GALLERY VIEWER
Johan de Bruijn For this edition I’m meeting Johan, one of the founders of Gallery Viewer. For this venture, Johan works on the technicalities while Fons Hof directs Art Rotterdam, a fair for discovering young artists. They have worked together for some time on this project now. Among other things, Johan also creates video presentations of the artists’ work for the Art Rotterdam fair.
Buying art has changed It all started on a sunny spring day, enjoying lunch at a Amsterdam. The two talked about the lack of accessible content on gallery websites. The gallery websites are tailored to inform art-experts but they miss out on offering accesible content for the mass public. For two years they analysed and investigated the art scene to identify what has changed over the last decade. Fons analysed the scene from his perspective as an art fair director and Johan as the down-to-earth Rotterdammer, with a practical and technical viewpoint. They concluded, to survive as a gallery you have to have more than 8
ART BY NATURE | NEW
just a space. The new art lover doesn’t spend a Saturday looking for a new piece. People investigate through the internet, and visit after they find what they are looking for. The average gallery owner knows a lot about art and is socially skilled, but they have no knowledge of digital strategy. It’s all about the first impression, this begins at the gallery’s website. Most of which are a library of art pieces they either once had or currently hold. Johan’s frustration with buying art While producing Projections, the video section of Art Rotterdam, Johan got to know the artists there, and found interest in their work presented at the fair. He asked the owner of a small Italian gallery for some information. He received the
