CHART Art Fair, Copenhagen: gender imbalance discussed in the North
New director Julie Quottrup Silbermann on CHART: «We’re not bringing galleries in from all over the world. We’re bringing galleries in from the Nordics»
The 11th edition of CHART, an art fair that brings together galleries from the Nordic region, is taking place at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen, Denmark from the 24th to the 27th of August 2023.
CHART, Copenhagen: an entrance point for the Nordic Art Scene
Founded in 2013 by five Danish galleries in Copenhagen, CHART brings together galleries from Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Denmark.
Julie Quottrup Silbermann, the new Director of CHART, shared that the initial mission of «CHART was about building a collaboration between galleries, building a community and setting an entrance point to the entire Nordic Art scene».
In January 2022, CHART turned into a non-profit organization and foundation and set a professional board with four of the founding galleries on the board along with six other members.
For its 2023 edition, the annual art fair will take place at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, which is located in the heart of the capital of Denmark, a location that allows both locals and tourists to attend the fair. The venue, Charlottenborg Palace, is split in part with the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and in part with an Art Institution that has one of the largest exhibition spaces for Contemporary Art in Northern Europe.
Building a sustainable Art collection at CHART Copenhagen
With thirty-seven participating galleries, CHART’s eleventh edition focuses on starting and building a sustainable art collection. The Director of the Nordic Art Fair explains that the event includes a book fair, live talks, music, films, and performances all centered around the main theme. «This year we’re going to focus on how to start collecting and what kind of ethics, philanthropic and sustainable aspects you need to bring in or consider when you’re building up a collection».
Julie Quottrup Silbermann further revealed that CHART encouraged the participating galleries to submit art pieces at a lower price point to incentivize new art collectors to start building their own art collection. Furthermore, CHART has invited private collectors and a selection of museums within Nordic countries to share and discuss with visitors how they go about collecting art. «We want to show that you can start collecting at every price level».
Kunsthal Charlottenborg, the location of CHART in Copenhagen
From the 24th to the 27th of August 2023, CHART will take over an exhibition space at Charlottenborg, a historical building with ties to the contemporary art world. Silbermann reveals that «it’s in an old institution. This classical building has high ceilings and wide rooms with ton of light coming in».
The Director further explained that the space encourages community in the context of the space inside and with the courtyard where visitors can hang out and talk, but also because of its proximity to the Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts, that is located right next to it.
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About the set-up of the 2023 edition of CHART Copenhagen
For the 2023 edition, CHART will host thirty-seven galleries. The Nordic Art fair will be sectioned into different sections, with a «Please Notice» area that will display eight emerging galleries. The remaining twenty-nine galleries are more established, and visitors will notice the holistic presentation of these galleries across the different rooms.
«CHART is a little bit different to other art fairs as we invite galleries to participate. We want to have galleries from all over the Nordic countries. We try to have a balance between all the countries in order to make the presentation as diverse as possible».
In contrast to other Art Fairs, CHART doesn’t have traditional booths. Silbermann explainsthat «every time you come to CHART you will see the Galleries in a new spot».
Visitors can expect a diverse curation of Nordic Contemporary Art with installations, sculptures, paintings, and figurative paintings as well as photo-based art.
Staying local – CHART’s efforts in supporting the local art scene
The newly appointed director of CHART Art Fair disclosed how they try to be as sustainable as possible by sourcing their art in the local region and collaborating with other galleries for transport.
«In terms of the local art scene, we’re not bringing galleries in from all over the world. We’re bringing galleries in from the Nordics. It’s also limiting the transport of art pieces and galleries coming in because it’s in the area. We are collaborating with a transport company, and they reach out to all the galleries in order to plan for collecting the works and bringing them to Denmark».
In Silbermann’s opinion, this encourages new and established collectors to buy art that is produced locally and revealed that they are making it a point in this year’s talk about collecting.
«We will be touching on it in our talk program where we talk about how to collect. Are you supporting the local art scene? How are you purchasing art pieces? Are you having it shipped from one day to another or can you maybe just wait a bit and then send it in a shared transport if it’s coming from somewhere else?».
A discussion on sexism and gender imbalance: CHART is supporting female artists
When asked about the local impact of CHART, Silbermann reported that since its creation in 2013, the local art scene and market has expanded with smaller and local artists and galleries becoming more and more established as well as seeing a better gender balance when it came to the artists. The Director added that the lockdown only strengthened this.
A turning point for Silbermann was the 2020 edition of CHART that dedicated the whole fair to showing only female artists. From there on, there was a shift of focus on gender imbalance within the Nordic art world, hence why CHART focused on creating a space for previously unshown artists to present their work. This created a ripple effect and created a bigger interest locally for collecting art.
«This discussion about the imbalance between gender has been going on for many years. It’s not like it’s a new discussion unfortunately but we’ve become increasingly aware of it and I think because we really highlighted it a few years ago. I feel it’s become more and more natural, at least for us, which is the direction we want to go in».
The local impact had a ripple effect on the larger Contemporary art scene. Silbermann, who studied art history, revealed that even Gombrich’s The Story of Art, is being rewritten to include female artists.
Looking to the future
The vision for CHART when it first launched was to create an entrance point toward the entire Nordic Art scene for professionals, collectors, and a broader international audience. With over twenty-two thousand visitors for the 2022 edition, Silbermann reported that forty percent were international visitors. Moving forward, CHART wants to keep expanding on this and aims at keeping up the collaboration with Nordic capitals.
Julie Quottrup Silbermann
Silbermann was appointed the new Director of CHART back in October 2022. This year’s edition will be her first as the Director, however she has been participating in CHART since its first run ten years ago. «I was even in the meeting where they were presenting this new vision for CHART ten years ago. I feel honored to take over and also a little humbled, but I feel very safe and in good hands with my team and also with the board».
Art has always been part of Silbermann’s life. She studied Art History and she has a master’s degree in Modern culture. Before becoming the director of CHART, she was the Director of three other Contemporary Art Galleries and participated in Art Fairs all over the world from Paris Photo, to Art Basel, and Zonamaco.
« I love working with galleries. I like having this close connection to the artist and seeing how they develop their work and bring it into a gallery and create an exhibition with it and then tell their story, the concept behind their work to clients, to collectors, even maybe to new clients and to institutions».
CHART
Located in Copenhagen, CHART is an Art Fair that was created in 2013 that brings together galleries and artists from Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Denmark. The fair will take place from the 24th to the 27th of August 2023 and will host thirty-seven galleries at the Charlottenborg Palace.
