Art-o-rama showcases emerging artists, multimedia art and sentimental tuning
From 28 to 30 August, the 20th edition will focus on low prices, experimentation and successful pairings
Key points
Art-o-rama, taking place in Marseille from 28 to 30 August, is now in its 20th year — although a more ambitious edition is expected in 2027 — and runs alongside the Saison Méditerranée. Art-o-rama seems to steer clear of the traditional art fair model, focusing on low prices, emerging artists, experimentation and collaborations. The Friche la Belle de Mai is an unpretentious, extremely multi-ethnic and urban setting, where diverse social movements coexist. Around 40 galleries from 18 countries, half of which were established less than five years ago, 19 making their debut, and five booths featuring collaborations between pairs of galleries. A booth costs around 4,500 euros for 12 square metres.
Of particular interest are the sections on contemporary design and the Région Sud Art Prize, featuring students from art schools in the Région Sud, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The curator Pierre-Antoine Lalande selected the four artists, and Louise Belin won the €2,000 prize with a project exploring the dreamlike dimension. A booth will be dedicated to her at the Cartonnerie during Art-o-rama 2027.
The ‘Because of many suns’ prize from the Taurisano collection goes to Cecilia Mentasti of Milan-based French Place. The two drawings (pen, marker and sticker on paper) were therefore acquired, at €1,500 each; they are adaptations – featuring dysfunctional alterations – of the exhibition centre’s evacuation plans, forming part of “Ovunque ma non qui” (Anywhere but here) on museum escape routes. Mentasti explores the art world, everyday life and the differences between provincial towns and major cities with irony and autobiographical sensitivity. His ‘Saponette’ pieces featuring photographs are even exchanged for 40 hours’ work, thereby transforming the buyer’s time and skills into the value of the artwork, as collector Giovanni Scibilia explains. Prices range from ‘Kit Festa’ (700 euros) to ‘Strawberry Artwork’ (around 6,000 euros), in which certain household appliances are ‘altered’ through a ‘practice of sentimental tuning’ and the scent of strawberries. Marta Orsola Sironi, founder of French Place, describes Art-o-rama as ‘the fair where you can test out bold ideas’.
Opposite, the 22.48 m² stand from Romainville focuses on the poetic approach of Jonathan Bréchignac, who uses pine pollen as both material and pigment for his sculptures and paintings (6,000–9,200 euros). Triangolo di Cremona shares the stand with Paris-based Sophie Tappeiner. The sole work on display by Triangolo is priced at 3,000 euros: Daniel Graham Loxton is an American artist to whom the gallery will be devoting attention at the next edition of Artissima. Jala Wahid, an artist represented by Sophie Tappeiner, presents 54 playing cards depicting Mesopotamian artefacts held in museums around the world, and evokes the cards issued by the US military to soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. The cards are sold in pairs for 2,800 euros
The proposal from Tokyo’s Gallery Hayashi makes a strong impression. ‘Anew’ by EnterprisE is an installation (priced at 12,000 euros) that fills the entire stand with hollow high-voltage cables, decommissioned after supplying the city of Basel. Also highly acclaimed is the all-female stand by Spiaggia Libera — founded by Sacha Guedj Cohen in the Malmousque district of Marseille — and by the Bulgarian gallery Punta Gallery in Sofia. ‘Tout doit disparaître’ by Veronika Desova & Slava George and Elvire Ménétrierpart is based on a shared theme: soap and rose oil, ancestral artisanal products that are, however, undergoing widespread industrialisation. Drawing on the tradition of soap-making, the artists explore the metamorphosis and sensuality of forms and materials. The female body is broken down into fragments of aluminium and glass — Veronika Desova & Slava George, represented by Punta, with prices ranging from 1,500 to 6,500 euros; whilst Elvire Ménétrier uses silicone, soap, as well as oil on canvas and metal to depict insects and hybrid creatures — priced from 1,800 to 7,000 euros for the canvas. Three works were sold for around 2,000 euros.
Sofia-based Cable Depot, a regular at the fair, is taking part for the fourth time. Gallery assistant Tiziano Tancredi tells us: “Charlie Warde — with prices ranging from 500 to 3,000 euros —, based in Marseille, has found his way into some very important French and Italian collections, with a total of no fewer than six acquisitions. This is an edition we’ll remember for a long time to come.”
