I have liken the effect of art fairs on artists and galleries to the effect of the internet on musicians and labels, and on journalists and publications: the art fairs decimated the art world I moved to New York to be a part of...

It had not occurred to me that COVID would decimate the fairs. That it might open up opportunities for the kind of art world I fell in love with (site specific in the finest sense of the term).

Go on @magdasawon, with your optimistic fatalism.
https://news.artnet.com/opinion/magda-sawon-postmasters-op-ed-1845471

...Outside the obvious commercial hollowing, I have watched as art fairs have shaped and misshaped the art world in many of the same ways Spotify has misshaped the music world; both have replaced species of taste and authenticity with something slicker, more generic and shallow.

...Once upon a time, hearing someone playing an obscure piece of music you loved was a bridge between music lovers that cut across outward differences.

...A favorite coffee house or bar could have magic hours, because a barista or bartender who played great mix tapes (thinking of you Miranda at B&O).

...A weirdo at a party could reveal themselves as your next great friendship, by simply taking over the duty of choosing the songs. A town could have a “sound” that began with buskers on the street, but permeated clubs, shops, and turned into record labels.

... while I love that everyone can listen to everything, something got lost. Now if you hear a half remembered song you once loved, and you ask the barista or the weirdo about it, the answer is almost always the same: “I don’t know, it’s some channel?”

...If you walk into a store or cafe and they are playing The Psychedelic Pink Dots or Dead Can Dance, it means nothing; it’s just a channel.

I don't mean to sound like a nostalgic old - although clearly I am - but there are depths I miss, and not just for myself.

The downtown art world I found as a young aspiring artist, and aspired to be a part of, was one where gallery shows were akin to concept albums by bands you loved to follow as they changed and grew (with a fair amount of one-hit-wonders).