OPEN SPACE . Art Cologne 2011 25.3.2011

OPEN SPACE's highly successful "fair within a fair" concept takes to the stage for the 7th time in April 2011. As an internal fair within ART COLOGNE, itself a long-standing art fair, and boasting a total of thirty participants, OPEN SPACE is once again rich in diversity: ranging from emerging galleries, such as fair-debutantes Conradi from Hamburg, via international first-time participants in OPEN SPACE, such as Chez Valentin or Tomio Koyama, all the way to established and stalwart greats, such as Christian Nagel, Johann König and Sprüth Magers. Diversity despite concentration: the number of participants has been consciously reduced this year and the selection criteria honed to facilitate a sharper focus for prospective visitors on the current international art and gallery business.

OPEN SPACE Reader's Lounge
The complexity of contemporary artistic production is clearly manifested in the host of artist books and catalogues nowadays. They ensure the continued existence and sustainability of what hitherto has been a fleeting business comprising temporary exhibitions and situational projects, the sheer profusion of which often tending to detract from the appreciation for the artwork or the exhibition project itself. Fortunately—and, above all, despite the digital era we live in—we do have the existence of these beautiful books. With their hundreds, indeed thousands of abundantly illustrated pages rich in textual content, they fill the shelves of bibliophile collectors, but more than this: they have the capacity to inspire the minds of interested readers and engender powers of recall in the visitor—each one an artwork in its own right in terms of its desire for overall, consistent design.

Taking place between the stage and the bar, this year's OPEN SPACE revolves around the theme of books—and so once again the themed bar and lounge area resumes its importance here as in previous years. By virtue of the ongoing collaboration with publishers, booksellers and galleries, the communicative heart of this year's OPEN SPACE has not only developed into a location where one can take time out, converse with others or be entertained. It prompts one to leaf through catalogues and magazines or to delve into the thematic specialities of respective artist books. Alongside an open access area featuring larger publishers, including DISTANZ, DuMont, Hatje Cantz, Kerber, Prestel, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln there are also display cases in which bookshops and small international publishers are presented, among them the antiquarian bookshop Buchholz, Motto bookstore, Strzeleckibooks and the Salon für Kunstbuch, as well as other surprises from the book market. The Reader's Lounge is marked out by light objects created by the Cologne artist Andreas Schulze, lending the whole space its special atmosphere. In addition, Andreas Schulze has also contributed to the overall design of the Reader's Lounge.

Programme
The Reader's Lounge is not just for reading and thinking, there is also scope for discussion and debate. The programme will be made up of exciting guest appearances with entertaining events spanning the rich gamut of literary culture. The centrepiece here will be the one-day symposium on the subject of new art criticism organised by Noemi Smolik, featuring Dominic Eichler (curator, freelance journalist, Berlin), Anna-Catharina Gebbers (curator, author), Jörg Heiser (editor-in-chief FRIEZE, Berlin), Marion Ritter (freelance journalist, initiator of the artblog-cologne, Cologne) as well as Jörg Scheller (art expert, journalist and musician, Zurich/Stuttgart)

There is even scope for a bit of noise, and right on the opening day, too: in a spectacular performance, the artist Joris van de Moortel makes an acoustic and visual contribution to OPEN SPACE. A further highlight will be Benjamin Tillig's reading of the "CICI-Letters" describing the failed attempts to place an order on the Internet and the strange correspondence with an employee of a Chinese call centre (Saturday, 16th April at 5.45 pm). Further aspects of the programme can be found on our facebook page (see below).

Live
Once again Vernissage TV will be covering OPEN SPACE and be on hand wherever and whenever things happen, such as the spectacular performances and interesting talks, the all-important networking, as well as the purchase of artworks. Website: www.vernissage.tv. All the activities surrounding OPEN SPACE will be broadcast live by Vernissage TV.