“Fifteen years allows us to take a step back and see all the things we’ve accomplished,” rejoices Julie Lacroix, director of the Association of Contemporary Art Galleries (AGAC), which is organizing the 15e Paper fair, still in full expansion. From Friday to Sunday, “the most important art fair in Quebec” will bring together more than 400 artists and 35 galleries, at the Grand Quai of the Old Port of Montreal.
In 2007, for the first edition of the event, only a few exhibitors presented small works — on paper only — under a marquee in Westmount Square. “The evolution happened organically,” summarizes Julie Lacroix, who ran the fair for almost 10 years. “Today, we want to be perceived as an unmissable event for the community,” she adds.
To achieve this, the fair was inspired by major international events, including Art Toronto or Art Basel, says Ms.me The cross. New components have been added each year, such as conferences and round tables on issues specific to the art world, or special exhibitions of emerging artists.
According to the director of AGAC, a turning point for Papier was the arrival of Karine Vanasse as spokesperson in 2014. “That year, we went from 13,000 to 17,000 visitors, and then increased by 1000 to 2000 visitors per year. “The actress still occupies this role this year.
The decision to offer other works of art than works exclusively on paper was also essential to the growth of the event. “Some member galleries of our association found that we were leaving aside a whole clientele, people who are great collectors and who are interested in larger works, in several forms of art”, supports the director. She explains that the change took place “over a few years”, starting in 2019.
“We’re now the only gateway into contemporary art for many people — in addition to their annual visits to the museum,” she says. But unlike museum exhibitions, and although the AGAC is a non-profit organization, Papier remains a trade fair. Visitors are therefore invited to meet the artists and gallery owners, then to buy works.
“Demystifying contemporary art”
It is also for this reason that Julie Lacroix defended the introduction of an entry fee five years ago. “We have long been one of the only free art fairs in the world, in particular because in Quebec, we subsidize this kind of event. »
She specifies that the current formula – paying – has proven necessary over the years, to allow the event to grow, to offer “reasonable fees” to guest speakers, for example. An admission ticket costs $15 for one day and $40 for all three days.
“We can really say that we have achieved our objective of expanding audiences, of being accessible and of demystifying contemporary art,” says Julie Lacroix.
Abdelilah Chiguer, co-director of gallery 3, in Quebec, and member of the board of directors of the AGAC, specifies that the galleries try to present works “which speak to each other and which complement each other” at the fair, works which represent the aesthetic identity of the galleries.
Canada-wide expansion
Another key to Paper’s success is certainly AGAC’s rapid growth — in the number of member galleries that can exhibit at the fair — and the guarantee of quality that the organization now represents. Each year, new Canadian galleries are added, and more visitors from outside Quebec flock to the fair thanks to its network.
“For a gallery to become a member, we evaluate the museum collections of which the artists represented are part, we base ourselves on the number of exhibitions held. The CV of gallery owners is important,” explains Abdelilah Chiguer.
He points out that the AGAC has become the largest association of galleries in the country, with more than 40 members, from Halifax to Vancouver. On the one hand, visitors to Papier are called upon to visit the galleries they discover at the fair, and on the other, collectors and gallery visitors are more numerous each year at Papier. “We are really going to try to work so that the other provinces are more present,” says Julie Lacroix.
Abdelilah Chiguer says that, year after year, more and more “visitors and collectors from everywhere” come to his gallery, in Quebec, and that the Papier fair seems to play a role in this diversification of its public.
Thus, for its 15th anniversary, Paper arrives at a crossroads, according to Julie Lacroix. “We live a dichotomy between what we want to project, that is to say an accessible event that democratizes art, and what we want collectors to remember, that is, that the event is ambitious, sophisticated and quality. »