Transit gallery from Mechelen, Belgium, at Artissima

In an art world where the word “depression” is quickly becoming part of everyday conversation, Turin’s Artissima might be called the happy art fair, or at least the one that doesn’t get too stressed out. At the fair’s 15th edition, which previewed last Thursday and closed three days later, there was a distinctly relaxed atmosphere, in which dealers and collectors seemed more interested in discussions about art than in a frantic scramble to sign invoices. Reported sales were slow, especially on preview day, but most exhibitors seemed confident that their trip would pay off — a prediction that, by the weekend, had proved correct for many of them.

At the booth of Hamburg’s Produzentengalerie, gallerist Polina Stroganova explained, “It’s certainly a slower start than last year. It’s nice, though. You are able to have a dialogue with collectors. The triennial has also brought institutional people here. It’s a good way of showcasing our artists.”

Indeed, some of the fair’s unusual flavor has to do with the concurrent Turin Triennale, which previewed November 5 and runs through February 1, 2009. Though separate events, the triennial undoubtedly fed into Artissima, not just in terms of visitors but also in the direction galleries chose for their stands. Several booths were carefully curated, and many galleries brought riskier artists. Marie Denkens from the Antwerp gallery Office Baroque acknowledged, “One of the reasons we applied for Artissima is because of the triennial.” The gallery was presenting the work of just one artist, the London-based Becky Beasley, who creates minimal sculptures and stark photographs that frequently reference each other. Denkens explained that because of the triennial, “a solo stand was a sharp way to go” at Artissima, as it allowed a proper introduction to the young artist for both collectors and the many curators who were in town.

Yet the triennial’s influence was not the only reason Artissima felt different from your typical fair. For one thing, Artissima’s organizing committee has no direct profit aspirations, since the fair is wholly owned by the City of Turin, which charges for booths only to cover costs. The city’s goal is to raise its profile as a cultural hotspot, with all the attendant tourist traffic and secondary income that brings. Another reason for Artissima’s special feel is its director, the writer and curator Andrea Bellini, whose ambitions for it are decidedly non-commercial. Bellini, a former editor at Flash Art, told ARTINFO, “In a sense I consider Artissima an intellectual venture. I wanted to bring in the established galleries and have them alongside the younger ones, but keep the level of the work the same.” This approach seemed to allow the more established dealers, such as Milan’s Massimo De Carlo, to showcase their younger artists, since they did not have to play the big-names game to compete with neighboring booths. (Of course, De Carlo hardly needed more exposure in Turin. The filmmaker Paul Chan, whom the Milan gallery represents, was one of two featured artists, along with Olafur Eliasson, in the triennial).

London gallerist Max Wigram followed a strategy similar to De Carlo’s. “Most of our artists are pretty established, but we have brought Athanasios Argianas, a Greek artist,” said Wigram. The dealer had sold one of Argianas’s minimally constructed abstract sculptures, which are influenced by musical principles, for £8,000 ($12,300).

Another London gallery that included the less established names from its roster, Hotel, was also happy with the results. The east London space, which represents the likes of David Noonan and Peter Saville, had sold Off for a day’s walk if the weather held (2008) by Juliette Blightman, a London-based artist whom they recently signed but have not yet exhibited in a gallery show, on the preview day. Her glass barometer sculpture sold for £1,000 to an Italian collector.

Nonetheless, big names were still to be found. Milan’s Photology, which specializes in prints, was offering Ed Ruscha’s Residential and Legetts (both ed. 12/35, 1961–2004), Marina Abramovic’s Victory (1997), and an untitled William Eggleston (ed. 1/10). At Rome’s Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, works by Richard Long, Jeff Wall, and Tracey Emin were available.

Italians made up the majority of visiting collectors at Artissima's preview, and Christabel Stewart, a director at Hotel, predicted that by the fair’s end there would be even more to come. “Many Italians who aren’t from Turin don’t bother with the opening. They come up during the weekend, so we’re expecting more sales then.”

A few days later, London dealer Amanda Wilkinson of Wilkinson Gallery reported that the weekend was indeed busier and also attracted an international crowd. “I met one collector who had heard it was good and flew in at the last moment; also a group from Denmark stopped by. We sold several Anna Parkina collages at €2,700 [$3,400] each and the Fia Backström installation.” The New York–based Backström had arranged all the ads from one issue of Artforum magazine into a wall-mounted frieze; the work, titled New Order for a New Economy — to Form and Content (A proposal to re-arrange the ads of Artforum) (2008), was priced “between €10,000 and €15,000.”

Overall, Bellini managed to create a fair that not only proved commercially viable for the galleries taking part, but also provided a platform for exhibitors to take risks. “We did a little miracle, I think. Staging this fair was an adventure,” he said. Of course there will always be those who do not share the adventurous spirit of the intellectual Italian. One U.K. gallerist pacing his stand snorted, “Fuck atmosphere, I want to sell this lot” (before adding that he would “hunt down” this writer if his name was revealed).

It would seem, however, that Bellini’s success in mixing a curatorial spirit into the commercial reality of the art market has made him worry he might not be able to top this year’s Artissima, leading him to wonder whether he should even try next year. “The truth is, I’m not sure if I will be able to restage anything as high quality as what we have here again. I’m supposed to be doing the fair next year, but maybe I will have another job by then?” he told ARTINFO enigmatically.

“If I did do the event for a third year, it would have to be something completely different, perhaps thematic even.”