«I hope that this scheme of mega galleries is really over»
Post-pandemic perspectives. An interview with Israeli gallerist and art collector Noemi Givon
Even though the remark ‘the world will never be the same again’ is a catchphrase of the pandemic that most everyone can agree with, one thing that no one knows is what exactly this new world – one in which we must ‘cohabit’ with the virus – will look like. The keyword here is ‘uncertainty’.
At the same time, as Noemi Givon, art collector and co-owner of Givon Gallery in Tel Aviv says, ‘It is cleaning up the globe as well as the art world, and in various ways’.
Our conversation is about how this more than half a year spent in the shadow of COVID-19 has changed the art scene, art institutions, the art market, and the artist's role in society. We also discussed what could be the positive impact of this period, given that we have to learn to live with the virus itself as well as the adjustments it has caused in the current world/art-world order.
Since it has appeared in Wuhan, COVID has been mostly portrayed as an enemy, a terrible disaster which we are trying to overcome. But as we all know, in reality there is always both darkness and light. Like yin and yang, where you have the black with the dot of white and the white with the dot of black. What is ‘the white dot’ of COVID in terms of the current state of the art world?
This pandemic feels like a 3rd world war of a new power type, namely, a political one – the tensions, the speculative thoughts of how did it start and where, and how do we now live with it. Yet we can list many bright points that have come about as a result.
It is cleaning up the globe as well as the art world, and in various ways. The hegemony of the rich and the richest is over. Another social structure will appear – it has to. Art presentation will change to on-line communication and exhibits; video and media activities will contribute to the critique of what is good, relevant and valuable, and will help point it out. Art shows will continue to take place.
The hegemony of the rich and the richest is over. Another social structure will appear – it has to.
In an interview with Arterritory before the current crisis, Sam Keller, the director of Fondation Beyeler, said that the museum is a forum – ‘it’s a place where people can actually exercise their civic rights’. Meanwhile, the COVID crisis has left many museums in a quite confused state. In addition, visitor numbers in the first days after some of the major museums reopened were not very high (at least here in the Baltics). Why is that? What is the role of the museum nowadays, and how should it change?
I must agree here with Sam Keller, and even more so since the pandemic has appeared. The museum as a forum of public rights – to see, to enjoy, and to create dialogue. At the opening of the Tel Aviv Museum after the pandemic closures, in the first days we had a line of over 2000 persons wanting to see art. People craved it. Also at our gallery and at Givon Forum we had large numbers of visitors. It comes from people having gotten closer to themselves and to the things they love. Our accountant, Ernst & Young, told us that June was the best month we’ve had so far this year. Life’s speed has become slower and deeper.
At the opening of the Tel Aviv Museum after the pandemic closures, in the first days we had a line of over 2000 persons wanting to see art.
There has been a remarkable trend over the last few years of exhibitions dealing with nature in the art world, and in some way, there’s a feeling that art is leading the way in promoting radical ecological awareness. Yet there are also worries that this is just a trend and that nature could once again ‘go out of fashion’. What is your opinion? I remember that you once said that ‘we don't need journalism in art’. Is this ‘journalism’, and do we need it now? Does it have an impact, i.e. the power to discover new approaches or insights on how we could preserve our world?
What we saw before in art proposed no prophesy nor premonitory signals as to what will happen. This pandemic is beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. It is true that artists and curators were worried about the global state in terms of ecology and of the conditions that some human beings, especially minorities, were living in. Yet never did anyone anticipate a pandemic. Another point is globalization versus the local and post-local, or rather post-colonialism, as presented in some international shows in the last few years. The ‘fight’ against globalization in art was over once the pandemic arrived. As much as the art world wanted to support the cultural locality of minorities and present them on the international art scene, it got slammed with a pandemic. A universal one.
So, whether we like it or not, we must look to global intellectual forces to solve this problem. The only signs I have found were in the last Venice Biennale – in some of Ralph Rugoof’s talks and statements.
