The art world panel talk has become so ubiquitous that its format is rarely questioned. Arranging speakers in a line invokes a sense of the collegial and the sterile surroundings underline the fallacious assumption that an empirical conclusion must be drawn by the end.
Enter Crit Club, a roving debate series that places two art-world figures face to face in a sporting style arena, to hash out a question. Organised by the artist and curator Cem A., the debates take on an absurdist lens, thanks, in part, to interludes by athletes taking part in sports. The audience is not allowed to film the session, meaning that what happens in Crit Club stays in Crit Club (well, that is until you invite a journalist with column inches to fill).
Last month, Crit Club invited me to Dubai—in collaboration with the art district Alserkal Avenue—to debate the question “Are art fairs relevant?”. Across from me was the artist-turned-dealer Umer Butt, who founded Dubai’s Grey Noise gallery, known for its reproach of many art-dealing hallmarks: it rarely exhibits paintings and hasn’t participated in a fair in seven years.
I began arguing against the motion, while Butt spoke in favour. What was most striking about our debate was the different styles of rhetoric both of us employed. While I attempted a top-down analysis of the art fair model, Butt provided personal anecdotes that brought in considerations of the body and the physical impact of fairs on exhibitors. Incorporating this human element was a welcome approach for a roving reporter far too accustomed to sprinting down airport terminals on zero hours’ sleep.
Indeed, the combative staging belied the conviviality with which Butt and I debated. To add to the chaos, we were ordered to switch positions and argue for the other side, forcing us to undermine our initial positions. “The point of Crit Club is to pose a false binary,” Cem A. says, “It’s not about arriving at an answer.” Still, I am compelled to draw some conclusion and we arrived somewhere in the middle: fairs are exhausting and increasingly untenable, but also a highly efficient platform for trading and networking. Like it or not, they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
