12 Sep 2024

Sydney Contemporary welcomes 25,150 visitors to eighth edition, securing more than $17.5 million in sales

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12 Sep 2024 Sydney Contemporary welcomes 25,150 visitors to eighth edition, securing more than $17.5 million in sales Sydney Contemporary welcomes 25,150 visitors to eighth edition, securing more than $17.5 million in sales Australasia’s premier art Fair, Sydney Contemporary, in partnership with MA Financial Group, attracted 25,150 visitors and recorded more than AUD$17.5million in sales throughout the five days of the Fair, with further sales expected in the coming days. Held at Presenting Partner Carriageworks from 4-8 September 2024, Sydney Contemporary represents the highest concentration of art sales annually in Australasia, a significant boost to the art market, and is critical to the growth of contemporary art in the region. Sydney Contemporary 2024 saw the Fair’s WORKS ON PAPER sector expanded, with the addition of six major galleries resulting in the sector more than doubling its sales from last year. A fair within the Fair, WORKS ON PAPER is a dedicated sector curated by Akky van Ogtrop, President of Print Council of Australia. The sector showcases the best of national and international contemporary works on paper, printmaking, watercolours, drawings, artists’ books, photographs, and zines. This year’s edition featured 87 emerging and established galleries and over 400 artists from Australia, New Zealand, and around the world. The Fair provides an incredible opportunity for collectors, curators, art lovers and institutions from across Australasia to come together on a grand scale to view thousands of contemporary artworks, and enjoy installations, performances and talks. Galleries showcased the best of Australian, Indigenous, and international art, curators and visitors from across Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, and USA. Since its foundation in 2013, Sydney Contemporary has established itself as Australasia’s premier art fair, regularly attracting over 25,000 visitors at each edition and recording more than AU$138million in art sales since its launch. Zoe Paulsen, Fair Director, Sydney Contemporary, said: “Leading my first Sydney Contemporary as Fair Director has been exhilarating and I’m thrilled with the positive response to this year’s edition. We saw excellent visitation, with collectors, curators, institutions and art lovers from near and far joining us at Carriageworks over the week. We’re also delighted to share that our expanded WORKS ON PAPER sector more than doubled its sales from last year, showing that there is a real appetite from those just starting out buying art, as well as seasoned collectors seeking to diversify their collections.” Tim Etchells, Founder and Co-Owner, Sydney Contemporary, said: “Sydney Contemporary is one of the most highly anticipated events in the region’s cultural calendar each year, as Australia’s premier art fair that provides a vital boost to the art market and the local arts scene. This year is no different, and there was a tremendous air of optimism as gallerists, artists and collectors all came together in a celebration of contemporary art.” Galleries reported a successful Fair experience with directors offering the following testimonials: <ul> <li>D’Lan Contemporary (Melbourne): “We were thrilled to be part of it this year's Sydney Contemporary and enjoy such a successful Fair, selling 35 artworks for a total of AUD$ 1,725,000, including a large-scale painting by the revered Anmatyerr artist Emily Kam Kngwarray and eight recently rediscovered works in gouache by celebrated Gija artist Paddy Bedford alongside two specially commissioned works by Wik-Mungkan / Wik-Alken artist Keith Wikmunea and Yulparitja / Mangala artist Daniel Walbidi. We'd like to say a special thank you to the artists and art centres we collaborated with this year, to the many people who visited, and to the other galleries and Sydney Contemporary for making the 2024 edition such a dynamic and celebratory event. The appetite for contemporary art in Sydney is high, and we're looking forward to returning!”</li> <li>Joanna Strumpf, Sullivan + Strumpf (Sydney): “For us, as always, it was wonderful to catch up with loyal supporters and old friends and to meet new collectors from all over Australia and further afield. What I noticed this year was a real joy amongst fair goers, and everyone was loving the changes in the layout. A hugely successful edition of Sydney Contemporary – big congratulations to the team!”</li> <li>Toby Meagher, Michael Reid Gallery (Sydney and Berlin): “2024 has been our most successful Sydney Contemporary to date. In a tougher year, this has been a welcome result. This year we found the visitor numbers to be extremely consistent, with no "dead periods" across the 5 days. Both Wednesday and Thursday were notably strong with an impressive depth of collectors through the doors. And with shifting demographics across the days we also found surprisingly consistent engagement with buyers through until the last hours of Sunday.”</li> <li>Ralph Hobbs, Nanda\Hobbs (Sydney): “This year's Sydney Contemporary fair was a resounding success. It was superbly organised in all facets, with a fascinating and engaging program extending beyond Carriageworks. New and existing clients enthusiastically embraced the artists we showed in our presentation. Every day brought consistently high sales. The revamped paper section was a triumph, elevating this important sector and exposing many great artists to a new audience. However, my abiding memory of this year is the overwhelming joy that pervaded throughout the fair—it's just the tonic that the Australian art market needed.”