The Nomadic Art Gallery is a unique concept in the art world, offering an innovative approach to exhibiting and promoting contemporary art. Founded by Arthur Buerms and long-time partner Gie in 2020, the gallery brings a breath of fresh air to the global art scene, showcasing New Zealand art throughout Europe.
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The Nomadic Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery and public art and research project founded in 2020 by Arthur Buerms and his partner Gie. The gallery, which is based in Leuven, Belgium, operates through a cyclical model that involves two alternating phases. The first phase involves the immersion of the duo in an underrepresented art scene, during which they invest in a mobile vehicle to conduct research in the given location, the latter ultimately becoming a public art project. The second phase takes place in a transitional gallery space in Europe, where the duo initiates a dialogue between their research and the European contemporary art scene, through a program of both physical and online exhibitions.
In 2020, Buerms and Gie created The Nomadic Art Gallery, an art gallery on wheels that hosted 16 exhibitions throughout Aotearoa, New Zealand, during the year of the worldwide pandemic. The truck served as a medium to forge networks and shared opportunities within the creative industry. While the inside served as a gallery space for unconventional pop-up exhibitions and public performances, the outside of the truck featured the work of 106 artists who added their visual mark to an unusual canvas. The truck is now a public artwork for Connells Bay Sculpture Park on Waiheke Island.
The Nomadic Art Gallery Truck, Courtesy of The Nomadic Art Gallery
Throughout their travels in New Zealand, Buerms and Gie met with more than 200 artists, most of whom expressed their desire to show their work in Europe. This led the duo to become a bridge between New Zealand and Europe, expanding their knowledge of contemporary art and ultimately bringing people in Europe closer to New Zealand.
The Nomadic Art Gallery opened in December 2021 in Ghent, Belgium, and has shown notable Aotearoa artists ranging from Marcus Hipa and Kim Pieters to Oliver Cain and Chloe Marsters. Despite growing interest in what they do, the way forward is not without obstacles and comes at an increasing cost. The gallery covers all shipping and framing costs, meaning that a large chunk of their sales go towards the continuation of sending and importing works into EU territory.
To address the operational struggles, The Nomadic Art Gallery is finding partnerships to diminish freight costs for New Zealand artists, publish their first book, and start exploring other art scenes. Such public projects open the door for new gallery models to emerge, allowing reflection on different kinds of authorship and new means and sites for artistic production and promotion. Ideally, from 2024 onwards, the duo aims to establish a Nomadic Art Residency Space in Europe, which would be a fertile ground for visiting artists, including from New Zealand.
The Nomadic Art Gallery creates bridges between continents and serves as a platform for New Zealand artists to share their poorly known discourses that feed their creation, reclaiming their voice and identity in the global art scene. The gallery's on-site exhibitions initiate a dialogue between New Zealand artists and their European counterparts, while the online platform expands on the all-encompassing nature of the digital world by focusing solely on the New Zealand art scene and its ability to reach and connect with a broader international audience.
Cover image: The Nomadic Art Gallery Space, Courtesy of The Nomadic Art Gallery
Written by Naz Akgun
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