Art Cologne

Art Cologne is an art fair held annually in Cologne, Germany and was established in 1967 as Kölner Kunstmarkt. It is regarded as the world's oldest art fair of its kind. The fair runs for six days and brings together galleries from more than 20 countries at the Cologne Exhibition Centre, one of the world’s largest exhibition centers.Laurie Rojas (April 16, 2015), Sweet smell of success for reborn Art Cologne The Art Newspaper. It is open to the public and attracts about 60,000 visitors. Art Cologne is well known for its impressive sales, with some of the artworks fetching millions each year.

Background The Art Cologne was the first art fair organized by and for commercial galleries to exhibit and sell Modern and Contemporary art. This kind of art fair distinguished itself from earlier art fairs such as the 57th Street Art Fair in Chicago or the Ann Arbor Art Fairs in Michigan, in which artists themselves marketed their works directly to the public from stands set-up in the streets. The Art Cologne and other international art fairs that followed offer private galleries conditions similar to their own back home: booths in buildings enabling them to present art works of high value.

History The Kölner Kunstmarkt was founded by gallerists Hein Stünke and Rudolph Zwirner in 1967 in an attempt to reinvigorate the weak market for contemporary art. With Bonn as the new capital city of Germany, the Rhineland – an industrial powerhouse at the centre of Europe driving the West German economy and acting as a hub for the entire western European economy – took over as the centre of the West German art world. The first Kölner Kunstmarkt took place in the Gürzenich festival hall in the medieval part of the city; the following year Kunsthalle Köln was added as an additional location. The fair helped to establish Cologne as a new center of contemporary art. A West German dealer and a West German artist set new records at the 1969 edition of Kölner Kunstmarkt: René Block sold a work by Joseph Beuys – known later as Das Rudel – at DM 110,000, making Beuys the first West German artist to beat the one-hundred-thousand-mark mark.

In 1974, Art Cologne moved to its current location, the tradeshow halls at the district of Deutz. On this occasion the name was changed to Internationaler Kunstmarkt (IKM). Between 1976 and 1983, the fair alternated between Cologne and Düsseldorf and began to establish its international credentials.Melanie Gerlis (April 12, 2016), Fifty editions on, can Art Cologne regain top billing? The Art Newspaper. Today's name Art Cologne was adopted in 1984. In 1994, the fair was bought by the event organizer Koelnmesse; exhibitor numbers at the fair swelled to 323 that year.Melanie Gerlis (April 12, 2016), Fifty editions on, can Art Cologne regain top billing? The Art Newspaper.

As the number of art fairs escalated, in the 2000s Art Cologne lost exhibitors and collectors to competing events in London, Basel, Berlin and Miami.Catherine Hickley (April 21, 2008), Art Cologne Sells Picasso, Warhol, Kirchner as Visitors Decline Bloomberg. With the emergence of the Berlin art scene, a bevy of remedies — special events and exhibitions, prizes and promotional gags — were devised to rejuvenate the fair, but they proved of little avail. An unattractive shift of venue within the fairgrounds and a change of dates from autumn to spring only exaggerated the unease of public and professionals alike. In 2007, the fair was moved to April from the fall to avoid coinciding with other events. Still, Art Cologne drew just 60,000 visitors that year, 10,000 fewer than in 2006, and the 2008 edition had only 55,000 visitors.Catherine Hickley (April 21, 2008), Art Cologne Sells Picasso, Warhol, Kirchner as Visitors Decline Bloomberg.

In 2008, Art Cologne abandoned its sister event on the Spanish island of MallorcaDavid Galloway (April 25, 2007), The ART Cologne fair shifts dates and find new competition International Herald Tribune. after just one edition and appointed Los Angeles gallery owner Daniel Hug, grandson of the Hungarian artist László Moholy-Nagy, to be its new director, part of a drive to boost attendance and win back top collectors and dealers.L.A. dealer to head Art Cologne Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2008. For the 2012 edition, Hug invited Nada, the Miami and New York fair for young artists, to join Art Cologne. The tie-up was first called Nada Cologne and has since renamed Collaborations.Melanie Gerlis (April 12, 2016), Fifty editions on, can Art Cologne regain top billing? The Art Newspaper.

