Boom for small Nordic galleries while giants must save

Boom for small Nordic galleries while giants must save Large international art galleries are cutting back on their operations. At the same time, new smaller galleries are emerging – not least in the Nordic countries. – Many of the large galleries have simply invested a little too much and are now burdened with enormous costs that force them to either close down or transform themselves, says Nikola Dietrich at Art Basel. On June 3, an article was published in The New York Times where Pace's CEO Marc Glimcher announced a comprehensive restructuring. Pace, one of the world's leading mega-galleries for contemporary art, would cut 50 artists and an equal number from its staff because the traditional model for mega-galleries no longer works according to Glimcher. This brutal cut follows a series of closures of other large galleries in recent times. Stephen Friedman closed around the turn of the year first in New York and then in London. Before that, Clearing, Blum, Venus over Manhattan, and Kasmin, to name a few, were "crushed by overheads," as Clearing's founder Olivier Babin expressed in The Art Newspaper, pointing to increased rent and shipping costs, expensive art fairs, a fluctuating art market, and changing collecting patterns. However, an interesting, slightly paradoxical movement is noticeable in several places where several young galleries have established themselves during the same time, not least in Sweden and the Nordic countries. The Nordic presence at the prestigious art fair Art Basel in June this year was also the largest in over 20 years. Sara Berner Bengtsson is the head of the Swedish art fair Market and has noted that a younger gallery generation seems to be growing in parallel with several international galleries closing down. – Swedish Beau Travail and Coulisse, Danish Matteo Cantarella and Palace enterprise, Norwegian Femtensesse and Christian Torp, and Finnish Pitted dates are some of these galleries that have established themselves in a globalized world and where the gallerists have international backgrounds in several cases. They are also strong with programs that show more conceptual art than many established galleries. In 2022, Filip Zięciak founded the Stockholm-based Coulisse gallery, which he now runs together with Jeanette Gunnarsson. – I am from Poland, Jeanette is half-Swedish, and our most successful artist Rafał Zajko is British-Polish. Our client base is naturally in different places and our artists are exhibited institutionally in several different countries. I believe that artists' careers develop better when it happens in many different places at the same time. We also started in economically difficult times, so we have always had to manage and think about the money we have. In the wake of the large galleries' closures, he has also noticed a difference in what artists themselves value in the gallerists they choose to collaborate with. – Right after the pandemic, sales were still good. Both Clearing and Stephen Friedman opened new, extremely expensive premises in 2023. Now that the economic situation is different, many artists seek safer, more meaningful relationships with smaller galleries than with large operations where they have no insight into the economy. The aforementioned Art Basel was established in Basel in 1996 precisely to provide an international platform for younger galleries and unestablished artists. Art Basel's artistic leader Nikola Dietrich confirms in a video interview that the Nordic presence has increased somewhat and that the gallery scene is in a phase of transformation. – Many of the large galleries have simply invested a little too much and are now burdened with enormous costs that force them to either close down or transform themselves. At the same time, we see that for example, several small galleries have started in London that are quickly beginning to work internationally. One Nordic example is Palace enterprise in Copenhagen, which is 40 square meters and is run by Gitte Skjødt Madsen and Sarah Lærke Pedersen. Skjødt Madsen tells by email that she finds it flexible and agile to have a local that does not require a very large budget. "Smaller exhibitions do not mean they are less ambitious, but it may require fewer works, which means lower costs for shipping, storage, and management. The challenge can naturally be that we cannot always exhibit everything that deserves attention," she writes. Just as Coulisse, Palace enterprise has worked both locally and internationally from the start, and participated in Art Basel in Basel, Frieze in London, Market in Stockholm, and Chart in Copenhagen during the year. "We live in a globalized world, but art is a language that can be spoken across borders, and it is important to be part of that conversation," states Skjødt Madsen. In the art market, which is slow in many places, there are some emerging exceptions, where Warsaw and Seoul, according to Zięciak and Gunnarsson, stand out a little more. – We recently participated in Frieze Seoul, where there is an incredibly strong young collecting community that really invests in art. They buy from both large galleries and smaller ones like us, and they respect craftsmanship in a very sophisticated way, says Gunnarsson. Nikola Dietrich confirms the movement in the South Korean art scene, which includes a number of newly built museums and companies that support the art scene and artists in various ways. In Poland, Zięciak says, collecting art is relatively new and something considered trendy. – There is a buzz around art where Sweden would benefit from having more. We have fantastic collectors here too, but it would be nice if more young people wanted to invest, as in South Korea and Poland. Given these hot markets, one might ask why so many still choose to establish themselves in Sweden and the Nordic countries. According to Zięciak and Gunnarsson, it is a combination of factors: – It is about the mentality and the fact that many of the issues our artists work on – diversity, gender identity, environment – are considered important here. There is a respectful culture and community among gallery owners, which is not self-evident. Economically, it is also better here than in, for example, London or Paris, where everything is expensive and the competitive mentality is strong. The Swedish social security systems also play a role, as Sara Berner Bengtsson points out, public procurement from regions and municipalities. – At Market, we have noticed a strong public purchasing power. Even the one percent rule – that 1 percent of the budget for new and renovation is allocated to artistic design – makes the market here more resilient. Nordic gallery owners can also seek state support from, for example, the Swedish Arts Council and Norway's OCA to be able to participate in fairs. How the young Nordic galleries will fare in the tougher economic reality remains to be seen, but greater flexibility and fewer fixed costs are a start. Berner Bengtsson also believes that just participation in Art Basel indicates that one can be "the next big thing". – From 1997 to 2001, there was a similar boom of Nordic galleries at Art Basel, with among others Danish Nils Staerk and Nicolai Wallner, Norwegian Standard (Oslo), Swedish Andréhn Schiptjenko and Magnus Karlsson. They are now leading Nordic galleries, and some of the artists they showed then have become world-famous, she says. For Coulisse, which participated in Art Basel for the fourth time this year, the market is growing all the more. – Besides Art Basel, Frieze London was important for us when it came to finding collectors and expanding our network. Our client base is growing and we are selling more art internationally. Where more established galleries might be stuck in certain structures, we can adapt more easily and find ways to handle any difficulties, says Jeanette Gunnarsson. Facts.Mega-galleries and art fairs A mega-gallery is a large gallery corporation with a global presence and physical locations in several cities. According to the UBS Global Art Market Report, the art market grew by 12 percent in 2024. In 2025 it recovered by about 4 percent, but increased costs of about 5 percent keep the situation negative. Participating in international fairs allows gallerists to reach an international client base and expand their networks. However, participation is expensive, and a booth can cost between 100,000 and 2 million kronor. The Blum gallery, which was recently closed, spent approximately $450,000 on its participation in Art Basel this year, including the booth fee, shipping, insurance, and accommodation for staff. Because of this, Art Basel Art Fair has, among other things, production support that galleries can take advantage of to afford participation. In addition to Art Basel, there are fairs such as Nada, Paris internationale, Independent, Frieze focus, Basel statements (Art Basel's young section), Art-o-rama in Marseille, and Material in Mexico City, which are all considered important for young international galleries.