Last updated on September 9th, 2024 at 03:20 pm
In the bustling world of contemporary art, few names resonate as distinctly as Robin Peckham. As Co-Director of Taipei Dangdai, Peckham has masterfully steered one of Asia’s premier art fairs into a pivotal role on the global stage. The fair, set to captivate audiences from May 10-12 with a VIP Preview on May 9, boasts an impressive line-up of 78 participating galleries. These include top-tier names like David Zwirner and Perrotin, alongside notable newcomers, reflecting the fair’s stature and its magnetic pull on the global art community.
This year, Taipei Dangdai introduces ‘Evoke,’ a new sector designed to enrich the visitor experience with curated programs that spotlight solo presentations and notable juxtapositions of established artists. Alongside other sectors such as Galleries, Engage, Edge, and Node, Evoke underscores Taipei Dangdai’s commitment to showcasing a spectrum of exceptional artworks. The Ideas Forum, another cornerstone of the fair, reprises its role as a cerebral gathering space, this year probing the theme “Collecting as Culture.” This initiative not only highlights Taiwan’s heritage of influential collections but also aligns with the burgeoning global interest in Taiwanese and Asian art markets.
Peckham’s insights in this interview shed light on the evolving landscape of the Asian art market, the unique challenges it faces, and the exciting developments on the horizon.
A Transformative Two Decades in Asian Art
Reflecting on the evolution of the Asian art market, Peckham notes significant trends such as multigenerational collecting and a burgeoning interest across various art categories (antique, modern, and contemporary). “Across Asia, there has been a turn towards multigenerational collecting and cross-category (antique, modern, and contemporary) collecting. There has long been an affluent and established collector base in Asia, which continues to grow into the next generation. There are sophisticated collectors in the region and a younger generation of new buyers who are hungry to engage with contemporary art. This upcoming generation are extremely well-informed and are seeking to collect work from a range of cultural backgrounds, not only from their locality,” Peckham explains. This shift towards a more informed and diverse collectorship is changing the landscape, making Asian art a global force.
Unique Challenges and Strengths of the Asian Art Market
Asia’s art market, with its rich tapestry of cultures and histories, offers unique selling points and challenges. Peckham highlights Taiwan’s role in this vibrant ecosystem, praising its world-class artists and an active, sophisticated collector base. ” Asia as a whole has become an exciting and diverse destination for contemporary art. Each city within the region is unique and has its own unique selling points, strengths, natural catchment areas and spheres of influence. Taiwan for example compliments the development of the Asian art ecosystem with its world-class modern artists, great institutions, and its extremely active and sophisticated collector base, who are renowned for the connoisseurship of their approach to modern and contemporary art,” he says.
“With any art fair, there can be a challenge in reducing the intimidation factor and to be increasingly focused on welcoming new entrants to the art world and supporting them to take their first steps on their collecting journey. We are proud to have fought for Taiwan to have a spot on the global art calendar, a moment when collectors, curators, writers and art advisors are experiencing our art scene and noticing what’s happening here and discovering artists locally and from the region,” adds Peckham. However, the challenge remains to demystify the art world for newcomers, a task Taipei Dangdai is addressing head-on by enhancing accessibility and engagement.
The Evolving Profile of Art Collectors
“It’s been exciting to witness the profile of art collectors become more and more diverse, from welcoming museum-level collectors and established buyers to the next generation of collectors at Taipei Dangdai. In particular, the Taiwanese market is bolstered by an established collector-led scene. Taiwanese collectors are among the most dedicated in the region and, at the same time, they are transforming, with the next generation pushing forward. The theme of this year’s Ideas Forum is actually “Collecting as Culture,” and our speaker panels will investigate what makes collections here so special and so attractive for galleries to come from around the world to work with Taiwanese collectors,” Peckham elaborates as he explains the demographic landscape of art collectors in Asia
Taiwan’s Ascendancy in the Art World
The Taiwanese art market is fast emerging as a leading hub in Asia, driven by a dynamic cultural ecosystem. This growth is supported by significant infrastructural developments, such as the opening of the Fubon Art Museum and international collaborations like the touring exhibition from London’s National Gallery. “These developments are not just expanding our local market; they are creating new dialogues and opportunities for international engagement,” Peckham points out.
Strategic Positioning of Taipei Dangdai
“We initiated Taipei Dangdai on the basis of a number of fundamental attributes that underpin Taipei’s context as a viable host city for an international art fair,” Peckham explains. He underscores the fair’s strategic use of Taiwan’s excellent infrastructure and vibrant cultural community to attract a broad international audience. “Taipei Dangdai has an exceptional line-up of galleries from Asia and around the world, allowing collectors to discover a diversity of emerging and established artists—an opportunity not available anywhere else in Taipei on this scale.”
Cultural Celebrations and Artistic Developments
“In May, the art scene in Taiwan really comes together as a celebration of the dynamic local art scene,” says Peckham, highlighting the significant cultural events coinciding with Taipei Dangdai. These include the opening of the Renzo Piano-designed Fubon Art Museum in downtown Taipei’s Xinyi District; a major solo exhibition by renowned South African artist William Kentridge, held at Taipei Fine Arts Museum in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Arts, London, which will mark the artist’s first large-scale solo exhibition in Taiwan; and a touring exhibition of masterpieces from London’s National Gallery at the CHIMEI Museum, Tainan. This vibrant programming reflects the deep cultural fabric of Taiwan and its role in the global art narrative.
Enhancing the International Reach of Taiwanese Art
“At Taipei Dangdai, we aim to put the spotlight on the art scene in Taipei in May, reaching a wide network of local, regional, and international markets and audiences,” Peckham details. “Since its inception, we have created a leading regional art fair around which other organisations can galvanise their activities and increase their exposure. Additionally, the fair provides opportunity to present to international audiences the rich cultural programming of the city. Art fairs are meeting points for the art world and play a key role as an incubator for new connections, collaborations and projects,” adds Peckham.
He emphasizes the fair’s role in fostering growth and visibility for Taiwanese art on the global stage. “For the first time, we will present a curated exhibition co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture titled ‘Before Thunders: An Exhibition of Taiwanese Artists,’ focusing on the work of a dozen largely mid-career artists selected by four local and international curators who have participated in past iterations of the fair’s Ideas Forum: Zian Chen, Martin Germann, Esther Lu, and Wong Binghao. This project supports our mission of bringing Taiwanese art production to greater international attention.”
The Future Vision for Taipei Dangdai and Asian Art
Looking forward, Peckham envisions a thriving Asian art market interconnected through a web of artists, collectors, and curators. ““I think we are seeing the growth of a new kind of connectivity between artists, collectors, and curators in the next generation across Asia. We are building tools to serve these new communities in different ways: our Ideas Forum, for instance, invites curators at pivotal moments in their careers from institutions small and large across Asia to visit Taiwan and build bridges with their peers in Taiwan, hopefully helping to showcase Taiwanese artists internationally as well as to bring fresh exhibitions into Taiwan. Our Young Patron Assembly, on the other hand, introduces leading younger collectors from Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and southeast Asia to one another. This year our members will get to experience the work of Taipei-based artist Wu Mei-Chi in a uniquely intimate way,” he concludes,
Through strategic leadership and innovative programming, Robin Peckham is not just navigating the currents of the Asian art market but is also setting the course for its future, making Taipei Dangdai a linchpin in the global art community. His vision ensures that Asia’s art markets, particularly Taiwan, will continue to be vibrant players in the artistic and cultural dialogues shaping our world.
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