All posts tagged: fair

After London Fair Suffers Loss, CEO Departs and MCH Looks to Rebrand

After London Fair Suffers Loss, CEO Departs and MCH Looks to Rebrand

Published by skeptic

Lucie Kitchener, the CEO of stalled design fair Masterpiece London, which shows works by antique dealers and designers, stepped down from the role in December, a representative for the fair’s parent company MCH Group told ARTnews recently. The departure was the latest shift for Masterpiece, which has not staged a fair since 2022; the MCH representative said that “future plans are under review” for the brand, though further details were not provided. In 2023, MCH, the Swiss events company that also owns Art Basel, announced in regulatory filings that it was cancelling that year’s edition of Masterpiece and that the fair would not run again in its current form, as it had been losing money since at least 2020. Related Articles Two years before that, in 2021, MCH’s directors reported in financial filings they expected Masterpiece London to “return to profitability” after recovering from the pandemic cancellation of the 2020 fair. That did not end up happening. In subsequent reports, MCH said that Masterpiece suffered a £2.2 million profit loss in 2022 and another £2 …

At 2025 India Art Fair, Local Collectors Show No Sign of Slowing Down

At 2025 India Art Fair, Local Collectors Show No Sign of Slowing Down

Published by skeptic

For its 16th edition, the India Art Fair in New Delhi clamped down on the number of invites it extended for its ultra-VIP preview, from 11 am to 3 pm on Thursday. This attempt to avoid the overwhelming rush witnessed at last year’s edition was forgotten just minutes after the clock struck 3, the tent becoming overcrowded. The buzz all day seem optimistic, a sign of India’s maturation of a leading art market hub. The day’s clear blue sky, in a city that tends to be smoggy, seemed especially a good omen for commerce. Related Articles Long a flagbearer for the local market, the India Art Fair set its ambitions high at the end of 2024, with the unexpected announcement that it would expand to Mumbai. But a successful edition of recent rival Art Mumbai in November, and its commitment from major galleries for its 2025 edition, forced IAF to call off those plans. Now, back on its home turf, IAF had a point to prove.  “Our plans are about building a stronger collector base …

When Children Say, ‘It’s Not Fair!’

When Children Say, ‘It’s Not Fair!’

Published by skeptic

Many parents experience pain and confusion when a child relates a sad tale of being mistreated by a friend, sibling, classmate, or teacher: “Janie was mean to me”; “My teacher picked on me”; “It’s not fair!” How do we support our children through this type of upset? It may be tempting (but not very helpful) to offer support this way: “Oh, my poor, precious, innocent, misunderstood, mistreated dear, how terrible that that mean person did that to you. Tell me everything they did so we can start a lawsuit!” (I am exaggerating one common type of response—but only by a little.) Source: Rickey123 / Pixabay Or it may be tempting (but just as unhelpful) to say something like, “You must have done something to deserve it…”; “Listen to your teacher; she’s in charge…”; “Don’t be such a baby…”; “Life isn’t fair…”; “Don’t be a tattle-tale…”; “You’re too sensitive.” The middle way between these extremes is to acknowledge their pain, to bear the pain and help them bear it, and to keep some perspective on it. …

The First Atlanta Art Fair Heralds the Ascenion of New Art Destination

The First Atlanta Art Fair Heralds the Ascenion of New Art Destination

Published by skeptic

At the opening of the inaugural Atlanta Art Fair (AAF) this week, there was discussion of what the fair—the first of its stature in Atlanta—is not. A numbers contest; a commercial thoroughfare; a crash landing into some locale’s front yard, complete with cleanup for the locals. The ambition is site-specificity: come, buy, stay, but this labor is foremost for the love of Atlanta. “All of the people here are so passionate about finding funding, championing their artists. Every dollar has to be fought for, there is so much work to amplify each voice. People need to be paying attention to Atlanta, but there hasn’t been a mechanism for that,” Kelly Freeman, the fair’s director, told ARTnews. (Atlanta, it’s worth noting, ranks 49th in the US in terms of public art funding.) Freeman added that regional artists don’t lack quality or quantity, but rather a gathering place. The Atlanta Art Fair, open to the public Friday through October 6 at Pullman Yards—jam-packed at the preview—is the presumed remedy. Five years in the making, the fair was …

Can We Achieve Fair Campaign Finance?

Can We Achieve Fair Campaign Finance?

Published by skeptic

  Supporters of both major political parties often grumble about the controversial role of money in politics, usually alleging corruption due to candidates being “owned” by donors. Was it always this way? Have any laws been passed to try to limit corruption in the form of candidates being improperly influenced by donors? From the era of machine politics to today’s super PACs, it is undeniable that wealthy donors hold lots of influence over politicians. How did this scenario come to be? Can anything be done to level the playing field? From the Gilded Age to today, here is a look at the vital role of money in US elections.   Pre-Civil War Campaign Finance An 1824 campaign poster for Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Jackson, who is considered the first active presidential campaigner. Source: Library of Congress   Campaign finance was not a major issue prior to the American Civil War (1861-65) because few candidates above the local level actively campaigned for office. For the first few decades of the United States, most candidates were self-funded …

