ESTE ARTE Cultural Summit & Art Fair
The fair that the art ecosystem needed
Founded by the agile researcher and entrepreneur formed in electronic arts Laura Bardier
Laura Bardier, a committed Uruguayan to the art of her country, is currently based in New York, where she serves as the director of the James Howell Foundation. Ten years ago, Laura, while working under the curator, philanthropist, and collector Estrellita Brodsky, was inspired by Brodsky’s dedication to funding the Latin American department at MoMA. This inspiration drove Laura to make contributions to Uruguay and South America. While attending art fairs such as ArtBo in Bogotá and Torino in Italy, she felt compelled to bring to life the artistic space she had envisioned. Laura perceives these fairs as distinctive due to their unique conception in synergy with the city.
«They unite the entire ecosystem; you manage to have access to galleries, museums, universities, and the entire art system in the city.»
«ESTE ARTE is designed for this place, José Ignacio, Uruguay,» Laura emphasizes the importance of how art spaces are conceived for the place referring to the “in situ” concept.
«To value what we have in dialogue with the outside, with the foreign, blending craftsmanship and art, highlighting the conceptual aspects of art and the world of ideas, intellectual and cultural development, emotions. There are artists for whom this is their only opportunity to sell in the year.»
Committed to female artists, she managed to make her fair the only one in the world with the condition of having at least one woman within each gallery to participate: «In the last 5 editions, we achieved a 50-50 %, we also democratized for non-hegemonic artists, giving them space when previously only established, male, deceased artists were bought, and only at auctions. Today, we have created a fair that provides options and supports living artists, those who are starting and will be more valuable in the years to come.»
Laura led the incorporation of the James Howell Foundation, an institution dedicated to research, as the artist dedicated 40 years to studying light. Now, it is focused on promoting research projects within its area of interest. She studied electronic arts in Linz, Austria. This is aligned and incorporated into her vision for the fair.
«I wanted to have an excuse to come back every summer here. In Florence, I studied art history and design. Later, I studied new media curation in Austria at Linz, and my background is in software art, and electronic art’.
In the 10th edition of ESTE ARTE, she tells us how last year she brought Cecilia Alemani, who curated the last edition of the Venice Biennale, and Barbara London, curator of the MOMA in New York for more than 30 years:
«This year, I went against the current, and invited people from the art world. I aimed to look at other places, including Hoor al Qasimi, president of the Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharon Lerner, who is doing excellent work as the director of the Museo MALI in Lima, Halona Norton-Westbrook director of the Honolulu Art Museum from Hawaii, and Candice Hopkins, director of Forge Projects, who emphasize the idea of the local and the international with local roots, which is an important point for our fair.»
