Growing co-operation between the visible artwork communities within the UK and France was the precedence at a reception on the French Embassy in London yesterday. The assembly was held “within the context of artwork festivals in London and Paris” and is step one to “constructing a relationship that can be constructive and supportive for each nations”, mentioned the French ambassador to the UK, Hélène Duchêne.
This fortnight of back-to-back artwork festivals within the two cities, centred round Frieze London and Paris + par Artwork Basel, has invited comparisons between the 2 European artwork market hubs, and has raised fears that London is dropping its dominant place.
Chatting with The Artwork Newspaper, Isabelle Manci, the French cultural attaché to the UK, says that “you may take a look at the proximity of those two festivals, of those two markets, as dealing with one another off, or coming collectively. I view this as a really sturdy second for this a part of Europe typically, with alternatives for cross-over. We hope Asian and American collectors coming to London will then keep on for Paris, and alternatively, worldwide travellers coming to Paris will come early to see London’s artwork”.
A extra concrete technique of cross-channel collaboration was launched on the occasion by the use of a brand new £15,000 prize supporting a UK artist exhibiting at Frieze London to indicate in a French establishment.
Organised by Fluxus Artwork Initiatives, a not-for-profit organisation shaped in 2010 to assist artwork within the UK and France, it has awarded the inaugural prize to Josèfa Ntjam, who has a solo presentation at London gallery Nicoletti in Frieze Focus. Fluxus additionally helps the annual residencies of 4 French artists to UK establishments, reminiscent of Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridge, and UK artists to French establishments, together with CAPC Musée d’artwork Contemporain in Bordeaux.
