This weekend the 10th edition of ART-O-RAMA opens in Marseille. The fair focuses on a select group of 20 galleries who each design single-artist booths. Here, Nadia Fatnassi (Fair Manager) and Jérôme Pantalacci (Director) share their tips for making it work.
#1 The Place
One good thing about our globalized world is that you don’t need to be based in a capital city in order to attract people to your event. However small your fair, people seem more willing than ever to take themselves to the most remote places in the name of art. Of course, sun and sea will always be appreciated.
#2 The Date
Remember Gandalf’s ‘You shall not pass’ face? That’s exactly what your competitors will look like if you try to steal the precious date they’ve been working for years to build into the frenzied contemporary art calendar. One piece of advice: do not try mid-June, really not a good idea (for you). Or late August, because we know where you live!
#3 Size doesn’t really matter
And you are probably asking yourself why no one told you that sooner, right?
#4 Prepare yourself for the worst
Hire a coordinator with extra super powers like the ability to control the weather, to read people’s mind (for a better anticipation of needs) and to transport themselves in several places at the same time (can really come in handy). But mostly someone who is able to do 10 people’s jobs for a single monthly wage, and you should be fine.
#5 Get a good (alcohol) sponsor (or two)
Too late to pin that up to #1?
#6 Play art world cupid
Imagine you are organizing a wedding, and your guests are mostly composed of your geeky, still-single childhood friends whose last love affairs date back to high school, and they REALLY count on that day to meet the love of their life. Well, a small-sized fair is the time and place for quality new meetings, and who knows what may come out of it…
#7 Reflect your style and personality
See that improbable second-hand patterned shirt that’s been hung in your closet for years and you somehow never found the appropriate occasion to wear? Well, your opening night may not be the right time… or is it?
#8 Entertain your guests
Subscribe to that local lap-dance training course down your street, or learn how to ride a unicycle. Or just build the best VIP programme ever, and they will all want to come back (but still add ‘lap dance on a unicycle’ to your skill set, because who knows).
#9 Think outside the box
Because a box will always be a box, mostly made out of cardboard, and square.
#10 Have fun
After all that you just went through, it seems like you deserve it more than anyone.
ART-O-RAMA runs 26, 27 & 28 August 2016
