TALKING GALLERIES is an open platform for inspiring thought and offering insight into one of the key figures on the art market: the gallerist. For three days, the Barcelona Contemporary Art Museum (MACBA) brings together leading international gallery directors to debate current issues, share experiences and draw up strategies for the future. Curators, collectors, art critics, directors of museums and other art institutions will give their points of view in debates and talks. THE SPEAKERS |
| In this first edition, TALKING GALLERIES aims to: · Define the new role of the gallerist in the art world · Analyse the shape of the art market following the economic downturn · Locate and scan new art markets · Offer alternatives to the current model of art fairs · Compare and contrast strategies for boosting galleries' international reach THE PROGRAMME |
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TALKING GALLERIES ends with a high level of attendance and new proposals for the future of international art galleries. In its first edition, TALKING GALLERIES has established itself as a think tank, with more than 150 gallery directors from around the world gathering in Barcelona to discuss the present and provide a glimpse of the future of their profession. The event involved three days of intensive debate and discussion on several of the most important issues affecting the gallery directors and the contemporary art market, which brought around 200 people a day from all over the world, including speakers, attendees and the media, to the MACBA Auditorium in Barcelona. Over three days, TALKING GALLERIES provided many ideas setting out a roadmap for the present and the immediate future of the international gallery scene; ideas summarized and set out with great clarity by Georgina Adam in a final panel discussion with Llucià Homs, who thanked all those attending and participating in the meeting on this first occasion. Some of the main conclusions presented by Georgina Adam during the final panel discussion, drawn by the journalist from the discussions that took place over three days in the MACBA Auditorium, are as follows: - The art gallery business is not a business like others, and personal contact is a key factor. - A passion for art is more important than money. - It is impossible to ignore globalization and and it is necessary to adapt to it in order to survive, but the beauty of small exhibitions and nurturing local scenes should not be neglected. - Galleries create a very important value for the cultural scene of every country and region. - Galleries must set aside their rivalries, work with each other and strengthen their ties to have a strong and united voice in the international art scene. TALKING GALLERIES would like to sincerely thank everyone who made this first edition of the meeting possible. TALKING GALLERIES offers a trip around Barcelona’s leading galleries
After the meeting’s concluding speech on Wednesday 21 September, more than 30 of the city’s art galleries will be opening their doors to the participants and speakers at TALKING GALLERIES, in what will be a unique opportunity to find out about these exhibition spaces from their directors. The following galleries have agreed to participate: Adn Art Space Georgina Adam and Llucià Homs to present the meeting’s final conclusions
The TALKING GALLERIES programme comes to a close with a presentation by Georgina Adam, the Financial Times’ art market correspondent, and Llucià Homs, the driving force behind TALKING GALLERIES, who will set out the meeting’s final conclusions. The meeting will explore subjects such as the future of art fairs, galleries’ international scope, the current role of gallery directors and the impact of new emerging markets, as well as other areas of particular interest to galleries today. This final presentation will bring together key aspects from the debates to help sum up TALKING GALLERIES and will be held on Wednesday 21 September at 11.30 am, following the Focus on Brazil panel. Georgina Adam is a journalist at the Financial Times with over 25 years’ experience writing about the international art market and art in general; she is also editor-at-large at The Art Newspaper and lectures at Sotheby's Institute of Art and Christie's Education in the UK. Llucià Homs is a gallery director and the driving force behind TALKING GALLERIES; he is currently Director for Promoting Cultural Industries at Barcelona City Council’s Institute for Culture (ICUB). Special offers from Iberia and Air Nostrum for TALKING GALLERIES participants  The Spanish airline Iberia and its subsidiary AirNostrum are offering exclusive discounts of up to 50% of the total price for participants in TALKING GALLERIES*.
The president of the FEAGA, Adriaan Raemdonck, at the opening of TALKING GALLERIES
The Belgian gallerist Adriaan Raemdonck, president of the Federation of European Art Gallery Associations (FEAGA) and owner of the gallery De Zwarte Panter, in Antwerp, will be present in the opening session representing the associations of European galleries. The TALKING GALLERIES opening will take place at the MACBA on Monday, September 19th, at 3.30pm. Raemdonck, renowned specialist in contemporary art and respected figure in the world of gallerism, will speak at the inauguration of the event, alongside Ferran Mascarell, Regional Minister of Culture of the Generalitat of Catalonia; Félix Riera, Director of the Catalan Institute of Cultural Industries (ICIC); Jaume Ciurana, Deputy Mayor of Culture, Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation of Barcelona; and Llucià Homs, the main promoter of the project TALKING GALLERIES. Talking Galleries and RENFE offer exclusive discounts for the participants of the meeting. *only national trips TALKING GALLERIES, presented to the media in a press conference.  The TALKING GALLERIES presentation to the media took place on Friday July 22, in Barcelona. The press conference was held at the headquarters of the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the speakers featured at the presentation were the Regional Minister of Culture of the Generalitat, Ferran Mascarell, the Director of the Catalan Institute of Cultural Industries (ICIC), Felix Riera, the Deputy Mayor of Culture, Knowledge, Creativity and Innovation of Barcelona, Jaume Ciurana; Alberto Anaut, Director of La Fabrica; and Llucià Homs, the main promoter of the project TALKING GALLERIES. The representatives of all gallerists associations in Barcelona and Catalonia, those of the MACBA (the meeting’s venue) and the Fundació Joan Miró, also a partner of the event, were equally present at the press conference. Mascarell stated that the "project will sum up some of the things that our country provides and this initiative, the way it has been planned out by the team behind La Fabrica, gives all guarantees". He added that his job "is to make the right decision" and that he thinks "that this project is one of these right decisions, emerging from the private sector in collaboration with the public sector". Riera, meanwhile, thinks that TALKING GALLERIES "adds up in all senses and has a great strategic value". While Ciurana focused on the cultural and social side of the event, pointing that "the galleries are part of the cultural society, they are cultural facilities". Homs, on the other hand, as the main promoter of the meeting, has been responsible for scrutinizing the content and the details of the program and its participants. The presentation had broad media coverage, and afterwards, the attendees posed for a group photo featuring the five speakers, the representatives of Catalonia’s gallery associations and those of the collaborating institutions. Complicity with Barcelona’s art galleries  After being presented to Barcelona’s main gallerists, Talking Galleries was embraced enthusiastically by the city’s art gallery community. The La Fàbrica Barcelona team and the Catalan professionals agree on the value of the project for the city and the importance of building synergies around the meeting. The week in which the conference will be taking place coincides with the opening of the galleries’ fall season. During this particular week in September, Barcelona will become the epicenter of debate and reflection on gallerism at the international level, and Barcelona’s art dealers are excited at the prospect of welcoming visitors and colleagues from around the world. Moreover, as we have established in the program, on the last day of the meeting a series of visits will take place starring the citie’s main art galleries.  |
