VIP Art Fair, the world’s first and major online contemporary art event is going to have a more extensive Web-based presence this year. There are three new special events in the offing this year, following the hiring of a new director, chief executive officer and technical team. Big names like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth and White Cube remain among 110-115 dealers who have signed up for VIP 2.0, that has just been previewed.
The online fair has got angel funding to the tune of nearly $1 million from a duo of international art collectors, namely the Australian Philip Keir and Selmo Nissenbaum from Brazil. The first edition, held last January, was termed an unprecedented event that gave collectors and art lovers access to thousands of quality works and also a chance to connect with over 130 dealers from across 30 countries. The event though, was hampered by logistical problems like a jammed chat system. After that, some of the first-time participants such as L&M Arts and Michael Werner Gallery refused to return.
Agenda of the new fair director
The fair’s new chief executive, Lisa Kennedy, was quoted as saying in an interview with Bloomberg: “We have hired our own in-house technical team. We’ve re-architected the website. It can now handle a lot more traffic flow and also many more simultaneous queries.” Kennedy was hired last year from a subsidiary of Amazon, Quidsi Inc.. A former head of sales at Artnet, Liz Parks, has been chosen as director of the fair that starts on online through February 8.
The agency’s news report stated that VIP will be holding exclusive events devoted to artworks on paper apart from events related to photography in April and July respectively. A ‘Vernissage’ (preview) will take place in September. It will be a smaller affair in which dealers would create a buzz about what’s new & fresh before the Fall season begins.
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