Art-o-rama Is Keeping the Spotlight Squarely on Marseille

In 2013, Marseille was appointed Capitale Européenne de la Culture—a program intended to strengthen European locales through the prism of the arts. Since then, the city has increasingly drawn interest from within (and even without) France. That interest reached an inflection point after COVID, as people in Paris were drawn to the idea of living adjacent to the sea after being agonizingly shut in during lockdown. This southward movement has spurred territorial tensions and accusations of gentrification, with an article this spring in French newspaper Libération fueling the controversy (“Les Parisiens qui débarquent à Marseille prennent leurs clics et une claque”) about whether this mass shift was denaturing the “caractère” of the city.

Whether Marseille is accepting of this draw from other regions or not, the city has been trying to gain a foothold in the arts. Although it is the second-largest city in France, Marseille’s arts scene does not match its scale. Art-o-rama, a contemporary art fair that recently closed its nineteenth edition, is trying to rally participation locally, although only three galleries from Marseille brought work to this edition (just one independently), which featured fourteen countries. The fair is an outgrowth of the loose invitational salon started by local gallerist Roger Pailhas in the 1990s; today, it’s a three-day fair held in late August that partners with regional players, such as Carré d’Art in Nîmes, Villa Carmignac in Porquerolles, Fondation Luma in Arles and Villa Noailles in Hyères. The press notes point out that eight of the nineteen galleries selected for this year’s Art Basel Statements section previously participated in Art-o-rama.

Jérôme Pantalacci, director of Art-o-rama, said the fair’s signature is that the scenography of the stands is left quite open and that a lot of new work is produced specifically for it. As for Marseille as a backdrop, he noted the acceleration of the arts scene within less than a decade. “There’s a form of effervescence,” he told Observer. The city is notoriously less polished than Paris: “Marseille is disorganized—it’s a bit sauvage. It’s something that people used to not like, but now it’s sought-after. There’s a kind of freedom. It’s not neat, so there are, of course, inconveniences in terms of organization; it’s sometimes chaotic. But that’s also its charm.” The makeup of the city is also different, with a huge community from North Africa. Moreover, there are no banlieues: “the quartiers populaires are in the city, not outside of it,” he said of the socio-economic realities. Asked if the city tends to be misperceived, he admitted that “it’s considered a city that has a lot of crime and is dirty. The contemporary art public and collectors will more easily go to Monaco. But the image of Marseille has changed due to the quality of life, with the sun and the sea and being close to Italy.”

Art-o-rama is hosted in La Friche, a sprawling former tobacco factory turned cultural center in the Belle de Mai neighborhood behind the train station. Upon arrival, one encounters a basketball court and a skate park; its vast floors contain artist studios, exhibition spaces and a large rooftop, linked by heavily graffitied stairwells (“no to war,” “lesbians everywhere”).

Giovanni’s Room, a Los Angeles gallery existent for over three years, exhibited this year for the first time. Gallerist Jeremy Maldonado, however, attends fairs as a visitor in New York, London, Paris and Miami “year-round, seasonally, as it’s crucial as an American business.” He was encouraged to join Art-o-rama by his friends at Parisian gallery Sans Titre, which also brought work to the fair. Maldonado was showing Los Angeles-born New York-based artist Jackie Klein (whose work ranged from $1,000-2,500). “It’s a wonderful atmosphere,” Maldonado told Observer. “Being in Europe and having those dialogues with European art patrons, art dealers, artists… Business comes second. And I feel like the business comes from that integrity. I’m not thinking of selling anything; I’m thinking of presenting a really effective body of work, and that alone should be the focus.” He wagered that he would participate again at Art-o-rama next year.

DS Galerie, a Parisian space in the Marais, was participating in its fourth edition. Gallery representative Ulysse Feuvrier said that Marseille is “an ecosystem that’s growing more and more,” yet the size of the fair was manageable. “It doesn’t bring an overdose in its format, which means there’s more time to see everything and to exchange… It’s a different way to start the year than Frieze Seoul.” The first year DS Galerie participated, they showed sculpture duo Xolo Cuintle, which, based on a meeting at the fair, led to their first solo show in France. This year, Antoine Conde’s drawings were the star, culled from a bank of images of erotica, porn and pop culture and priced from €900-1600.