I recently had a conversation with British anthropologist Tim Ingold in which he drew a parallel between art and anthropology by saying that both ‘are trying to listen and learn, and from that listening and learning they’re trying to figure out a way to live into the future’. How do you see the role of the artist in current times? There is an opinion that the future of art is in dialogue with other disciplines – artists should be more involved in the decision-making process, they should have a voice and use it...
That might be so. But artists cannot react as fast as reality runs these days, or as fast as the other disciplines do. The worst will be when other disciplines will take over art. We are still not in the depth of understanding the changes that take place day to day, even hour to hour. The same goes for politics and the economy. Also, the definitions of ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ on today’s globe have changed dramatically. Artists are watching carefully – that doesn't mean that they can have any answers at the moment or a specific discipline to tie it to.
We all know that there have been too many art fairs. During the lockdown, most professionals were saying that having fewer art fairs will be the healthiest outcome of this crisis. Is is possible that the role and position of the gallery will come back and that we will see the return of a personal touch, intimacy, and the true value of art in the art market again?
I truly hope so. For instance, the term ‘social distancing’, which we keep hearing all the time. What does it mean? What angles does it show? Here there is something that artists can handle with their sensitivity, perception, and reading of reality. I do think art galleries will have a role in this coming development. We will see more art lovers than art investors playing around.
Travel will be different, and industrialism will reform to welfare and the consideration of humanity. I can see artists getting involved in this and having influence over society at large.
We will see more art lovers than art investors playing around.
What is your feeling – is the gallery world entering the post-Gagosian era, or are we just in a slight transition period now and the new reign of the ‘art boom’ is simply waiting around the corner? Maybe it's still there, and it’s just not politically correct at the moment to be so blatant about it...
I hope that this scheme of mega galleries is really over. A slowdown is foreseen for the autumn, similar to that of the 1920s. But people will not stop buying art – they will just buy art that is closer to their being and that adheres to their convictions and loves rather than as a tool in a game of power.
I used to think that art buyers are not disappearing, they are only changing. New buyers will come. I don’t think we are facing a ‘boom’, or even thinking about what is ‘correct’ or ‘not correct’. We simply don’t know. The love of art does not relate to being politically correct. It works its own path in its own time zone.
People will not stop buying art – they will just buy art that is closer to their being and that adheres to their convictions and loves rather than as a tool in a game of power.
Before the COVID crisis, the art world had become an absolutely global phenomenon with strictly defined rules. New York and London were accepted as the cities where you had to move to if you wished to have a successful career in art. All other places seemed to be perceived as isolated backwaters. Do you think that the current global situation will change this stereotype?
Art can arise from anywhere; centres of activity will probably remain as they were, but their characteristics will change. The content will change. The language can change. The tone of discourse can change. In this sense, art will not surrender to the pandemic. It only takes time. So will the artists and so will the galleries. We need to know that the pandemic is not leaving the world – we need to learn how to live with it.
So we will not see many geo-cultural changes yet.
Art can arise from anywhere; centres of activity will probably remain as they were, but their characteristics will change. The content will change. The language can change.
What does the ‘new normal’ mean in the art world? Is the art world becoming more conservative and/or more hermetic, or is quite the opposite happening? Will the idea of there being a division between artist and audience be reconsidered?
No, I think it will be neither hermetic nor conservative. I think it will become openly global with universal qualities again, and with much support from the media and the web. The idea of re-colonialization of art has little appeal to me. Maybe it’s time for art historians and critics, thinkers and philosophers to take the main role.
De-colonialized art is more correct – it is well shared, equally shared. Everything else smells of the parochial and of being commerce-dependent, as was the rise of African art just before the pandemic.
The idea of re-colonialization of art has little appeal to me. Maybe it’s time for art historians and critics, thinkers and philosophers to take the main role.
Think of when the modernism of the 20th century began. A human catastrophe always results in new thoughts and new practices that need to be shared by and applied to all. I am hesitant to guess at what they might be, but they are universal.
