9th Luxembourg Art Week Edition Attracts 22k Visitors

The ninth edition of Luxembourg Art Week took place from Friday 10 to Sunday 12 November and attracted a total of 22,000 visitors.

The fair witnessed exchanges and sales of modern and contemporary artworks by established and emerging artists to Luxembourgish and international art enthusiasts and collectors.

Although the fair came to a close, access to the online catalogue extends the experience, allowing the public to (re)discover the works presented by exhibitors in the 2023 edition.

“This ninth edition, which is simultaneously a ‘0.5’ edition from my fantastic team and me, was a great confirmation for me and, at the same time, the starting signal to implement all our wishes and plans for Luxembourg Art Week number ten and the entire upcoming year,” said Caroline von Reden, Director of Luxembourg Art Week.

According to the organisers, visitors and collectors alike noted and praised the strong propositions of the 80 exhibitors spread across three sections: Main Section, Take Off, and [Focus] Wien.

The [Focus] Wien showcased six invited Viennese galleries and a booth orchestrated in collaboration with an NFT marketplace. The [Focus] Wien, amplified by the Vienna Calling roundtable, explored the evolution of the contemporary Viennese art scene. Gallery owner Michael Kaufman addressed the complexity of negotiating identity within existing narratives, while Philipp Klinger discussed the fusion of businesses promoting global trends (NFTs, AI, new technologies) with pre-existing local markets.

Take Off this year had a renewal rate exceeding 50%, a diverse range of exhibitors highlighting numerous emerging artists, and it included, for the first time, galleries from The Hague with Dürst Britt & Mayhew and from Oslo with VI, VII. Luxembourg Art Week also collaborated for the first time with the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP), inviting the associative gallery Octave Cowbell (Metz) for a carte blanche.

Luxembourg Art Week renewed its call for artists to decorate the centre space of the fair and its restaurant. The invited artist, Pauline-Rose Dumas, envisioned a sculptural installation in hand-forged iron and sublimation on various fabrics including stitches in this space devoid of hanging spaces: The Pauline Café.

The Main Section brought together artists from all five continents. It highlighted a majority of contemporary works while featuring some big names from modern art and offered an eclectic selection of sculptures, ranging from ceramic work to the use of steel, exploring textiles and employing classical sculpture methods.

Luxembourg Art Week will extend beyond its local boundaries until the end of November through the Art Walk, featuring a sculpture trail The Rebellion by Atelier Van Lieshout. Seven works were distributed across five locations in the Luxembourgish capital, with the support of the City of Luxembourg. Sixteen galleries and artistic initiatives, along with twenty cultural institutions and museums scattered throughout Luxembourg City, Esch-sur-Alzette and Differdange, are still available with their current programmes.

The fair has been noted for the quality of themes and discussions in the programme of fifteen innovative Art Talks, developed in collaboration with numerous European and local institutional and private partners.

New technologies were approached from various perspectives. One of these was, notably, a conference exploring the intersection between art and algorithms, organised in collaboration with Mudam. Art & New Technologies and Digital Collectibles focused on the evolution of artistic practices and the digital experience of culture. Meanwhile, the French Institute of Luxembourg addressed the question of artistic creation and AI.

A discussion titled “Re-claiming Creative Space in the City: A new model for Art-led Urban Regeneration” immersed viewers in questions of urban renewal through the lens of art, also emphasising local perspectives and parallel initiatives in Europe.

The theme of the artist (Centre / Periphery / Proximity) was granted special attention. Exchanges in the cultural and artistic scene of the Greater Region and beyond, in collaboration with Cercle Cité, explored the mobility of artists, in connection with the concurrent exhibition Hors-d’œuvres. The focus was on the "Artist Researcher" following a proposal by Kultur I lx, which invited a dozen international curators to discover the local art scene during Luxembourg Art Week.

New for 2023, the CO.LAB Lounge brought together the Casino Luxembourg, Cercle Cité and Mudam - showcasing their latest published editions.

Three conferences also addressed key themes in the art market, from assessing its current state to building a collection. “Femmes d’art” explored women's craftsmanship marking a turning point in the presence, influence and recognition of women artists, perspectives, and issues in these practices.

Interactive Strategies for Engagement designed as a platform paralleled two initiatives linking art and education. One in England with the Leeds Museums and Galleries School Membership Scheme model, and the other in Luxembourg with Fondation Sommer’s pilot project of artist residencies in schools implemented in collaboration with the Lycée des Arts et Métiers, Casino Display and supported by SCRIPT and Luxembourg’s Ministry of Culture.

Recordings of the conferences will soon be made available via Luxembourg Art Week's YouTube channel.