This years ‘Supermarket’, the satellite art fair which runs concurrently with ‘Market,’ Stockholm’s prestigious contemporary art fair exhibited 88 emerging galleries from 30 countries, taking part in the Nordic region’s largest art fair in 2013. At Supermarket I met a number of artist-run galleries from all over the world. All were showcasing the latest trends in contemporary Installation art, Painting, Sculpture and Video art. Supermarket was started and is run by a group of artists. It is an international platform for the artist-run art scene in Sweden.
The 2013 version of the fair had a number of interesting exhibitors. London was represented by ALISN (Artist led initiative support network), who recently exhibited at the London Art Fair. The theme this year asked the question; What is happiness for an artist and how does it manifest itself in a global world?
There were some problems with Nguyen Nhu Huy, who runs the Vietnamese Gallery ZeroStation. He had planned and prepared his trip to SUPERMARKET in 2013. Because he was an invited curator for the Singapore Biennale, Nguyen could not travel to Hanoi for the interview at the time. The Swedish Embassy demanded this interview, but only 9 days before his departure. In spite of persistent attempts by Supermarket the government was not willing to waive the regulations and the stand was curated from abroad.
Significant for Supermarket are the different perspective on the world that the visitor experiences and takes part in all of the artist-run going on. Performances in the RED SPOT projects were showing the latest in dance, theater and performance art. Two specially invited guests are FFWS – Fake Are Wannabe Swedes, which discusses cultural integration, identity, and nationality in a globalised society, and PAiN Performance Art in Norrbotten, platform for Sweden’s most northerly performance art. This year looked better than last years offering with particular note going to the Czech artist Jakub Nepras for his video projections on rock like sculpture and Lisa Ivory’s abject aberrations are exiles from a dark, unsettling sensibility. Her hybrids ask what it is to be human, with all our frailties; our Black Dogs and our disappointments. These dog gnomes might be Everyman, trying to distract death with a tense little dance, begging for scraps, on the ALISN stand.
Photo 1 above: © ArtLyst 2013 main, the ALISN team
photo 2 above © ArtLyst 2013: Czech artist Jakub Nepras
