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Condo launches in Shanghai for the first time

July 09, 2018ByGrace Ignacia See

Condo, the new art fair that functions around an unconventional gallery-share model launched in Shanghai for the very first time this past weekend.

With Condo’s first ever installment in London in 2016 and New York in 2017, gallerist Vanessa Carlos set her eyes on an expansion that includes Shanghai and Mexico City this year. This gallery-share model initiated by Carlos operates with galleries temporarily sharing their spaces with dealers from overseas, and sometimes even collaborating on exhibitions.

What this model successfully facilitates is one of access – collectors are now able to engage with what foreign markets have to offer, and galleries are able to work with alleviated costs derived from ever steeping overheads. Rising to success in contrast to the environment of proliferating art fairs, the decline of mid-tier galleries as well as inklings of dealers cutting back on the exorbitant rental of booths, Condo seeks to push an easier pace for looking at and appreciating art. Furthermore, it allows people to get back into the gallery to engage with art.

Photo courtesy of Edouard Malingue Gallery, hosting König Galerie (Berlin, Germany) & Esther Schipper (Berlin, Germany)

Whilst reports of sales were not overwhelming, dealers from the London edition of Condo this year have expressed that sales were not their sole priority. This was due to how the structure of such a gallery-share model granted a focus on long-term promotion and forgoes quick cash infusions. This, in their opinion, projects a definite dominance over the significantly pricier art-fair model. Moreover, the galleries involved with Condo in New York were autonomous in how they assembled their projects while still connected to the affiliations in London. This allowed for the utilization of interconnectivity and support, and is also the system that the Shanghai iteration demonstrates.

London map of Condo, image courtesy of Condo London

This same framework is transposed from London, to New York, to Shanghai, and Carlos intends on expanding further into Europe. At an art fair, galleries and dealers bring what they can sell. However, take the overarching costs out and what you get are galleries taking more risks and promoting artists within carefully curated exhibitions that would not have been feasible in an art fair environment.

Carlos additionally implies that Condo is not merely just a cheaper substitute to art fairs for younger galleries as she states that “The project is much more about a reaction to an art world structure that mimics what is happening in the world at large right now: a neoliberal pyramid where everything seems to point toward corporations.” Whilst there are several cities that have approached Carlos where she does not think Condo would be suitable for, she works with encouraging them to develop their own versions.