Artissima 2009 • Torino, Italy

Michel François • The Speaker Corner

Ivan Moldov • Already Made

Alfredo Jaar • Angel

As I have been told, Artissima is the largest art faire in Italy and one of the largest in the world. Here, thousands of people congregate every year to be around "art" I suppose. It's known to be a very exclusive event, where gallerists have booths in which their represented artists' work is displayed in the hopes of finding a new home.

I noticed a few different types of people while browsing around. There were, as before mentioned, the people working for the galleries (eager to sell art in a moment of deep economic crisis), the "aspiring artists" (hoping to one day be "discovered" and therefore represented by a gallery), the possible buyers (part of which were probably undercover, underdressed not to be hovered over like the overdressed ones were), and a whole bunch of browsers like me, people who don't really know why they are there, just that they are.

Overall, there was a sense of despair in the air, with a slight hint of decay, probably coming from the rot of it all. Yes, I have a very strong opinion of this so called "art world," and it is not a positive one. I have always been uncorfortable with the stereotypical art openings, where people hang onto their glasses of wine while pretending to look deeply to try and understand the art hanging on the walls. Often times the art hanging on the walls happens to be images of not-so-fortunate people in so-called "underdeveloped" parts of the world. Am I the only one to whom this whole thing seems discusting?

There is, of course, the other aspect of this "art world." Who, really dictates what is "art," what is worth looking at and spending thousands on? Who, I ask, who? Who has the authority to comb through the objects resulting from the unsilent minds of people society categorizes as "artists"? My disgust with the art world has less to do with art then with the system in which it exists.

To be completely honest, of all the "high art" on display at Artissima, about 99% was meaningless. To me, completely meaningless. "Art" that says nothing, that is just there for aesthetics and nothing more. "Art" produced because it will sell. "Art" the market is thirsting for.

So much energy, time and resources are spent on events like this, when there are so many more meaninful and emergent questions to be addressed in our complicated modernity. It sickens me, really.