BEIJING—It was the kind of story that people love to watch unfold, a cliffhanger with a countdown to the finale. In January of this year, just after economies worldwide spiraled dramatically downward and the contemporary art market threatened to take a nosedive, ShContemporary, the Shanghai art fair then in its third edition, appointed Colin Chinnery as its new director.

Born in Scotland to an English father and Chinese mother, Chinnery began spending time in China as a child, eventually settling in Beijing. There he worked as chief curator and deputy director of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (where we once worked together), and, an artist himself, was a founding member of the artist collective Complete Art Experience Project, which included high-profile Chinese artists such as Qiu Zhijie and Liu Wei.

When Chinnery joined ShContemporary, it was facing stiff competition from other fairs in China — most notably the highly successful Art HK — and a financial atmosphere that was far from congenial. All eyes were on Chinnery as the fair’s opening date neared, and the survival of the fair (or at least its success) seemed to hang in the balance. As it turns out, it was a lot of fuss about nothing. With more than 30,000 visitors at this year’s fair (held Sept. 10–13), participating galleries reporting decent sales, and largely positive critical reception of new fair programs, the drama has passed, and ShContemporary is clearly more resilient than some had imagined. Now that the numbers are in, I talked with Chinnery — already hard at work on next year’s fair — about the challenges and opportunities he faced in 2009, his plans for the 2010 edition of ShContemporary, and that elusive white whale, the Chinese collector.

The initial panic regarding the contemporary art market that followed the economic crisis of 2008 seems to have subsided. As you begin working on ShContemporary for 2010, do you feel an increased optimism?

The panic was understandable when the economy seemed to be in free fall, especially when there was a clear analogy (and connection) between the phantom wealth conjured by Wall Street and easy money bloating the art market. Everyone knew that something like this was around the corner, and when we finally hit that corner we had no choice but to do the necessary work in order to readjust. With ShContemporary, we have perhaps turned another corner. The 2009 edition saw a lot of optimism return to the market, and that makes life easier for 2010. The playing field is different because the number of players in the art market increased exponentially during the boom years, and now there are more mouths to feed, so to speak. As an art fair whose job is to fulfill these increased expectations, we have to prove ourselves every year, not just for one year. I don’t think the pressure will relent for many years to come, and that is a good thing. It keeps people at the top of their game.

The contemporary Chinese art market has experienced a significant downturn. How does this lack of confidence in contemporary Chinese art impact the fair?

ShContemporary includes art from all over Asia and beyond, so the slowdown in demand for certain Chinese artists’ works didn’t affect us at all. Certain galleries are very sensitive to the current demand, and bring the right works. Sales were good among Chinese galleries this year at ShContemporary. Those who visited the fair will have noticed that there were very few works by top-priced Chinese artists; the prices and the kind of work on offer represented a change in attitude. Now that the market is shifting [its] attitude, I think it’s an opportunity for different voices to be heard, which was very evident at the fair.

Given ShContemporary’s location and history, how much of next year’s edition do you expect will be focused on Asia, as opposed to having a more global perspective?

The fair as a whole does have a regional focus on Asia, and that is reflected in the participating galleries and the kinds of work being shown and sold; in 2010 it will have an Asia Pacific perspective whilst presenting work from Europe, the U.S., and other regions. The market should always help to mix up the regional DNA as much as possible. How much that is possible will increase each year.