</li> <li>Jessica Lord, Minerva, (Sydney): “Sydney Contemporary 2024 was a great experience for us. It was an enjoyable event and in every respect far more worthwhile than other fairs that Minerva has participated in.”</li> <li>Soti Sotirious, Coma (Sydney): “2024 was another successful year with Sydney Contemporary, one of the most vibrant and engaging fairs in this region. We look forward to continuing to connect with Australia's best collectors and providing access to exciting international and local artists at the next edition of the fair.”</li> <li>Yeqin Zuo, Vermilion Art (Sydney): “It was such a different and exciting experience to exhibit at the new addition of the fair WORKS ON PAPER. It allowed us to have a curated quality booth with different forms of works on paper, which is many Chinese artists’ primary material. This is our sixth Sydney Contemporary since 2017. We have the highest volume of works sold compared to the previous five fairs. We had many young collectors visiting us as well as significant collectors.”</li> <li>Cassandra Bird, CASSANDRA BIRD (Sydney): “This was our inaugural year participating in the Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, and the outcome exceeded our expectations in terms of sales, client database expansion, and marketing. We are pleased to report that several artworks exhibited at the fair were acquired by museums and institutions, as well as a diverse range of previously unknown collectors. We are absolutely thrilled with the outcome of participating in this Art Fair!”</li> <li>Nicholas Smith, N.Smith Gallery (Sydney): “Sydney Contemporary continues to bring together collectors, curators, the curious, and most importantly artists, for five days of art. The fair is the highlight of our year, and we can’t wait to show again in 2025.”</li> <li>Roslyn Oxley, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (Sydney): “We had a hugely successful fair week with strong sales and an opportunity to showcase a tightly curated booth from a selection of our gallery artists with works that span the last 40 years. We really enjoy coming to Sydney Contemporary and feel it is beneficial for multiple reasons. Sydney Contemporary gives us the opportunity to connect with our collectors from across Australia and New Zealand and meet some wonderful new clients in a fun and vibrant context. We are very much looking forward to next year’s edition.”</li> <li>Adam Stone – LON Gallery (Melbourne): “We were thrilled to have the opportunity to present Devi Seetharam's debut Australian solo show to an engaged Australasian audience at Sydney Contemporary this year. Her sell out presentation was admired by a wide and discerning audience, and we particularly welcomed the engagement of a number of cultural institutions and key high-profile collectors from the region. The fair was an invaluable opportunity for us to meet new clients, curators and art enthusiasts, and I am confident that there will be a continued flow on effect of new opportunities and conversations as a direct result of the fair.”</li> </ul> Outstanding gallery booth presentations were supported by a program including Installation Contemporary, Performance Contemporary, Talk Contemporary and Kid Contemporary. Installation Contemporary, curated by Talia Linz, Senior Curator at Artspace, featured 12 large-scale installations by APY Art Centre Collective, Rebecca Baumann, Stephen Bird, Cybele Cox, David McDiarmid, Yeo Kaa, Mai Nguyễn-Long, Patricia Piccinini, Lisa Roet, Darren Sylvester, Shan Turner-Carroll and Lu Yang. Performance Contemporary, curated by Sam Watson-Wood, saw a diverse and dynamic program of experimental and ephemeral performance works across the week by Sereima Adimate and Kilia Pahulu, Agnes Christina, and HOSSEI. Talk Contemporary offered an engaging program of curated talks by industry leaders from art, architecture and design, curated by Micheal Do, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Sydney Opera House and Stephen Todd, Design Editor of Australian Financial Review. The talks featured a dynamic lineup of industry leaders exploring current trends and topics at the intersection of art, design and architecture. The winner of the inaugural acquisitive $10,000 MA Art Prize was awarded to emerging Arrernte artist Alfred Lowe, who exhibited with Sabbia Gallery. The prize has been established to help identify, promote and realise the potential of emerging artists in Australia. Sydney Contemporary, in partnership with MA Financial Group, will return next year from 11 – 14 September 2025, with the Collector Preview on 10 September 2025. Carriageworks is the proud Presenting Partner. Sydney Contemporary is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW. Ends IMAGES: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1P-NTGWG0rt1n-Q8BNPcHQB5xAa414AVQ?usp=sharing MEDIA CONTACTS: To request interviews, further information or imagery please contact: Jasmine Hersee jasmine@articulatepr.com.au, 0451 087 196 Siân Davies sian@articulatepr.com.au 0402 728 462 Kym Elphinstone, kym@articulatepr.com.au, 0421 106 139

Australasia’s premier art Fair, Sydney Contemporary, in partnership with MA Financial Group, attracted 25,150 visitors and recorded more than AUD$17.5million in sales throughout the five days of the Fair, with further sales expected in the coming days. Held at Presenting Partner Carriageworks from 4-8 September 2024, Sydney Contemporary represents the highest concentration of art sales annually in Australasia, a significant boost to the art market, and is critical to the growth of contemporary art in the region.

