balance both sides: not just a fair for billionaires, but also quality works, young art that [is] not expensive. The importance is to have the entire balance."