Plural Art Fair review

The Plural Contemporary Art Fair, previously known as the Papier Art Fair, was super educational for me. It basically consists of 45 art galleries across 9 cities in Canada that come with their favourite, or most iconic, or original art work to the Old Port of Montreal. This art fair is organized by AGAC, which is the Contemporary Art Galleries Association, and from what I understood of the explanation of the general director Annie Deslauriers is that the AGAC is a not-for-profit that protects the values/morals and the economic interests of both parties: galleries and artists.

I attended the forum: "SéminArts pour les 18-30 ans: atelier d’initiation au collectionnement de l’art contemporain et son marché" presented by Yann Pocreau (artist) and with guests Annie Deslauriers (general director of AGAC) and a collectioner (forgot her name but loved her outfit!) where they talked about main actors in the contemporary art ecosystem and the art market and the role that art fairs play in the circulation of artworks. SUPER INTERESTING! Even if I am not necessarily interested in being a collector in the near future, I thought this helped understand the art market, the process of the economic exchange and the interesting relationship between artist and gallerist. There are three players here, the artist that actually makes the art, the gallerist that markets the art and the collector that gives the art a new meaning.

We also did a tour of the art fair with Yann Pocreau where we met the different gallerists (obviously not all as there were 45 galleries but some!) and they showed us how though out their choice of pieces is. It's interesting because they give the art a new perception depending with what other artwork they put next.

Anyways, the ticket was about 20$ if I remember correctly, I think that signing up to the forum and signing up to the guided visit made it super worth it for someone that knows so little about the art collecting world.