Graydon Carter’s ‘Vanity Fair’ Memoir: Cover Revealed

Graydon Carter’s ‘Vanity Fair’ Memoir: Cover Revealed

Published by skeptic

Graydon Carter is ready to pull back the curtain on his storied stewardship of Vanity Fair. And The Hollywood Reporter can now exclusively reveal the cover of the magazine editor’s memoir, out March 25 from Penguin Press. The dust jacket for When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines features a younger Carter in a bespoke power suit, cigarette in hand, his trademark hair wings just beginning to take flight. Carter, 75, was offered the top job at the Condé Nast magazine in 1992, taking over from Tina Brown, who’d edited it since 1984 and was moving to The New Yorker. Over the next two-and-a-half decades, Carter — who’d immigrated from Canada in 1979 and previously helmed the groundbreaking, celebrity-skewering Spy — transformed the magazine into a monthly must-read. His Vanity Fair brimmed with tales of obscene wealth, celebrity and riveting true-crime — and, if the stars aligned, as it did for Dominic Dunne’s seminal reporting on the O.J. Simpson trial, a story contained all three. Other memorable contributors …

Belgium’s Collectible Design Fair Debuts in NYC

Belgium’s Collectible Design Fair Debuts in NYC

Published by skeptic

Uppercut at Collectible 2024. Source: Collectible Design Far. © Pim Top.   The acclaimed European Collectible Design Fair opened its debut stateside edition on Thursday, September 5. The New York City debut of the festival runs through Sunday, September 8, and coincides with The Armory Show.   The Fair’s Stateside Debut Alchemist’s Folly by Nicholas Delvin. Source: Simon Leung.   Over one hundred exhibitors of contemporary design gathered at the Water Street Projects in New York City’s Financial District for the Collectible Design Fair’s stateside debut. From crisp minimalism to colorful maximalism, an exciting array of New York’s most exciting designers are featured, as well as European contributors. The fair emphasizes “unique pieces, bespoke commissions, and limited editions, as well as newly produced works created with functionality in mind.” The Collectible Design Fair’s founders told Artnet News, “What sets Collectible apart from other fairs is our distinct focus on the present.”   Design Fair Highlights Ice Melts by Mastrangelo Studio. Source: Simon Leung.   Among the contemporary creations showcased at the New York Collectible Design …

Was the jailing of Just Stop Oil protesters fair? | Protest

Was the jailing of Just Stop Oil protesters fair? | Protest

Published by skeptic

I agree wholeheartedly with Chris Packham’s and Dale Vince’s article criticising the jailing of environmental protesters (You may find Just Stop Oil annoying. You may dislike their tactics. But they do not belong in prison, 19 July). It’s a chilling response that shames our judiciary. Yes, the protesters are often annoying, aggrandising and disruptive: that’s the point. Our history is littered with such protesters, whose actions have changed the lives of many and resulted in governments enacting legislation. That we now have legally protected characteristics for many citizens is, in part, due to campaigns by annoying, aggrandising and disruptive citizens, often pilloried, jailed and worse. Our legislative limits on the right to protest in the past few years are starting to look like an insidious march towards “illiberal democracy”, to coin a phrase that Viktor Orbán has used to describe his government.Patrick CallaghanLondon When I heard the news of the lengthy prison sentences meted out to the environmental truth-tellers, I suddenly felt I had been transported to another country. Was I now in Russia? Or North …

EU seeks ‘fair and balanced’ trade ties with China, says bloc’s foreign policy chief Borrell

EU seeks ‘fair and balanced’ trade ties with China, says bloc’s foreign policy chief Borrell

Published by Sam

“The purpose of this conference is to bring as many people as possible to discuss how peace could look like,” said Mr Borrell, adding that the EU has a “strong moral commitment” to back Ukraine against Russian invaders. “This country wants to explain to the rest of the world what’s happening and which are their proposals to stop the war, and the more people (attend) at the highest possible level, the more the international community has to use their influence and their capacity to stop this war. It’s not a peace conference, it’s a conference about peace.” In 1994, three years after its independence, Ukraine gave up its arms and nuclear arsenal – the third largest in the world at the time – to Russia in exchange for security assurances that its territorial sovereignty would be respected. Ukraine was then a nuclear power, but it returned all the missiles “because the international community was not in favour of proliferation”, Mr Borrell pointed out.  “Russia signed a commitment ensuring the territorial integrity of Ukraine. So whoever …

City of London watchdog is making a fair point on ‘naming and shaming’ | Nils Pratley

City of London watchdog is making a fair point on ‘naming and shaming’ | Nils Pratley

Published by skeptic

The City’s lobbying battalion in full cry is something to behold. Witness the furious response from the banking and finance industry to a proposal from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to name firms under investigations occasionally – specifically when it thinks the public interest would be served. One regulatory aim is to improve behaviour in an industry that, let’s face it, doesn’t have an unblemished record. From the noise heard from the lobbyists, you’d almost think the FCA was suggesting banging up all the chief executives on the spot, as opposed to striking a modest blow in favour of transparency when a clear case can be made. UK Finance, the umbrella trade body for the industry, thinks publicly disclosing the identity of a company under investigation – something that is normal in many other regulatory fields – “could be harmful to wider financial stability”. It has terrible visions of false markets, share trading suspensions, litigation, general disruption and more. The financial industry also has the ear of the chancellor, especially now that the FCA has …