Haute Photographie is a new photography fair centered around a group exhibition of more than 65 artists from 12 international galleries, featuring works by the grand masters from the history of photography, up until the youngest and most exciting talents working with the medium today. It is happening this weekend in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The Eye of Photography talked to its founder Roy Kahmann.
Let’s begin with Haute Photographie’s history. How did it begin?
I am a photography collector first. I started my collection twenty-five years ago. I opened my gallery and my first show in 2001. In 2005, I was already thinking of making my own fair in Amsterdam. We needed more space to show photographers. We have six annual shows at Kahmann Gallery. Yet, it was too small to exhibit more than thirty photographers.
So I had the idea to make a photography fair. Why? We joined art fairs as a gallery and I saw really good things, meeting colleagues, new clients. But there were few things I wasn’t too keen on. For example, a lot of fairs use the same basic architecture, just rows and rows of white, square booths. Plus, I couldn’t show all my artists. I had to rent the space and choose among them, and even then I felt the artist had such a small platform. I thought “If I did it myself, I need to differ from the fairs existing now. I have to do something new”.
My inspiration came from two sources. First, a beautiful show we had in Amsterdam at the Rijksmuseum, Modern Times in 2014. I loved the atmosphere there, the routing, the presentation… But I couldn’t buy any of the works! I thought “Why not making a fair like a set-up in a museum? The wall would represent one or two photographers”. Second, there weren’t good food and beverage stands in art fairs. I built up a fair where you can walk and wonder surrounded by walls filled with inspirational pieces, with a glass of wine and good food in hand, so in short, with a great, relaxed atmosphere
Would you say your influence as a curator influenced you for Haute Photographie?
Well of course, it’s inspired me. You need to be into the experience. There should not be any disturbances, with people trying to sell you something, with loud music or other disturbances… The atmosphere must be calm and enjoyable.
Do galleries propose you to bring photographers?
The thing to keep in mind is that Haute is centered around a group exhibition, so there needs to be somewhat of a harmonious feel to the fair, while at the same time it has to be diverse, with everything from historical pieces to the youngest talents, We keep the focus on the photographers in the fair, but the galleries are an integral part in this of course. We work together with them to create the best fair possible and to have the ultimate selection of artists.
You also have publishing houses taking part in Haute Photographie, like Benrido.
To me, they were one of the best publishers at Paris Photo. They had a wonderful book on Saul Leiter. I wanted them to join and to my pleasant surprise, they more than happy to come. It’s important getting an organization based on friendship, not only on money. We’re building a new type of fair. I mentioned the idea of this fair when it was only an idea to Howard Greenberg. He answered me: “this is an initiative that the art world was waiting for”.
Do you think galleries began to be used by traditional fairs?
The idea that galleries are competition of each other is slowly disintegrating. I think Haute really shows that cooperation is the way forward. One thing I noticed is that all the participating galleries are willing to share. Artists, clients, works, ideas. That’s why they are great galleries!
Why was it important to have the fair during Art Rotterdam Week?
My first idea was to do Haute Photographie in Amsterdam. But in Amsterdam, good art fairs already exist, like Unseen. The other reason was having a good environment of clients. If you don’t have the right clients, galleries and photographers are not satisfied. When we joined Art Rotterdam Week, we knew for sure that national and international collectors would come, as Art Rotterdam, the fair which Art Rotterdam Week has developed around, attracts a lot of these visitors. Another reason was that there wasn’t a dedicated photography fair during the Week yet, but we sensed that the demand was there. The first edition of Haute was a pilot to test if our hunch was right, and the turnout and sales proved that it was.
The city has also a great art scene emerging.
Rotterdam has the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Kunsthal, the Boijmans Van Beuningen. There is a lot of art to see in Rotterdam. Besides, the city is currently having a new young vogue. Rotterdam is like New York or Amsterdam, you can feel the same atmosphere. It is a city with a lot of new things to discover.
A word on your public program with Nederlands Fotomuseum. What’s the guiding line behind it?
We want to go in-depth into photography and photographers itself. We do workshops, conferences, artists lectures. We want people to be more informed about photography. Not only they can see how beautiful an image is, but they need to know how, why, when it was made, the story behind. That’s how a photograph becomes more than just an image.
Last year, they were two or three events a day. And we also try to focus on young talents. In traditional fairs, because you have to pay 20 000 to 40 000 euros a stand, you can’t afford to show young talents. Here, you can!
What will be Haute Photographie future?
The DNA of the fair is a museum-like presentation, based on vintage, contemporary and young talents. In addition to this, we have the public program. We need to stick to this DNA, to grow and keep on bringing the greatest artists and galleries. We’re already expanding. This year, we’ll team up with Fotografiska in Stockholm to present Haute Photographie Stockholm. But the idea stays the same.
To conclude, what are the artists you’re happy to show this year at Haute Photographie?
From Kahmann Gallery, we will be presenting Bastiaan Woudt. He’s Dutch, he’s one of the biggest talents we have. In 2016, the British Journal of Photography named him one of the Ones to Watch.
From the other galleries, the Swiss Douglas Mandry (Bildhalle, Zurich) is a great one. Also Inka & Niclas from Finland and Sweden, who are represented by Dorothée Nilsson Gallery in Berlin. They joined us last year, all their works were quite interesting! They’re coming with new works.
Interview by Arthur Dayras
Haute Photographie
February 8-11
Wilhelminakade 326
3072 AR Rotterdam
Netherlands
