Lorenzo Rudolf: Thoughts on Singapore

So, in order to actually find out more about Singapore’s art scene, the best option for us seemed to be to seek out an expert from the region, Swiss Lorenzo Rudolf. The charismatic director of Art Stage Singapore was at the head of Art Basel for 10 years and the concept of VIP in the artworld can be accredited to him.

We met Rudolf during his fair a few weeks back…

So, how are things going in Singapore?

Singapore is the center of the region, it is very small, but it’s the only country with a real infrastructure and which is truly multicultural, so it is here where we must strategically construct a market. We must remember however that we are in a region where the markets are very much closed off, it is up to us to create this platform, we must create the market and educate and cultivate new collectors.  
And how do we go about doing that?

We attract people with “Momentum Southeast Asia” [the most interesting part of the 2015 Singaporean fair]. In general we have China and India and that’s it, but we are beginning to attract other collectors and construct a real local market. Without a strong local market the Asian art scene will never progress.

And how do you position yourself artistically?

Geography is not a sufficient artistic position, there are newcomers to the fair such as Gordon Gallery from Tel Aviv, but we also have a fair number of Western galleries who come here to show an artist from the region, establishing branches, coming to export their market here. They never however bring artists from the region to Europe.

These galleries come looking to conquer, not only by thinking of the expansion of their personal market, it’s all give and no take.

Regional galleries then lose their local representations, our aim is to therefore support local Asian galleries and to protect them as they do not have the means to defend themselves. I want to talk about networks and financial resources.

Of course we need the Perrotins and the White Cubes, but we’re not going to create an interesting fair with just those two.

What is the best way of establishing yourself?

Right now everything works according to brands, and that is exactly what we are trying to do, create our own brand. This is also true for galleries and artists, it’s how the world works these days...

The biggest brand right now is Art Basel, even Frieze struggled to position itself and the Fiac has just cancelled its Los Angeles edition….

Where are you in comparison to this big brands?

We have the advantage of being smaller and therefore more flexible, if we want to get new trends discovered in Asia, it is here that it needs to happen.

Do you want to take this model elsewhere?

No, first we should consolidate our own fair. We are already very respected but we must be very careful to move forward sensibly as it’s very easy to damage your reputation quickly.

This is a trade where one mustn’t make errors.