UR-06: Saša Bogojev on CAN and the Future of Art Fairs

I don't remember the year I met Saša Bogojev, but I know that he and I both were finding our way in the world of contemporary art through a small passageway that was emerging in a tunnel called Street Art. I think he and I both saw that there was a camaraderie, a friendship, a bond in that scene that was applicable to a greater contemporary art world, a language of access that could be used in describing a greater art lexicon and language. So here we are, nearly 15 years later, and Bogojev has gone from Juxtapoz contributing editor to become a leading writer, curator and organizer of a wave of emerging art that is both international and vital to the health of the overall art market.

And, for the last half-decade, Bogojev, The Unibrow’s regular contributor and an editor-at-large, has been a curator and creative artistic director of the CAN Art Fair in Ibiza (and this year, Madrid). This is what I wanted to talk to him about; how the future of the art fair as an entity and the position that CAN has taken over the course of 5 years. We also talk about the increased pressure on the art world, the expectations, the bigger audiences, the draws, the incredible talent we see internationally and the language that we use to historically place it in the world-at-large.

We also talk about some of the subjects he loves to write about, how his passion for the arts shows up in his writing, and those little avenues you can find yourself walking down that end up in bigger conversations about arts and culture.