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| Hope Gangloff's "Bittner's
Brooklyn Bar-B-Q" |
With a year-round schedule of fairs in
London, Basel, New York and Miami, Scope has become a global
exhibitor with nearly $100 million in total sales and more than
250,000 visitors. This year, Scope Miami 2007 presents 98
exhibitors from 22 countries in a 60,000-square-foot pavilion at
Roberto Clemente Park, 101 N.W. 34th St. in Wynwood. For some
art pundits, Scope feels like the alternative of the
alternative. Adriana Farietta, Scope’s director of development
and VIP relations, explains why.
What’s new about
Scope
this year?
Scope is celebrating its 20th fair in
Miami
this year and our second year at
Roberto
Clemente
Park
in Wynwood, expanding our fair to 60,000 square feet. Scope has
exponentially grown in the last year, and in addition to my
position, created last year to develop a robust VIP program, we
now have a new exhibitor relations manager and a show manager to
take Scope to the next level.
In which way is Scope Miami different from, say, Scope London or
Basel?
We consider Scope Miami our flagship fair. We were the first
fair to create an alternative to Art Basel Miami Beach, to the
Armory Art Fair and to Frieze Art Fair. However,
Miami
gave us the confidence to realize this potential. Emerging
curators and artists previously had no other outlet other than
to exhibit at galleries. Scope gave emerging gallerists, artists
and curators the opportunity to enter another arena.
You have firsthand knowledge of the Miami art scene. Is Scope’s
programming this year in any way addressing the local scene?
Scope Miami is my favorite fair to produce because I get to see
all my old friends. My previous position as the associate
director of Locust Projects involved organizing the yearly
programming of exhibitions and planning the annual benefit and
fundraisers. (I met Alexis Hubshman, the owner/president of
Scope, and invited him to purchase raffle tickets for artwork —
he got a Pepe Mar and Jonathan Peck.) I have firsthand
experience with the local Miami art scene and this year for
Scope Miami I have organized a special curation of site-specific
and large-scale sculptures of Miami local artists — Jason
Hedges, Tom Scicluna, Wendy Wischer, Tao Rey, Nick Lobo and
Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova. In addition, we have made it a point
to have local Miami galleries represented at our fair in Miami
and bringing them to our other fairs to gain international
exposure. Finally, this year we are launching our Scope
Foundation and the Scope Film and Lecture Series in
collaboration with the Rubell Family Collection and hosting a
collector dinner at the Rubell Family Collection.
What do you think about our fair explosion phenomenon in Miami?
In Miami, Scope Art Fair created a business model that would
complement the bigger fairs. Others noticed this opportunity and
followed suit by creating niche markets within the contemporary
art fair market. There has been a shift of power from a small
group of people in the auction houses to a broader base, evening
the playing field. Eventually, the spike in the market will
taper off, but I don’t believe the bubble will burst the way it
has in real estate. New collectors from Russia, China and the
Middle East, not to mention all the hedge fund managers, keep
popping up and showing their buying power at the auction houses
and art fairs.
With all this overlapping of contemporary art, in which way do
you think Scope is different from the other fairs?
We appeal to young and new collectors as well as high-profile
collectors who are attracted to the range of price points at our
fair and to our unique programming. We consider ourselves the
most comprehensive destination for the emerging art world by
introducing artists, curators and cutting-edge galleries to new
audiences internationally. Galleries and artists that have shown
with us are now in Art Basel (we are the first to give them
international exposure). In addition, we support organizations
that have underfunded art programs in the local communities in
our destination cities. These programs foster creative exchanges
between artists and underprivileged groups. Lastly, with the
creation of the Scope Foundation and our
Scope Collector Circle,
we hope to expand and continue to fund our Emerging and
Performance Artist Grants, Independent Curator Awards and local
nonprofits while hosting programs to help teach members of our
Collector Circle how to build art collections through our VIP
Program.
SCOPE Miami
2007 will take place from
10 a.m. to 8
p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, to Sunday, Dec. 9, at
Roberto
Clemente
Park,
101 N.W.
34th St.,
Miami.
Admission is $12; student discounts available. For more
information, call 347-583-6868.
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