For its 20th edition, the famous art fair developed a massive program to show people how the focus on vivid contemporary art galleries stays important.
Discover all about the fair SCOPE Art Show NY!
It is known that Art Basel in Switzerland launchpad is Liste. That, once a gallery participated for a few years, then it could maybe reach the podium of the big fair. And it is also known how SCOPE is the other big one, concentrated on new visual trends, international galleries and with a global vision towards contemporary art. At SCOPE the audience can find various galleries for different tastes. “Groundbreaking” contemporary art pieces. It is an interesting fair both for buyers, that for art critics because they can develop some research and studies. That is why, during its development as a fair in New York, Miami and Basel (here from 2008), SCOPE can count cumulative sales over billion dollars and attendance of more than 1.2 million visitors. Not bad for a fair that was born 20 years ago and that changed locations and point of views during its path.
From the left to right: SCOPE NY, Sushi by Mateusz von Motz; SCOPE NY, SNY18_SNY17_FrontEntrance
Our chief curator told us how different SCOPE was at its very beginning in Europe, in Basel in 2008. It was still an experimental platform: the venue was different. It was in fact located near the Rhine river and everything was exciting and new and the “working in progress” mood was tangible. There were already galleries from all over the world – USA, Europe, China – at SCOPE: the energy, that the fair is still maintaining after 20 years and after different changes of location (in this 2020 in Basel it is going to be near Messe Platz again), is always vivid. The art market has changed, in the old days, when the art sales were not as aggressive as today, collectors would wait until the fair was closing before sauntering in to strike good business. Today, by noon of the opening day, there may be nothing left to buy. A positive thing for art fairs, sure.
And a good moment to “make the point”. SCOPE became a focal meeting for art lovers and buyers. In March 2020, in New York, the venue moved again and returned to its Chelsea location at Metropolitan Pavilion and it will show 60 international galleries. SCOPE was the first art fair which developed its program – especially its well-known VIP one – to run concurrent with the historical Armory Show, showing its experimental and fresh view on contemporary art.