Argentine art at important Mexican fairs, without state help

The Argentine art market was linked from its origins to the international and, mostly, to the European. It is enough to travel the museums to corroborate a trend that not only endures, but also at the end of the 20th century, it was extended to Latin America. This mundane vocation explains the inexplicable: the arrival of 12 Argentine galleries in the midst of the deep market crisis, at the week of the art of Mexico. There, at the fairs that closed their doors last Sunday, the unmistakable climate of the world market on the rise And the gallery owners could reestablish the exciting dialogue with the powerful buyers of the US, Europe and Asia, who travel with their curators and translators and have not step on the Argentine soil for a long time.

Without any state aid, even for the passages, carrying the works to take care of the penny and officiating of montages, 12 Argentine gallery owners paid their spaces at the Maco, Material and the ACME Hall Fairs. Founded in 2002, Maco Zone is the most important Fair in Latin Americawith 200 galleries from around the world, occupies the place that Arteba knew. A 15 square meter stand has a cost of $ 10,000. And operators like Martina and Eugenio Ottolenghi de Otto, Mariela Mayorga of the SECT Gallery, the Rosario Daniel Pagano and Daniel Andrino Subsoil, Mauro Herlitzka, Nora Fisch, W and Mora Bacal From Benzacar -where the work of Ana Gallardo Based in Mexico, they went satisfied, covered the expenses and earned some dollars.

At the material fair, the square meter cost 450 dollars and the constitution gallerists, Pasto and SendersThey praised the good treatment and the level of quality. “It is a cured fair, with a strong participation of spaces around the world and a lot of agents of the global art system, of the US, especially. Material has a friendly scale, easy to travel, it is a brand that knew how to position itself very well, both in the context of CDMX art week, and in the international scene. Due to the profile of galleries that it summons, we find the most in line with our project ”add Beto of Constitution, which led and sold works by Ana Won and Nicolás Said. Also in material, Alberto Sendós sold seven works by Andrés Piña.

This brief encounter with the outside world allowed the Argentines to match prices and quality with Arteba, a fair that lost international leadership and has become federal. But keeps the captive gallery owners. With its more than 30 years of existence, Arteba still brings great visibility in the local market. There are buyers with the taste and eye educated at the fair who expect their opening to look from there the horizon of modern and contemporary art. And only then choose a work to buy.

The president of the Arteba Foundation, Larisa Andreaniobserve a strange phenomenon: “Between 60 and 80 % of galleries sales are completed during the fair”. It is understandable then that nobody wants to stay out. Although, despite everything, that is, to have secured sales, the gallery owners feel that the price they pay for the stands is too high. Around $ 30,000 cost the largest spaces last year, almost 100 meters. Prices have an ascending scale, in 2024 they exceeded 2023 and estimate that this year they can still be higher.

Meanwhile, the great current management project, the Stage sector, a space for galleries in the middle of its careers and without resources to enter the main sector, offered in May 2024 a 20 -meter stand for less than 5,000 dollars . But it was suspended. Perhaps with a program like Stage, the wonderful galleries of the 90s, such as Dabbah Torrejón, Daniel Abate, Braga Menéndez either Beauty and happinessthey would have survived. And if this year was presented again, the benefactor gesture of the important gallery owners would have another foundation.

Will Stage reappear? How much will the stands cost? Today, on the 2025 fair portal they only report the place, again the Costa Salguero Center, and the opening date. On Wednesday 27 and Thursday, August 28, it will open to special guests and from Friday 29 to Sunday 31, to the general public.

In Mexico, market operators collated prices. In the Opening section of the Madrid Arc Fair – a classic for Argentines – a 21 -square -meter stand has a value of 6,500 euros. In Artissima de Italy, where this year Rolf will present the photos of Liliana Maresca taken by Marcos López, it costs 7,000 euros a space of 25 square meters. And on Sunday, while the gallery owns in frank savings plan rolled up to raise their exhibitions, they asked: “What did the representatives of Meridiano, the Galeroistas Chamber, the people of Arteba and the investment agency travel?

Consulted Gonzalo Lagosin charge of guided tours, responds textually: “We travel through Meridiano: I as Executive Director of Arteba: Daniela Iramain and Leticia Kabusaki”. The gallery owners described a picturesque guided tour: “It was a group of 10 people, composed of those who arrived from Argentina, and no more than five entered the stand, the rest, kept chatting in the hall.” In sum, the paradox is that the gallery owners themselves complain about the bureaucracy they created. Now that they must finance it, they find it absurd to pay those trips. What really cared was to be treated by Mexicans as good customers and that will take collectors to see the works of their stands.

On the other hand, the investment agency does not provide financial aid, but Martín Bafundo He arrived and promised to work to get Arco air tickets, in the same way he got in Aerolineas Argentinas for the Miami Fair. Another paradox. Aerolineas Argentinas seems to be released from the savings plan governing the country for all public institutions.

Crossing the vibrant and intense Federal District, the Hall acme dazzled the gallery owner Daniel Pagano with a scenographic setting in a striking building destroyed. There art occupied unexpected spaces such as the stairs or hung between the pipes. The cocktails looked like parties and the management of guest artists, who do not pay anything, are borne by the organizers, who sell and charge their commission. In addition, there are spaces that are around 2,500 dollars where María Casado was. Pagano also praised the visit in the Maco zone of the collectors who knew how to appreciate the artists Alicia Nakatsuka, with their attractive sensuality, and Daniela Arnaudo.

The truth is that however great the effort to sustain this year Arteba, nobody wants the space gained for art since 1991, when Fito Fiterman founded the fair and Alejandro Corres It was his first president. Moreover, strategies are analyzed to save the decline fair.