Arteba 2025: Time to Activate Wishes

The fair is already underway: arteba 2025 has reserved the 11,000 m² of Costa Salguero in Buenos Aires, where the most relevant current productions in modern and contemporary art will be concentrated from August 29th to 31st—with pre-openings on the 27th and 28th. This year, 66 participating galleries representing 400 artists will participate, with the return of international spaces with a long history at arteba, an exciting federal exhibition, and some absences.

While every year the context puts a strain on the run-up to the fair, experience in recent years shows that volatility can also encourage consumption , driven by the macroeconomics of a "cheap dollar," even though production costs rise throughout the year.

Three galleries are celebrating anniversaries during the fair, demonstrating the consolidation of spaces that are projected into the present. Ruth Benzacar celebrates 60 years since its opening with a stand that brings together artists from different generations; Palatina celebrates half a century; and the Montevideo gallery Sur celebrates 40 years, always featuring gems by Latin American masters. Also celebrating is the space that welcomes visitors, sponsored by Andreani, which will celebrate its 80th anniversary in 2025. There, curator Florencia Cherñajovsky presents a previously unpublished work by Mariano Ullua .

As every year, a selection committee reviewed the galleries' proposals, but this time there were two. The Main Section was attended by Inés Huergo, director of Galerie Jocelyn Wolff in Paris; gallerist María Casado , vice president of Meridiano; curators Florencia Malbrán and Lara Marmor; and gallerist Pablo de Sousa. Meanwhile, renowned artist Juan José Cambre and curator Santiago Villanueva had the challenge of selecting only 19 spaces from among 60 submitted for the UTOPIA section, in addition to overseeing the curatorial process until opening day.

“The work of galleries is essential and encompasses much more than the fair: they support their artists, produce exhibitions, publish, research, collaborate with institutions, and generate value and a market for the works,” analyzes Lucrecia Palacios , executive director of the arteba Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote Argentine art.

Always committed to the local scene, this year arteba is betting on greater international reach , through the promotion of galleries in different cities around the world, but also through international visitor programs that consolidate ties with globally renowned museums and collections. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Matching Funds acquisition program , which promotes the purchase of Argentine art and has brought works by contemporary artists to the collections of important museums around the world.

This year, 16 international galleries will be featured in both sections, from Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, the United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, France, and the United Kingdom. The exhibition design also includes a dedicated discussion space led by curator Aimé Iglesias Lukin , artistic director of the New York-based Americas Society, on Argentina's relationship with international art.

Winner of the Remax Award for Best Gallery last year, Del Infinito is preparing an ambitious stand in the same space as the Main Section. The focus will be a dark room where the light mobiles created by Julio Le Parc in the 1960s will shine. From a collection in the US, they are rarely seen pieces from the breakthrough moment in the artist's work, the same year he received the Grand Prix Internationale for Painting at the 33rd Venice Biennale.

Other cores with museum pieces are added, with Le Parc's kinetic works from the 1970s; pieces by Emilio Renart that were seen in the Amalita Collection ; and a batch of books intervened by Osvaldo Lamborghini , a success at the last ARCO fair in Madrid. And before being sent to the Reina Sofía Museum in that city, where it will have a major exhibition in February 2026, jewels by Alberto Greco will be on display at arteba. Curated by Fernando Davis, the exhibition was one of the few that remained through the change of authorities and will be the most important by an Argentine artist at that museum.

“We understand that difficult times in Argentina always produce good results in the art world because people look for a store of value, something they can have at home... plus, every year is critical in Argentina,” says Julián Mizrah , director of the Del Infinito gallery.

Among the contemporaries, Esteban Pastorino, Leo Batistelli, Marcela Cabutti, and the duo Margarita Paksa and Matilde Marín are on display at the Recoleta gallery. The stand is completed with works by Rogelio Polesello , in parallel with the major exhibition at the Recoleta Shopping Center, Peralta Ramos, Petorutti... always with a contemporary vision to validate the Argentine masters.