In 2015, dealers specializing in Modern and post-war art got their own floor for the first time. The largest, middle floor hosted the fair's contemporary section, featuring international galleries such as David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth, Michael Werner Gallery and Sprüth Magers. The third floor was devoted to New Contemporaries, the young galleries section sponsored by Deutsche Bank, and Collaborations.Laurie Rojas (April 16, 2015), Sweet smell of success for reborn Art Cologne The Art Newspaper. By 2016, Art Cologne and Nada ended the Collaborations segment; instead, Hug rebranded all the fair's contemporary art sections as "Neumarkt", named after an alternative Cologne fair in the 1960s.Melanie Gerlis (October 14, 2016), The Art Market: Cautiously optimistic? Financial Times.

In 2017, Art Cologne entered in discussions with abc art berlin contemporary to establish a new fair called Art Berlin.Stefan Kobel (April 12, 2017), Art Cologne in advanced negotiations with Berlin's abc fair The Art Newspaper. After three editions held at Berlin Tempelhof Airport from 2017 until 2019, Koelnmesse announced that Art Berlin would no longer take place.Catherine Hickley (December 12, 2019), Art Berlin is scrapped due to venue uncertainty and lack of profits The Art Newspaper.

In 2026, Art Cologne revived its Mallorca edition at the Palau de Congressos de Palma, with 88 galleries participating.Carlie Porterfield (8 April 2026), Art Cologne heads to the beach with revived Mallorca edition The Art Newspaper.

Format In 2008, Art Cologne's organizers chose 150 exhibitors of which about two-thirds were German. At the 2012 edition, German galleries made up 65% of the 200 international exhibitors.Anna Sansom (24 April 2012), Bringing back Art Cologne The Art Newspaper. The number of exhibitors has remained almost unchanged ever since, with around 200 galleries from 23 countries taking part in 2015.Laurie Rojas (April 16, 2015), Sweet smell of success for reborn Art Cologne The Art Newspaper. The 2019 edition reduced the number of exhibitors to 176.Anna Sansom (April 12, 2019), Smaller Art Cologne caters to our short attention spans The Art Newspaper.

To meet basic costs of €35,000 for the simplest stand, a gallery owner needs sales of €200,000.David Galloway (November 9, 2002), A leaner and sleeker Art Cologne International Herald Tribune.

ART COLOGNE Prize The ART COLOGNE Prize is endowed with €10,000 and has been jointly awarded every year by the Bundesverband Deutscher Galerien und Kunsthändler (BVDG) (Federal Association of German Galleries and Art Dealers) and the Koelnmesse since 1988.

Past recipients have included the following: 1988 – Ileana Sonnabend 1989 – Harald Szeemann 1990 – Katharina Schmidt 1991 – Hein Stünke 1992 – Denise René 1993 – Annely Juda 1994 – María de Corral 1995 – Rudolf SpringerClaudia Voigt (30 October 1995), Markt Cologne Der Spiegel. 1996 – Peter Littmann 1997 – Dina Vierny 1998 – Gerhard F. Reinz 1999 – Otto van de Loo 2000 – Johannes Cladders 2001 – Ingvild Goetz 2002 – Frieder Burda 2003 – Werner Spies 2004 – Nicholas Serota 2005 – René Block 2006 – Rudolf Zwirner 2007 – Erhard Klein 2008 – Suzanne Pagé 2009 – Harald Falckenberg 2010 – Grässlin Collection 2011 – Michael Werner 2012 – Wide White Space Gallery 2013 – Fred Jahn 2014 – Rosemarie Schwarzwälder and her :de:Galerie nächst St. Stephan 2015 – Hans MayerAndrew Russeth (9 February 2015), Dealer Hans Mayer Wins 2015 Art Cologne Prize ARTnews. 2016 – Raimund Thomas 2017 – Günter Herzog 2018 – Julia Stoschek 2019 – Christian Kaspar Schwarm 2020 – Wilhelm Schürmann 2022 – Monika SprüthMichael Kohler (2 August 2022), Art-Cologne-Preis für Monika Sprüth: Aus der Kölner Altstadt in die Weltspitze Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. 2023 – Walther KönigHelga Meister (5 November 2023), Walther König ist Art Cologne Preisträger: Wie sich zwei König-Kinder die Bälle zuwerfen Der Tagesspiegel. 2024 – Karen and Christian BorosBirgit Rieger (7 August 2024), Sammlerpaar: Karen und Christian Boros werden mit dem Art-Cologne-Preis ausgezeichnet Der Tagesspiegel.

Art Cologne

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