The Art Fair of the Future: NOMAD Circle

Every year, a group of discerning art & design collectors, professionals and aficionados get together over the course of one week in order to visit a fair that, to this day, is unique.

Since its inception in 2017, NOMAD successfully completed nine editions in St. Moritz, Monaco, Venice and a virtual edition in Cannes. Each year, a new location for the forthcoming edition is announced. What stays the same are breath-taking locations that unite the best of art & design under one roof.

During the latest Nomad Circle edition in St.Moritz, Switzerland we had the pleasure to sit down with one of the co-founders Nicholas Bellavalance-Lecompte:

Tell me about how Nomad Circle came together, what sparked the idea of doing a traveling art fair?

I come from a background as a Gallerist and I met Giorgio Pace, my business partner, who was more in the publishing and contemporary art field - Together we had this fatigue of the usual fairs and wanted to create an event with more of an experience and something a bit more exclusive that would gather a community to a destination that would change yearly.

Miami is beautiful and fun but after years of going there, you feel like it's time to change and see new places. It's also interesting to think of another way to exhibit art and design and to create new experiences around it. So we had an idea to get together a small group of galleries in an exclusive location, like the Chesa Planta in St.Moritz but also like the former house of Karl Lagerfeld Villa La Vigie in Monaco for example.

The next Nomad will be held in Capri from the 5th to the 10^th of July in the Certosa di San Giacomo which is an amazing Monastery that almost no one knows about and is only a few steps away from the famous Piazza.

You are wearing many hats: Architect, curator, gallerist – which job title describes you the best?

In all that I do, creativity is the link to everything so I would describe myself as a creative director. I enjoy working in many fields because creativity for me means exploring.

On your website you have been describing Nomad as the art fair of the future – Can you tell our readers why?

Well, this is basically a quotation from Hans Ulrich Obrist who described our exhibition as such when he attended the very first edition of Nomad. 

He stated that the future of art fairs is to travel to rural areas and to change the model completely by going towards a fair model that is no longer held in large, empty white spaces. 

It’s interesting looking back to when we started in 2017: Two years later, the pandemic hit the world and strangely, we were already operating an art fair that was agile and flexible as our team was all over the world, already working from home. Also, we are not a mass event so we were able to continue our business during these times. This new model made a big difference and I would say, is also the recipe for success for every new business starting. 

How do you find these special locations where the Nomad Circles are held in? 

We travel the world in search for these special places and sometimes we have friends who are suggesting some venues too.

You once also held a virtual exhibition in Pierre Cardin’s former Villa Palais des Bulles near Cannes on the French Riviera.

Yes. This will be a virtual exhibition.

Tell me a bit more about how the guests were be able to experience this?

It was a special project we did with the Design Museum London, and Philip’s. We created a format of a private sale organized around the team of Palais Bulles with a curatorial committee that was selecting one artwork from each Gallery.

We did some editorial content and we had a video team that was sent on site to create a documentary and to interview Pierre Cardin. This was also the last interview he gave before his passing so it was a very beautiful project. It was online for only ten days in October 2020. 

We didn't want to do the usual virtual 3D tour - We preferred to go with something more editorial, low key in a way, and it worked really well.

Speaking of: What do you think of digitalization of the art world in general? Do you think, at one point in 20-30 years, we will only be attending art fairs virtually?

Well, I don’t think so and Nomad is the proof that this will not happen. Maybe the big formats are evolving towards this model but Nomad is completely contrary in a way. For us, the physical experience means everything. Many people are still not able to travel to our fairs. So the communication around this idea is that Nomad is an exclusive format which is strangely effective because now we have different companies such as Loro Piana and Dior, that are choosing our format to do global launches but also so do some curators and private companies. 

So it's basically in almost a viral way, all of the what's happening here, as a real experience communicates so well to the rest of the world. Presenting in a context with this unique dialogue, (within the architecture of our fair venues). Nomad became the best way to launch projects, to start a communication and bringing the right community together.

And how do you choose and curate your exhibitors? 

It's a mix between galleries and businesses applying to us and some exhibitors that we find ourselves. We have an open call online where everyone can apply – all the applications are run by a committee which curates and selects the right exhibitors for Nomad.

Would you say there is something all of your exhibitors have in common?

Yes, I would say in general, they're all looking for an experience, and they're genuinely very open minded people. You do feel that all the exhibitors create a feeling of almost like a family - This creates a unity which is, even if everyone is presenting completely different projects, a very coherent synergy.

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To find out when the next exciting Art & Design fairs are happening, click here.