Being not only aware of the role art fairs play in shaping the contemporary art world, but also the challenges posed by participating in them, Julius Caesar artist collective imagined BARELY FAIR as a conceptual artwork in 2018. The piece would be a sculptural presentation of a miniature art fair, designed and fabricated to mimic 20 x 20 ft. booths at 1:12 scale.
While the booths were presented in the layout of a traditional art fair, the uniform 20 x 20 in. booths would provide an egalitarian presentation of galleries and artists. The miniature scale lowered cost of participation by reducing shipping costs, and the collective provided installation and documentation to the galleries, enabling participation without traveling. Our goal was to both model a system and transform it by creating access. Booth fees were $50.
Scroll down for more information on 2019 exhibitors, or visit the documentation page to see booths from the 2019 fair.
Blitz
Valletta, Malta
Blitz was founded by Alexandra Pace in 2013 as a grassroots, artist-run contemporary arts space in a four-level, typical Valletta townhouse which was originally a family home. In six years of activities as an art space, Blitz has organized thirty exhibitions, plus conferences, workshops, and talks, including a three year residency programme (2015-18) acknowledged by ArtBasel Crowdfunding initiative and Tate Art Exchange Programme.
Chicago Manual Style
Chicago
A project space directed by Stephanie Cristello, the program is dedicated to exhibitions featuring established and emerging artists, and the production of critical writing. Positioned at the convergence of exhibitions and publications, each show results in the production and commission of essayistic texts on contemporary art for an international roster of publications.
Club Nutz
Chicago
Club Nutz is a website/tv show and comedy/music label that’s also an actual club.
Five Car Garage
Los Angeles
Five Car Garage was established in 2013 by owner and gallerist/Garagist Emma Gray. The space, an actual five car garage, is situated 18 blocks from the Pacific Ocean. Capitalizing on the theatrical layout and open air quality of light and space, many of the artists exhibited at Five Car are inspired to create site specific projects.
Flyweight
Brooklyn
Flyweight is a 1:12 scale exhibition space run by artists Clare Torina and Jesse Cesario. The space is built into an above-the-closet storage nook in their Brooklyn apartment. The mission of the gallery is to provide a space where more ambitious projects may be realized in miniature, with fewer material and financial obstacles. In addition to the original location, a duplicate of the gallery is available for mobile exhibitions.
Franz Kaka
Toronto
Franz Kaka is an artist-run gallery in Toronto, Canada, presenting bi-monthly exhibitions with emerging and mid career international and Canadian artists. Founded in 2016 in a pipeladen basement in the industrial West-end of Toronto, Franz Kaka has garnered a reputation as a space where nationally-and internationally-recognized contemporary artists are welcomed and encouraged to experiment in their practice.
Good Weather
North Little Rock & Chicago
Good Weather is a contemporary art gallery from North Little Rock, Arkansas undertaking an itinerant program over the course of 2018 and 2019. The gallery was founded in 2011 to engage its community in conversation about contemporary art in order to encourage an understanding and awareness of the diverse practices that exist and the vital role each plays in defining and challenging our current local and national ethe.
Loo
Chicago
Loo is a Chicago lavatory for contemporary art. A gallery within a bathroom, within a gallery. Slow's contentious younger sibling. Serious art. Rebellious exhibition making. All puns intended. Our tight confines have been defiled by luminaries such as Jessica Hannah, Porous Walker, Judith Brotman, Ryan Michael Pfeiffer, Katy Carolina Collins, Stephanie Weir, Academy Records, Eileen Rae Walsh, and Michael Weinberg.
LVL3
Chicago
LVL3 is an artist-run exhibition space and online publication based in Chicago, IL. LVL3 is dedicated to supporting a diverse range of creative talent from around the world. LVL3 fosters creative connections and collaborative work through writing, interviews, design, music, fashion, exhibitions, events, and imagery.
Monaco
St. Louis
Established in 2017, Monaco is an artist-owned cooperative that operates as an alternative to the traditional gallery model. Referencing one of the wealthiest states in the world—notorious as a “freeport” for art and other luxury items—the name suggests a sovereign micro-state, emphasizing the autonomy of the project, and hints at ideas of commerciality in the contemporary art world.
ODD ARK•LA
Los Angeles
Founded in 2018, ODD ARK•LA is an artist-run space located in Los Angeles, California. A platform for contemporary art, exhibitions, performance and sound works. A core value of the gallery is to responsibly interact with the local community while creating an exhibition program that reflects diversity, focusing on working with emerging and mid-career artists.
The Outlet
Milwaukee
The Outlet gallery is an artist-run gallery comprised of a single electrical outlet inside 'The Open' in Milwaukee, WI. The electrical outlet is a central component to a gallery's design, however its is treated in a myriad of ways: often avoided, purposefully masked, completely depended upon, or as an architectural component. The Outlet seeks to interrogate and inspire artists' responses to the outlet in relation to exhibition space.
The Pit
Los Angeles
Founded in 2014 by artists Adam D. Miller and Devon Oder, The Pit is a contemporary art gallery representing emerging and mid-career artists who work in a variety of mediums. The Pit also organizes wide-ranging group exhibitions both in-house and off-site and publishes an ongoing series of artists’ books and editions. The Pit is a gallery member of New Art Dealers Alliance.
Prairie
Chicago
Prairie is an independent exhibition space for contemporary art in Chicago, IL. Working in the long-tradition of artist-run spaces in our city, Prairie was established in 2017 by artists Jack Schneider and Tim Mann with the simple goal of creating a venue for emerging art and a space for critical discourse.