The other award winners at arteba 2024, Piedras, replicate last year's stand with works by six artists on their staff, adding to their participation in institutional spaces. This is the emblematic case of Carrie Bencardino, whose first museum exhibition was a "resounding success" in the first few days and will be open at Malba for the duration of the fair. Works from the same series will be on display at the fair in response to the high demand for the non-binary artist's paintings. It would not be surprising if an institution had already selected one of her paintings for its collection.

Clara Esborraz , in turn, had an exhibition at the Klemm Foundation last year, thanks to the support of the Ama Amoedo Foundation, while Constanza Giuliani was invited to present her outstanding exhibition in Switzerland at the Recoleta Shopping Center. Teresa Giarcovich and a new series of drawings by Santiago Gasquet are also present, continuing the gallery's original spirit. Last year, her work sold out in two days. The Oxenford Collection went to the back room to find its new jewels, and they will also replicate the specific design to multiply the results.

“Our expectations are always high; arteba is the most important event of the year in our country, taking the place of other collective events or biennials,” says Santiago Gasquet , co-director of the gallery with Rafael Beltrán . “Many people wait for this moment; they save up their money to buy at arteba, a place where wills, moods, and the desire to celebrate art converge.”

In the run-up to the fair, a program to develop new audiences for Argentine art will be launched through open meetings at Malba Puertos (Saturday the 9th) and the Malba auditorium (Monday the 11th), as well as other private events at collectors' homes, coordinated by Violeta Quesada , as a continuation of the work of the Club arteba.

“They are gatherings for knowledgeable but non-specialist audiences; a kind of instruction manual on how to value works of art and to see some of the galleries' proposals on guided tours,” Palacios describes. “The fair is about sparking a desire; the proposals at arteba have the strength and legitimacy of the galleries, the selection committees, and the expert eye of the many specialists who work for the fair.”

The historic Premio en Obra , hosted by Abel Guaglianone and Joaquín Rodríguez, will have another edition, as will the Premio al Coleccionismo and the Remax Premio for the best gallery, two recognitions of the work they do throughout the year. Meanwhile, the designer glassware company Volf will be at the fair to stock a new collection. And in its halls, the next Premio Pinamar will be announced. Donjo León , the first winner of the Premio Pinamar, is currently finalizing details of the installation that allows us to follow the life cycle of pine wood in the Pinamar nursery, which has been converted into a selfie point .

The publishing island, historically supported by the PROA Foundation , this year focuses on music, with a selection of publishers working in this field, such as Gourmet Musical, Caja Negra, and a section of independent fanzines.

At the intersection of training spaces for new audiences and the local situation, the Santander First Work Program, the fair's main sponsor, has emerged. It will feature a special catalog of works up to $3,000 —close to the purchase limit—for purchasing works in installments with a credit card from any bank at participating galleries. This way of providing financing provides transparency and makes the first purchase of a work more comparable to that of any other product.

An Argentina that's "expensive in dollars" is impacting galleries' economies, both in terms of their fixed costs and during the fair itself. "This is the most expensive year in arteba's history, so we're doubling down on this historic stand, understanding that there's an opportunity cost ," explains Julián Mizrahi.

Record prices per stand, which exceed Madrid's Arco per square meter, however, fail to dampen expectations, given the winding paths of the art market . "The context complicated our work dynamics because everything costs three times as much," says Santiago Gasquet de Piedras, who last year embarked on a move to San Telmo, with ample space to develop his projects. "But last year the fair went very well, and for us, it was fantastic." That's why galleries want to be there. The counterpart, Argentina's "cheap dollar," provides a moment of opportunity to purchase exceptional works, both by historical artists and from the renewed panorama of young artists with potential.

“You never know what the future holds, but arteba is the art market's biggest event. Its performance is and has been notable, largely because it manages to bring together, in one place and at the same time, all the stakeholders of the artistic community. This generates a unique, unrepeatable energy,” notes Lucrecia Palacios. Ultimately, art is a human language ; the fair is made by people.