Galeria Sabot is a longstanding participant, capping their sixth edition, partly anchored by the “friendly organization.” The Romanian gallery has previously participated in Liste, Artissima, NADA Miami and Paris Internationale, but during the pandemic began “rethinking the ways we should survive,” founder Daria Dumitrescu told Observer. The gallery was showing three artists: young painter Daniel Moldoveanu, conceptual artist and critical abstractionist Pepo Salazar and drawings by Alexandra Zuckerman inspired by fabrics, with work ranging from €1,300-12,000. Dumitrescu’s experience was that the sales did not come immediately but that the gallery “built a collector base in France.” The gallery, she noted, “works with very young artists and we grow together—it’s more difficult. You have to create the need in the market, then things happen. Some are older now and more well-known, and things are a bit easier.”

Longtermhandstand from Budapest enjoyed its second outing at the fair. Last year, the gallery showed five artists and “got some really nice opportunities for our artists institutionally,” gallery representative Peter Bencze told Observer. “We also made some sales, but Art-o-rama is not Basel or Frieze—if you know this, you can enjoy it very much. We like vibrancy and also the philosophy of the fair. Nowadays, all artwork is really pushed by the market. Of course, you can sell here as well, but the main thing you realize is that it really helps your artists.” This year, the gallery mounted a themed booth inspired by the correspondence between Marcel Duchamp and Constantin Brâncuși, specifically focused on the latter’s U.S. career. The fourteen artists were selected in a curatorial nod to this reference, although the works were not created purposefully with this in mind. Among those shown were Hungarian artist Áron Lőrincz, French artist Julie Béna and Hungarian artist Omara Mara Oláh, whose work was the most expensive on the stand at €20,000.

MICKEY, a Chicago gallery, returned for the second time to Art-o-rama; gallerist Mickey Pomfrey had been advised to participate on the recommendation of fellow American gallery Good Weather (also at the fair). “What we liked about it was the vibe: there’s a lot of license that they give galleries to be able to exhibit in a different way than a lot of other fairs do. The crowd seemed very engaged. And of course, Marseille is just the most lovely place to be at this time of the year,” Pomfrey said. He further remarked, admiringly, that in Marseille, “the post-internet aesthetic never died like it did in America—they didn’t get hit by the same culture shift experience.” Last year, the stand was dedicated to gouache-on-cardboard paintings by Ryan Nault; this year, Michael Madrigali’s works—made from wood, fiberglass, foam, plastic and paint to resemble renderings—were inspired by a trip to a Mexican artifact museum and exhibited akin to a woman’s shoe display. Pieces were priced at €2,000.

Anchoring the local presence, Marseille gallery sissi club was at the art fair for the fourth time; the gallery was founded in 2019, and the founders initially attended Art-o-rama as visitors. “Art-o-rama is very important because an art scene is formed around it, an international one,” said Anne Vimeux, who spearheaded the gallery alongside Elise Poitevin. During their first year, the booth was dedicated to Inès di Folco Jemni, who they brought back for Liste in Basel this spring. This year, they featured two artists at different points in their careers: photos by Marion Ellena (€800-1,500) and a batik by Amalia Laurent, who just finished a year at Villa Medicis (€10,000). “There are few galleries in the Marseille ecosystem, so when we go elsewhere we represent the scene,” Vimeux said of participating internationally at Material in Mexico City, ARCO in Madrid and Paris Internationale. “Choosing a fair is choosing a scene—that’s how we think about it.”

With both founders being from Marseille, they’ve been happy to see the ongoing growth of curatorial projects and ateliers accompanying artist practices. “What we hope for is that the scene will become more structured around institutions. That’s how we’ll be able to anchor it,” Vimeux said. “We’ve experienced the off-peak moments, but a new generation is bringing a new dynamic.”

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