Hauser & Wirth to Host June Art Fair this August
The event, which began as an Art Basel satellite, brings together 17 far-flung galleries.
Eva LeWitt, Untitled Mesh (A-J) (2019). Installation. Exhibition view, the Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA. Courtesy the artist and VI, VII gallery, Oslo.
The second edition of June Art Fair is not taking place in June this year. Nor is it returning to the concrete bunker in Swizerland where the inaugural edition took place alongside Art Basel, Basel, which was cancelled this year.
Instead, the fair will take place from 20-31 August on a website hosted by mega gallery Hauser & Wirth.
Despite the new dates, 'we never considered changing the name,' said Esperanza Rosales, who co-founded the fair with Christian Andersen. 'We do hope to return to having a physical fair format in Basel again, when it is safe for everyone to gather.'
While Rosales, the founder of VI, VII gallery in Oslo, and Andersen, who established his eponymous gallery in Copenhagen, are both from northern Europe, participating galleries come from as far as Dubai, Tokyo, and San Juan. Absent it's physical location, Rosales said the smaller size of the fair was one of the things that made it unique.
'With only 17 presentations visitors have time to engage with each project,' she said.
Hauser & Wirth's support for the event echoes similar efforts by David Zwirner to assist small galleries through its Platform program.
'By hosting the fair on our digital platform we aim to increase the exposure and audience for the participating galleries,' said Neil Wenman, Partner, Hauser & Wirth.
'The pandemic only quickened the pace of very necessary conversations that were taking place around the possibilities of collaboration,' Rosales added. 'This is a moment in which experiments are taking place and it makes sense to test collaborations of this kind.'
The full list of galleries taking part in June Art Fair is below. —[O]
June Art Fair 2020 Galleries
AIKE, Shanghai
The Breeder, Athens
Christian Andersen, Copenhagen
Croy Nielsen, Vienna
Document, Chicago
Embajada, San Juan
Empty Gallery, Hong Kong
François Ghebaly, Los Angeles
Green Art Gallery, Dubai
The Green Gallery, Milwaukee
Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna
Lulu, Mexico City
Misako & Rosen, Tokyo
Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt
Stigter van Doesburg, Amsterdam
VI, VII, Oslo, and
XYZ collective, Tokyo
