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Fairs and art of living, a winning association

Do fairs and terroirs have nothing to do with each other? Not according to the Bordeaux art fair BAD+, which is mixing the art market and the art of living with care for its 2023 edition.

"Art and life have never been separated, says curator and artistic director Jérôme Sans. They have always been linked". Monomaniac, the cultural sector, and especially the art market, has however long held them at a distance. " Too often one compartmentalizes the things, continues Jérôme Sans. But it is like wanting to lock up smoke, it is impossible: art and culture are the things that give life a special taste.

Throughout his career, the exhibition curator has always connected the world of art with the art of living. When he co-founded the Palais de Tokyo with Nicolas Bourriaud in 1999, Jérôme Sans wanted to make it "a place for living". It's not just an art center," he says. "You can go there for other things" and stroll around, read, have a coffee or lunch...

  

Greater permeability between fairs and terroirs

In the art market, this porosity between art and lifestyle is far from being obvious. However, some fairs rely on the richness of the region in which they are located to create bridges between these two fields. "When I come to visit the Artissima in Turin, I also take the opportunity to visit the art galleries and appellations (designations of origins) of Piedmont," explains Bordeaux vineyard owner Caroline Teycheney. She also affirms: "today, when you are interested in art, the art of living is part of the field". Even the vocabulary is shared, she explains: "somehow, with the wine, we write a new score according to what the plant gives us, like a composer would do with music". In Spain, Menorca is increasingly attracting the art world. Hauser & Wirth created an art center there in 2021, while the artist Adel Abdessemed is restoring an old farmhouse. A few kilometers away, Ibiza is also in the news since the first edition of the Contemporary Art Now (CAN) fair was held there in the summer of 2022. Thus, far from the aseptic white cubes of the big capitals, the art world seems to wish to be more anchored in an environment and to get closer to a model which model that already exists in Switzerland - in the resorts of Saint-Moritz - or in the United States where some galleries have set up shops in their clients' holiday resorts, in the Hamptons or Palm Beach.

   

Successful partnerships

This senior manager of a luxury watch brand, who eventually took over the family business and converted it to organic and biodynamic farming, makes no secret of her love of and ties with art. "My mother had a gallery in Bordeaux where she organized opening previews every quarter," she says. It is quite naturally that Caroline Teycheney therefore decided to create partnerships between Château Fleur de Lisse and actors of the Bordeaux cultural sector.

Within the framework of the BAD+ fair, she will present several works by the artist Barthélémy Toguo within the château, while in Martillac, the Château Smith Haut Lafitte will offer a themed tour "Art and the vine" followed by a wine tasting, and in Margaux, Château d'Arsac will invite visitors to explore the estate and the works of art that are scattered there. Reconciling the art market and the art of living, these shows want to underline that "art is what makes life more interesting than art", as Robert Filliou said.