The gallerists: radical mediators in contemporary art from the sixties onwards

Established and former gallery owners from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands are invited to share their visions, motivations and practical experiences through a series of public conversations. These informal talks take place across four evenings at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.

The discussions will focus on galleries that have played an important role in positioning contemporary art and artists in the recent past, such as Wide White Space, Konrad Fischer Galerie, Galerie René Block and Art & Project, as well as galleries that now stand in the footsteps of these ‘pioneers’ of the post-war period. For the latter, the focus is on the Dutch gallery landscape with contributions from Peer Veneman and Bart van de Ven (The Living Room), Kees van Gelder (Galerie van Gelder) and Marianne van Tilborg (Lumen Travo).

This series of conversations aims to provide insight into the functioning of galleries for contemporary art by drawing on the experience of an older generation of renowned gallery owners. It also touches on the history and development of European networks of distribution of conceptual and post-conceptual art and considers the influence of galleries within this ecology: in terms of artistic, economic, societal and historical content, in which way did they influence artists, art and its public? And how did and do galleries relate to other public and private venues and institutions devoted to contemporary art?

Konrad Fischer Galerie (Düsseldorf, 1967-present): with Daniel Marzona, Thomas W. Rieger and represented artists of the gallery (names to be announced)

Konrad Fischer Galerie was inaugurated in October 1967 in an archway that served as a tiny exhibition space in the centre of Düsseldorf. The gallery opened with an exhibition of works by Carl Andre, when minimal and conceptual art were virtually unknown in Europe. Together with his partner Dorothee Fischer, Konrad promoted new tendencies and forms in contemporary art, without focusing on a specific medium or stopping at a certain artistic trend, thereby engaging their widespread network consisting of artists, collectors and institutions.