Art Cologne Head Tells ArtInfo of His Plans to Keep the Fair Fresh

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If there's one thing a major international art fair must never do, it’s is rest on its laurels—or else the fair wilt, and the moving caravan of collectors will move on to fresher fields.

No such chance that Art Cologne will suffer this fate. Under its energetic director, Gerald Goodrow, the fair is really changing its narrative. At breakfast recently, Goodrow told me of the transformations he is masterminding.

”First, we're moving the 2007 fair from its present position in November to April 18-22. We're doing this,” Goodrow said, “because there are so many fairs in the October-December period, and we felt that we would better serve our collectors if we showed in April, before the May sales start—and the hectic summer season, which will be even more crowded next year with the Venice Biennale.”

Goodrow also told me that the November 2006 fair (Nov. 1-5), the 40th edition of Art Cologne, will restrict the exhibiting galleries to about 180. “We'll continue to cover the spectrum from classical modernism to contemporary art—and the improvements we are planning will be particularly noticeable in the latter section.”

The Open Space component of the fair—a spacious area for showcasing large-scale contemporary art in various media—will return with the same number of projects by 40 artists, but will be in a larger area. And the cooperation with the city of Cologne will be stepped up.

The first fruits of this closer collaboration are already being seen. For example, works by Annette Kelm, the winner of the 2005 Art Cologne prize for up-and-coming artists, is now on view in the artothek of Cologne's City Museum through Aug. 29. And the awards ceremony of the Orange Blue Art Prize will be held at the Museum Ludwig on Nov. 2, 2006. This year's award will go to Gabriel Orozco from Mexico.

In addition, the Nam June Paik Award (for which Art Cologne is a partner), sponsored by the North Rhine-Westphalian Cultural Foundation, will be presented during the Cologne art fair at the winning artist's exhibition at the Museum of Applied Arts in Cologne. And as in previous years, the presentation of the Wolfgang Hahn Prize of the Modern Art Society will take place at the Museum Ludwig on the evening prior to the Art Cologne vernissage.

“All this is planned as part of an on-going process to reinforce Cologne's role as a really important contemporary art destination,” Goodrow said.