In 25 years, Swiss gallerist Iwan Wirth has gone from teenage enthusiast to one of the most powerful contemporary art dealers in the world. Hauser & Wirth, founded by Wirth and collector Ursula Hauser in 1992, is a global brand, staging museum-quality exhibitions by the likes of Dan Graham, Subodh Gupta, and Martin Creed in its Zurich, London, and New York homes. Yet the gallery has managed to keep a certain family business charm, largely due to the affability of the man at its helm. The day before the opening of Paul McCarthy's dramatic double exhibitions "The King, the Island, the Train, the House, the Ship," ARTINFO UK caught up with Wirth in his gigantic Savile Row office.

You started your first gallery in St. Gallen aged 16 in 1986. What spurred you to do that?

Growing up in the countryside, the atmosphere in a gallery or in a museum was something I was — by birth, I don't know why — attracted to. I thought naively that having a gallery would be the most efficient way to be surrounded by art and artists. That was a naïve thought and an impulsive reaction, and then the opportunity came up: there was a space available. It's kind how I still work today. One thing I kept [from that period] is that kind of joy, playfulness, and openness towards new ideas and opportunities.

Now that you have such an extensive operation, it must be quite hard to keep this kind of flexibility.

Last year we did 22 exhibitions but some of them only came together at the very last minute. It happens: some artist comes here and has an amazing idea that can only be done within the next six months, or nine months. We have to make it possible. I've always seen my role as making things possible — and keeping all the options open for the artists. I also want to keep the freedom to say no, if something is not really going the way it should, or is not ready yet.

Next year's program for London is pretty much together. Mary Heilmann and Michael Raedecker will do a show together in February, which is a fantastic idea. Then we have Ron Mueck, and Andy Hope. And then we have Thomas Houseago, and Isa Genzken. It's going to be a spectacular year, but to make that work in both New York and Zurich is a challenge.

How did your relationship with Ursula Hauser influence the way you work with collectors today?

I never think of it as a one-way street. My ambition is to build collections, and to be involved with the artists. Artists don't think about one piece, they are always thinking in terms of rooms, and bodies of works.

Coming out of the 1980s going into the 1990s, there was a vacuum between collectors, museums, dealers, and artists. Nobody was buying and that's when Ursula started to collect contemporary art — I was inspiring her to do that. I would like to see it as a family business including the collector.

Do you try to keep a one-on-one relationship with them?

That's the most ideal form. If you ask collectors that work closely with us, they'll tell you that we don't run our gallery necessarily like a shop. We are very involving. We try to build that bridge between the studio and the home of these pieces by bringing things together: curator, museum, artist, collector.

Next year is our 20th anniversary. As the gallery develops, you start to understand a little bit more what you are creating — where you are succeeding and where you are failing. But on the other hand, every day I still feel like I'm starting all over again and it's a start-up company!

In those 20 years you've seen a boom and a crash. Do you think that the collector's profile has changed?

No. The privilege we've had is to work with some of the most prolific artists, which today, and at the time, have also attracted some of the most prolific collectors. It is still the same: to watch someone discovering a body of works by an artist is as rewarding and as fascinating now as it was back then.

The business has changed, of course. I think art fairs have had the biggest effect on the way we are doing the actual business. And artists are way more realistic about the business part of the art world. They know that an art fair is not the most ideal way to look at art, but it is a fantastic way for people to get informed. To really see art, you have to go to the museum, and to the gallery shows. That hasn't changed at all. And while the speed of art fairs has increased, the importance and depth of exhibitions in commercial galleries has also increased. We also have more museums than ever. We've had had 480 museum and institutional exhibitions by our artists this year. This has been growing enormously.

You are about to go to the India Art Fair for the first time. How do you see the market there?

Ask me after! We have two of the most important Indian artists [Subodh Gupta and Bharti Ker], and many clients there. We also have a lot of online traffic from that part of the world — I don't know who: students, artists, curators, collectors as well. There are a lot of signs that India is going to play a major part in the cultural world, and there are different ways to engage with it. One is to open a gallery; another is to go to an art fair. In Hong Kong, Art Basel is going to be a major player in the education and development of Asia. 

You've touched on the role of the Internet. Did you do the digital-only VIP Fair?

Yes, we did — we tried.

Do you see a significant part of the business moving online?

I bought my first fax machine when I started the gallery. It was incredible. These things are evolving. The web is just an invitation for people to get familiar with our program, and then they come to the gallery. It will never replace a one to one relationship. I'm amazed by the online traffic we have, but we also have almost 100,000 visitors a year in the galleries. And our program is not blockbuster shows, it's very cutting edge.

You are yourself a philanthropist, supporting various institutions. Do you think the role of a commercial gallery is also to educate?

Naturally — it's the nature of the beast. We stage shows. There is a limit to what we can do, but we have a constant dialogue with the public. We work with museums, trying to support where we can. We have a lot of school classes coming. I've personally given three or four tours to schools last year. We also do a lot of loans, on behalf of the artists, on behalf of collectors, and on behalf of our own inventory. It's really a massive traffic, and this is all education. These pieces are shown in public.

You represent the estate of several seminal artists, including Allan Kaprow, Eva Hesse, and Jason Rhodes. From the first of January 2012, the European artist's resale right is going to be applicable in the UK to works by artists who died less than 70 years ago. What are your thoughts on this, and how do you think this will affect the gallery?

It's certainly not something I support, but it won't affect us too much. It's just one more hurdle, and one more pain. It shouldn't be, it's wrong, but I won't have a sleepless night over it.

Do you think it's wrong because it's a hurdle for you or do you think it's wrong in principle?

I think it's wrong in principle, but it's very complex. Like many of these things, the idea is a good one, but it just always fails, because of the bureaucracy, and because of the nature of the art. Business will move away, because several places are excluded from this law. Such legislation is controlled and ruled by bureaucrats — not to the benefit of the artists or the art world.

There are these rumors that David Zwirner is opening in London, and Pace is now in town and about to open a very large space in 2012. How do you think London is changing?

It's great for every gallery to come to London, and I think London can only benefit from it. I've personally experienced it as a very open place — when we opened here almost 10 years ago, it was a blank canvas. That has slightly changed, and the gallery scene is dramatically growing. London is the most international city in the world, there's no doubt about that.

Over New York?

If you look at the exposure to Asia, India, and the Middle East, there is no place like London. New York is the biggest art market in the world and London is number two, but in terms of communities — the ones that play a role in the art market, London is certainly the most international.