Abigail Okorodus: The Luxembourg Art Week is very international in its scope, with a huge presence of international galleries. What does this event represent to the art world?
: Like every art fair, it’s an excellent tool to promote national art and culture. The presence of international galleries allows the public [access to] numerous artworks from around the world in one place at one time.
Nowadays, it has become a not-to-be-missed occasion to meet all the local and international art market professionals, including art critics, curators, museum directors, artists and, of course, the galleries.
In this way, I think the filled the gap in the last seven years regarding other countries with their art fairs. Due to the large number of international applications, the new selection committee this year decided to favour international exhibitors and thus increase the visibility of the fair.
Non-fungible tokens [NFTs] will make up a new category of works for the first time during the fair. What’s the story behind this?
LC: The AW3D, a virtual tour through the art fair, launched in 2020 in response to the pandemic. Luxembourg Art Week pursues its ambition this year to bring the latest trends in contemporary arts and digitalisation to Luxembourg.
While the art market is more concerned by and the metaverse--drawing a range of new collectors further interested in technologies and cryptocurrencies in its wake--it was essential for the fair to include it in this year’s programming.
Even if Luxembourg gathers a lot of NFT enthusiasts and [has] events from various sectors, a curated art booth devoted to the topic was still missing... We are looking forward to presenting this new booth within the ‘Take Off’ section to inform and educate our visitors and exhibitors about NFTs and blockchain art practices.
How many exhibitors and guests are you set to welcome this year? How many are new exhibitors?
LC: In the beginning, we had about 7,000 visitors. We more than doubled in the last seven years and had about 15,000 visitors last year. We plan to welcome about 17,000 visitors from Luxembourg and abroad for this new edition.
We have 30 first-time participating galleries this year, which is good, and they complement the 50 exhibitors that renew their participation. The size of the fair will stay at about 80 exhibitors because it is the ideal format according to the venue, the public and our local art market.
What’s the new Konschtpräis about, and what’s the selection process?
LC: The Lëtzebuerger Konschtpräis is a new national award for the visual arts. Endowed with €10,000, this biennial prize aims to distinguish an artist for their life’s work.
So it’s not for emerging artists but really something [to recognise the long-term] career commitment to the artistic scene in Luxembourg.
Read also
[It] is open to artists active in the field of visual arts, who are of Luxembourgish nationality, or living and working in Luxembourg, and have strong cultural connections with the country’s art scene.
A jury made up of five widely recognised experts in the field of visual arts was appointed by the minister of culture. The first [ever] award ceremony will take place on 11 November, just before the opening of the art week.
This article first appeared in the .