The future of contemporary art
About 80 art galleries from around the world will gather at the Swab Barcelona Art Fair between October 8 and 10.
The Swab Barcelona Art Fair project was born in 2006 by the hand of the architect and collector Joaquín Diez-Cascón. It is a contemporary art fair with the goal to become an experimental platform for emerging artistic proposals. This year, it will be celebrated from October 8 to 10 at the pavelló d'Itàlia at the Fira de Barcelona, gathering around 80 different international art galleries, among which we find: ARTNUEVE (Murcia), Max Estrella (Madrid), Harlesden High Street (London), Polarraum (Hamburg), Galería Fran Reus (Mallorca), Cosita Rica Galería (Lima), A.MORE gallery (Milan), CAVE-AYUMIGALLERY (Tokyo), Karpuchina Gallery (Prague), new jörg (Vienna), Scorcher (Moscow) and FILAF (Perpignan). A large part of the programme is occupied by galleries from Barcelona, such as the ADN Galería, the Galería Senda, the Galería Zielinsky, the Suburbia Contemporary, the 3 Punts Galería, the Dilalica and The Green Parrot.
The programme at the Fira is divided into different sections. The Swab Reading fuses design and art with reading and publishing and opens up a space for publishing disciplines. In this edition, two international projects have been invited to present their books: Monorhetorik, the publishing house of Dutch visual artist Matt Plezier, and American artist Rafael Meléndez. The Swab Ephemeral includes proposals of ephemeral art that, this year, focus on the present moment and its impact on us. These projects will be held at the Fabra i Coats Fàbrica de Creació and La Escocesa. The cycle Swab Performance, curated by Gisela Chillida, aims to rethink the idea of presence in the sense of occupying physical space and its importance in the world of art.
The other section of the programme is the Swab Thinks, a space for dialogue between all the agents of the art world. The objective of the talks, round tables and interviews is to consider what the future of the contemporary art market will look like. The Fira will also dedicate a space to children with Swab Kids, where the Superpoderes del Arte and Grapat will be collaborating.
You can access the Fira by buying a ticket for a day (between 8 and 10 euros) or for all days (between 25 and 30 euros). Free entry for kids.