Credit: Otilia Dragan/Chronicle.lu

The ninth edition of Luxembourg Art Week, Luxembourg's international contemporary art fair, is taking place in Glacis Square in Luxembourg-Limpertsberg from Friday 10 to Sunday 12 November 2023.

Chronicle.lu attended the press presentation of this annual meeting point of national and international galleries, led by its new director, Caroline von Reden.

In addition to the main fair, various cultural institutions and museums are organising related exhibitions and side events, such as “The Rebellion” by Atelier Van Lieshout, a sculpture trail with works installed throughout Luxembourg City.

Café Pauline, the art week exhibition tent’s central refreshment spot was co-created with a young, upcoming artist. The B12 Lounge, a collaboration VIP lounge, will showcase “little infusions” of various local institutions such as Mudam and Casino Luxembourg, offering an introduction for visitors and a participative performance by Trixi Weis with glasses cut in half, on the evening of Saturday 11 November at 18:00.

This year, there is a focus on Vienna with a special dedicated corner of galleries from the Austrian capital which Caroline von Reden considers a good model for Luxembourg to follow, especially in terms of how artists and galleries collaborate and exchange ideas. Multiple galleries from major European cities are well-represented, notably Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, Metz, Antwerp and Berlin, but several international galleries from Italy and New York, among others, were also present.

The “Take off” section this year contains both the corporate lounge and the Art Talks space, where several conferences will take place, related to the contemporary art world, the market and creation at large but also little-known topics such as NFT and crypto connected to the art world.

Furthermore, Caroline von Reden noted that although they decided to not show anything digital this year at first, POST Luxembourg and Mudam expressed an interest in NFT and thus started a conversation around these little-known topics. A “conversational booth” resulted, which contains several videos about the possibilities of using the blockchain as a conceptional work. “We want to show that this is the reality because a very small group of people know about this. We want to give everybody the chance to see the difference [between the types of art],” Caroline von Reden added.

The fair will showcase contemporary art created by emerging and seasoned artists alike and it will mainly present paintings and sculpture works, as well as conceptual art.  A novelty this year is the Queer Art Space Vienna. Caroline von Reden noted that such spaces should be integrated into the everyday and normalised in order to facilitate conversation around LGBTIQ+ topics and experiences.

Alex Reding, the owner of the Nosbaum Reding Gallery, founded the Luxembourg Art Week nine years ago. His knowledge of the art world influenced and connected his Luxembourg-based gallery to other countries. The Nosbaum Reding gallery is now also represented in Brussels, for the past two years, as Caroline von Reden pointed out.

This year’s Luxembourg Art Week has 80 galleries on display, a number which Alex Reding finds ideal for the space and public of the annual Luxembourg Art Week. He described the art fair as almost “Geneva-size” and added that it has been drawing increasing numbers of visitors over the years. “The public in Paris and Brussels have been starting to talk about it,” he emphasised. Finally, he added that it was important to keep the duration short. According to Alex Reding, the impact level in terms of logistics and time cannot be understated for the gallerists, which is why a two-to-three-day fair is preferable to a full week.

The exhibition will be open on Friday 10 November from 10:30 until 18:30, Saturday 11 November from 10:30 to 19:30 and Sunday 12 November 2023 from 10:30 to 18:30. Regular tickets cost €20, tickets for students cost €10 and children can visit free of charge.