We are told that we live in an “experience economy”, where stimulation and entertainment are constant cravings. In a world where people are ever more aesthetically aware, art fairs have become theatre. Each stand must be a stage set, a spectacle showing the best art it can muster, with organisers quick to crack the whip in the form of stinging letters to exhibitors whose acts do not make the grade.
The European Fine Art Fair (Tefaf) in Maastricht, the grand dame of art fairs, is no exception. Stand designs are more ambitious by the year, fuelled by peer pressure and the need to appeal to new audiences amid so much competition. “The market has changed; we cannot rest on our laurels,” says Amelia Higgins of Johnny Van Haeften, a London-based dealer specialising in Dutch and Flemish Old Masters.
Although contemporary art galleries are modish by default, many dealers in Old Masters and antiques are acutely aware of the need to be perceived as modern and forward-looking if they are to engage the next generation of collectors in a difficult market. For at least two decades, contemporary art has dominated the market, and the feverish media coverage devoted to it has skewed perceptions. Dealers in historic paintings and antiques are showing their wares to an unaccustomed, if not uninterested, public, so their role is, more and more, to educate and enthuse.
Strong reactions One way to do this is through the trendy juxtaposition of old and new, a tactic used by the London-based dealer Agnew’s at Tefaf in 2015, when it showed videos by Bill Viola alongside a painting by Edward Burne-Jones and various Old Masters. The display provoked reactions ranging from the enthusiastic to the appalled.
Whether this form of marketing is effective or not, it can lead to the perception that Old Masters require their contemporary descendants to be on hand to lend fashionable credibility. “Many galleries that come to me are slightly panicky about how to appeal to a younger, wealthy audience, and place a lot of pressure on their stand design to achieve this,” says Kim Field, the director of London firm 4D Projects, which has designed some of the stands at Tefaf. The drive to boost sales is the main reason for employing firms such as 4D Projects and Tom Postma, the Amsterdam-based designer who also creates stands for individual exhibitors, such as Hamiltons, Otto Naumann and Hemmerle.
Social media—principally image-led Instagram—may take on greater importance in directing traffic through Tefaf’s 269 stands. On opening day, images are feverishly posted online, but is this little more than white noise? Harry van der Hoorn, who owns the design firm Stabilo International, is sceptical about the value of social media. “It might play a more prominent role in the future, but I think it is not very important for now, because it seems to be flooded with so much information without focus,” he says.
Van der Hoorn has noticed screens, projectors and ambient sounds on stands, but despite this willingness to experiment with technology, “there does not appear to be a clear indication of what will be adopted as mainstream in the future”, he says.
Technology could be used better, Field says. “Dealers always say they want a museum-quality display, but actually, they already present works to a higher standard. What museums do better is to communicate with and engage the viewer.” His museum clients often use directional speakers alongside interactive screens, a piece of kit that commercial galleries are beginning to take up. For example, at the Masterpiece London fair in 2015, the dealer Philip Mould swapped a traditional magnifying glass for an iPad so that visitors could zoom in on a 16th- century miniature by Hilliard.
Before going on a technology panic- buying spree, Field advises clients to spend £2,000 on redesigning their stand layout. His firm charges up to £50,000 a project but advises against spending more. “I don’t think you can see a financial return above that level,” he says.
At last year’s edition of Frieze Masters, Johnny Van Haeften displayed A Wedding Procession by the 16th-century artist Marten van Cleve the Elder, with sets of headphones playing a specially commissioned soundtrack. The intention, Higgins says, was to encourage viewers to look for longer and become immersed. “We wanted people to really get transported into the painting,” she says. Although the work did not sell, Higgins says that the overall response was “great”, with everyone “from kids to collectors to rock stars” (Mick Jagger, to be precise) getting in on the experience. The installation will travel to Tefaf. Also at the fair, London’s Stair Sainty Gallery will be showing a 19th-century painting of La Wally by Virgilio Ripari accompanied by music from the opera.
Some people argue that too much technology discourages one of the key benefits of participating in art fairs in the internet age: human interaction. One refusenik is Tom Davies, a director of the “refreshingly tech-free” Daniel Katz Gallery. “We are not a museum and still favour actual human explanation and interaction over technology,” he says. Presentation is, he agrees, “deeply important”. The gallery eschews computer software such as AutoCad to plan its stand. Instead, it uses 1:20 models, moving objects around by hand.
Postma says the greatest technological developments of recent years revolve around illumination: remote-controlled lighting, improved LED technology and fine-tuned colour temperature (too warm injects colour into works, too cold creates a stark, uninviting stand). “Stand design is about the total experience,” he says. “Technology should not compete with the art. You should feel it, not see it."
As with Postma’s design for the whole fair, creating a comfortable, anti-fatigue atmosphere is key. The winning formula uses sympathetic lighting and tactile wall and floor coverings that show the works at their best and draw people in from the aisles. This combination also heightens the sense of “perceived worth” of the works on display.
So does increased spending on a stand result in increased sales? Who knows? Measuring the direct impact of design on sales is no science, but it is telling that exhibitors are turning to trendy design firms for advice on how to draw in collectors. After all, no one gets their chequebook out in the aisle.