“We still need them,” New York dealer Cristin Tierney told Artnet News of fairs. “With the rise of the mega-gallery, the visibility of all other galleries and the effectiveness of our outreach has been diminished. We are constantly trying to tweak our social media ‘presence,’ or marketing, PR, whatever, in order to compete. Everyone talks about how important programming is, but that’s not entirely true, is it? The concept of ‘gallery program’ has been reduced to sound bites. It is really just code for branding. I think most of us have continued to participate in these fairs—despite rising costs and sometimes diminished returns—simply because a more effective alternative has not arisen.”
September 20, 2022