Sydney Contemporary 2024 saw the Fair’s WORKS ON PAPER sector expanded, with the addition of six major galleries resulting in the sector more than doubling its sales from last year. A fair within the Fair, WORKS ON PAPER is a dedicated sector curated by Akky van Ogtrop, President of Print Council of Australia. The sector showcases the best of national and international contemporary works on paper, printmaking, watercolours, drawings, artists’ books, photographs, and zines.

This year’s edition featured 87 emerging and established galleries and over 400 artists from Australia, New Zealand, and around the world. The Fair provides an incredible opportunity for collectors, curators, art lovers and institutions from across Australasia to come together on a grand scale to view thousands of contemporary artworks, and enjoy installations, performances and talks. Galleries showcased the best of Australian, Indigenous, and international art, curators and visitors from across Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, and USA.

Since its foundation in 2013, Sydney Contemporary has established itself as Australasia’s premier art fair, regularly attracting over 25,000 visitors at each edition and recording more than AU$138million in art sales since its launch.

Zoe Paulsen, Fair Director, Sydney Contemporary, said: “Leading my first Sydney Contemporary as Fair Director has been exhilarating and I’m thrilled with the positive response to this year’s edition. We saw excellent visitation, with collectors, curators, institutions and art lovers from near and far joining us at Carriageworks over the week. We’re also delighted to share that our expanded WORKS ON PAPER sector more than doubled its sales from last year, showing that there is a real appetite from those just starting out buying art, as well as seasoned collectors seeking to diversify their collections.”

Tim Etchells, Founder and Co-Owner, Sydney Contemporary, said: “Sydney Contemporary is one of the most highly anticipated events in the region’s cultural calendar each year, as Australia’s premier art fair that provides a vital boost to the art market and the local arts scene. This year is no different, and there was a tremendous air of optimism as gallerists, artists and collectors all came together in a celebration of contemporary art.”

Galleries reported a successful Fair experience with directors offering the following testimonials:

