The first edition of Est Art Fair — International Contemporary Art Fair will take place in Estoril, Portugal, from the 10th to the 13th of July, 2014.

Announced in May 2013, the Est Art project, was created with the purpose of launching an international contemporary art show in Portugal — happening every year at the end of the Art Fairs’ season. The Festival, to be held at the beginning of each July, will have the city of Estoril as its scenery. Just 20km outside Lisbon, Estoril is one of the most pleasant Portuguese coastal venues and it will be an ideal meeting point for collectors and art professionals. Est Art Fair will be a significant event within the context of the art market, with the potential to expand the great possibilities already offered by it.

Est Art Fair 2014 venue of choice is the Estoril Congress Center. For its first edition, our Fair will count with the participation of over 35 galleries coming from up to 10 different countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, México, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and the US). These galleries will be present as exhibitors, or presenting Solo Projects. Additionally, the Fair will have an extensive Curatorial Program, which includes the exhibition “Drawing the World”, presenting 18 artworks by essential artists, coming from 10 countries, in an international and comprehensive perspective.

Focusing on “Drawing”, in its widest sense, as the primary theme of Est Art Fair 2014, we will emphasize it as a practice crossing over multiple art mediums, and constituting some of the most flexible artistic practices. The theme will also be developed by our curatorial projects and proposed to all Galleries participating in this year’s edition.

Drawing will have a strong presence at Est Art Fair first edition, and will be showcased in the multiple and diverse formats in which it is present in current artistic practices. As a practice, Drawing is common to both the conceptual domain and more day-to-day, long-established practices, proving to be a transcultural field. Finally, in times as complex as our own, drawing is used almost as a form of resistance by the artists, being simultaneously close to modes of thinking and easily spread.

Est Art Fair 2014 will also give particular emphasis to its large Curatorial and Conference Program, which will constitute a different approach on how to build an art fair/show with an attractive profile and content.

Photographies above from
Filipe Braga