D’Lan Contemporary (Melbourne): “We were thrilled to be part of it this year's Sydney Contemporary and enjoy such a successful Fair, selling 35 artworks for a total of AUD$ 1,725,000, including a large-scale painting by the revered Anmatyerr artist Emily Kam Kngwarray and eight recently rediscovered works in gouache by celebrated Gija artist Paddy Bedford alongside two specially commissioned works by Wik-Mungkan / Wik-Alken artist Keith Wikmunea and Yulparitja / Mangala artist Daniel Walbidi. We'd like to say a special thank you to the artists and art centres we collaborated with this year, to the many people who visited, and to the other galleries and Sydney Contemporary for making the 2024 edition such a dynamic and celebratory event. The appetite for contemporary art in Sydney is high, and we're looking forward to returning!”
Joanna Strumpf, Sullivan + Strumpf (Sydney): “For us, as always, it was wonderful to catch up with loyal supporters and old friends and to meet new collectors from all over Australia and further afield. What I noticed this year was a real joy amongst fair goers, and everyone was loving the changes in the layout. A hugely successful edition of Sydney Contemporary – big congratulations to the team!”
Toby Meagher, Michael Reid Gallery (Sydney and Berlin): “2024 has been our most successful Sydney Contemporary to date. In a tougher year, this has been a welcome result. This year we found the visitor numbers to be extremely consistent, with no "dead periods" across the 5 days. Both Wednesday and Thursday were notably strong with an impressive depth of collectors through the doors. And with shifting demographics across the days we also found surprisingly consistent engagement with buyers through until the last hours of Sunday.”
Ralph Hobbs, Nanda\Hobbs (Sydney): “This year's Sydney Contemporary fair was a resounding success. It was superbly organised in all facets, with a fascinating and engaging program extending beyond Carriageworks. New and existing clients enthusiastically embraced the artists we showed in our presentation. Every day brought consistently high sales. The revamped paper section was a triumph, elevating this important sector and exposing many great artists to a new audience. However, my abiding memory of this year is the overwhelming joy that pervaded throughout the fair—it's just the tonic that the Australian art market needed.”
Jessica Lord, Minerva, (Sydney): “Sydney Contemporary 2024 was a great experience for us. It was an enjoyable event and in every respect far more worthwhile than other fairs that Minerva has participated in.”
Soti Sotirious, Coma (Sydney): “2024 was another successful year with Sydney Contemporary, one of the most vibrant and engaging fairs in this region. We look forward to continuing to connect with Australia's best collectors and providing access to exciting international and local artists at the next edition of the fair.”
Yeqin Zuo, Vermilion Art (Sydney): “It was such a different and exciting experience to exhibit at the new addition of the fair WORKS ON PAPER. It allowed us to have a curated quality booth with different forms of works on paper, which is many Chinese artists’ primary material. This is our sixth Sydney Contemporary since 2017. We have the highest volume of works sold compared to the previous five fairs. We had many young collectors visiting us as well as significant collectors.”
Cassandra Bird, CASSANDRA BIRD (Sydney): “This was our inaugural year participating in the Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, and the outcome exceeded our expectations in terms of sales, client database expansion, and marketing. We are pleased to report that several artworks exhibited at the fair were acquired by museums and institutions, as well as a diverse range of previously unknown collectors. We are absolutely thrilled with the outcome of participating in this Art Fair!”
Nicholas Smith, N.Smith Gallery (Sydney): “Sydney Contemporary continues to bring together collectors, curators, the curious, and most importantly artists, for five days of art. The fair is the highlight of our year, and we can’t wait to show again in 2025.”
Roslyn Oxley, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery (Sydney): “We had a hugely successful fair week with strong sales and an opportunity to showcase a tightly curated booth from a selection of our gallery artists with works that span the last 40 years. We really enjoy coming to Sydney Contemporary and feel it is beneficial for multiple reasons. Sydney Contemporary gives us the opportunity to connect with our collectors from across Australia and New Zealand and meet some wonderful new clients in a fun and vibrant context. We are very much looking forward to next year’s edition.”
Adam Stone – LON Gallery (Melbourne): “We were thrilled to have the opportunity to present Devi Seetharam's debut Australian solo show to an engaged Australasian audience at Sydney Contemporary this year. Her sell out presentation was admired by a wide and discerning audience, and we particularly welcomed the engagement of a number of cultural institutions and key high-profile collectors from the region. The fair was an invaluable opportunity for us to meet new clients, curators and art enthusiasts, and I am confident that there will be a continued flow on effect of new opportunities and conversations as a direct result of the fair.”

Outstanding gallery booth presentations were supported by a program including Installation Contemporary, Performance Contemporary, Talk Contemporary and Kid Contemporary.

Installation Contemporary, curated by Talia Linz, Senior Curator at Artspace, featured 12 large-scale installations by APY Art Centre Collective, Rebecca Baumann, Stephen Bird, Cybele Cox, David McDiarmid, Yeo Kaa, Mai Nguyễn-Long, Patricia Piccinini, Lisa Roet, Darren Sylvester, Shan Turner-Carroll and Lu Yang.

Performance Contemporary, curated by Sam Watson-Wood, saw a diverse and dynamic program of experimental and ephemeral performance works across the week by Sereima Adimate and Kilia Pahulu, Agnes Christina, and HOSSEI.

Talk Contemporary offered an engaging program of curated talks by industry leaders from art, architecture and design, curated by Micheal Do, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Sydney Opera House and Stephen Todd, Design Editor of Australian Financial Review. The talks featured a dynamic lineup of industry leaders exploring current trends and topics at the intersection of art, design and architecture.

The winner of the inaugural acquisitive $10,000 MA Art Prize was awarded to emerging Arrernte artist Alfred Lowe, who exhibited with Sabbia Gallery. The prize has been established to help identify, promote and realise the potential of emerging artists in Australia.

Sydney Contemporary, in partnership with MA Financial Group, will return next year from 11 – 14 September 2025, with the Collector Preview on 10 September 2025. Carriageworks is the proud Presenting Partner.
Sydney Contemporary is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW.

Ends

IMAGES: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1P-NTGWG0rt1n-Q8BNPcHQB5xAa414AVQ?usp=sharing

MEDIA CONTACTS:

To request interviews, further information or imagery please contact:
Jasmine Hersee jasmine@articulatepr.com.au, 0451 087 196
Siân Davies sian@articulatepr.com.au 0402 728 462
Kym Elphinstone, kym@articulatepr.com.au, 0421 106 139

Sydney Contemporary welcomes 25,150 visitors to eighth edition, securing more than $17.5 million in sales

12 Sep 2024

Sydney Contemporary welcomes 25,150 visitors to eighth edition, securing more than $17.5 million in sales

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