Few critical minds in the art market possess the audacity and agility of Abaseh Mirvali. Known for reshaping institutions rather than merely running them, she brings to viennacontemporary a reputation for risk-taking and a refusal to let art fairs become predictable marketplaces. Long renowned as a meeting point between East and West, the fair now embraces Mirvali’s challenge of rewiring it for a future where commerce, community, and critique must coexist. In this conversation, she speaks about risk and responsibility, the absurdities of the art world, and why viennacontemporary should be less deferential to tradition and more a ground for experimentation.
Fig.1
You’ve just taken the helm at viennacontemporary. Are you here to burnish its tradition, or to blow it up?
I am not here to dismantle tradition, but to reinterpret and expand it. viennacontemporary sits at the crossroads of rich history and contemporary innovation. I see myself creating a bridge between past and present, honoring the legacy of the city and the region while encouraging new ideas, approaches, and voices. It’s about fostering an environment where experimentation and dialogue can thrive alongside established practices.
What’s the one big thing the art fair model still gets wrong?
Art fairs often prioritize immediacy over sustained engagement. While the short-term thrill of a four-day event is undeniable, fairs sometimes fail to nurture ongoing relationships between artists, galleries, institutions, and audiences. They can inadvertently reinforce transactional dynamics rather than fostering long-term cultural networks. My focus is on extending the fair’s influence beyond the calendar and on strategic partnerships and programs that build a year-round ecosystem of support and dialogue.
Art fairs often claim to be about discovery, yet they’re driven by sales. As an Artistic Director with a fresh start, how do you reconcile visibility for artists with the commercial realities of the fair?
It’s a balancing act. Visibility is a currency in itself. We work with galleries to highlight emerging voices while also creating spaces for collectors to engage meaningfully with their work. By structuring programming that celebrates discovery—through talks, curated sections, and off-site projects—we generate attention and context that strengthens both artistic and commercial outcomes. The two are not mutually exclusive. When done thoughtfully, one reinforces the other.
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Vienna: the city of Freud, Klimt, and cake. How do you keep the fair from becoming too comfortable?
Cake is central to me, as someone with a fondness for all forms of sweetness. Living in one of the world’s best cities for café and Kuchen culture, I’ve intentionally brought that energy into the fair. We’re highlighting it throughout the programming, including a co-branded coffee with Ototo, so the cake becomes a playful thread that invites interaction and enjoyment. Vienna is a city steeped in cultural icons, and I embrace them. At the same time, highlighting the actors who are reinterpreting notions of iconicity is my priority, consciously cultivating programming that encourages unexpected encounters. This is all about fostering a sense of tension and play, allowing the city’s traditions to converse with contemporary urgencies, and creating experiences that surprise even seasoned visitors. Beyond that, having lived and worked across many geographies, I naturally approach the fair as a space to connect diverse ideas, cultures, and perspectives. It’s about creating encounters that are intellectually stimulating, culturally layered, and sensorially engaging—a fair that feels alive, surprising, and deeply human.
Vienna’s art history weighs heavily on any new endeavor. How do you plan to make viennacontemporary feel less like a mirror of its past, and more like a laboratory for the present?
I approach the fair as a platform for experimenting with formats that engage audiences beyond conventional exhibition layouts or perspectives. While history informs our context, it should not dictate our direction. This means embracing projects that might not fit the conventional canon. This year, we collaborated with Antonia Lia Orsi, the founder of City Gallery in Vienna, on a section called “VC Vault” which focuses on emerging galleries that are her peers. The energy she brought was not only invaluable, but it has yielded an incredibly diverse international representation. Working with her helped me understand her needs as a young gallerist to make participation and—we hope—success more tangible.
viennacontemporary has a reputation for connecting Eastern and Western European art scenes. How do you see your role, as a caretaker of that binary, or as someone intent on disrupting it?
Both. This binary remains crucial, but its limitations need to be challenged. The contemporary art landscape is increasingly global, and the binary of “East” versus “West” can feel outdated. The Austrian audience is ready for new geographical, conceptual, and aesthetic conversations. For me personally, these conversations are also an opportunity to learn, to listen, and to start understanding the diverse cultural ecosystems across Central and Eastern Europe. I see immense value in studying how cultural systems are growing and transforming in these contexts, and, equally, in supporting a multiplicity of scenes by amplifying their differences while also facilitating reciprocal exchange. In this way, my approach seeks to position viennacontemporary as a space that reflects the complexity and interconnectivity of today’s art world.
Does geography still matter, or is the “East-West” divide just art-fair nostalgia?
The distinctions are no longer absolute, but the histories, infrastructures, and networks that shaped artistic development remain relevant. Recognizing those contexts enriches our understanding and allows us to situate artists and galleries within both historical and contemporary frameworks. I don’t believe geography can be dismissed, but I do think the old “East-West” divide increasingly belongs to the past. As someone who is a US-American of Iranian heritage and who has spent nearly two decades working within the cultural landscapes of Latin America, I’ve learned firsthand that the most exciting conversations in contemporary art emerge when we step outside of inherited frameworks and open ourselves to multiple vantage points. Vienna’s historical position between “East” and “West” has been vital to the fair’s identity, and I [do] honor that legacy.
Rather than reinforcing divisions, viennacontemporary can act as a meeting point—a space where multiple geographies, histories, and perspectives intersect, challenging and reshaping how we think about art and culture today.
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Do you plan to expand this focus, or sharpen it in light of current geopolitical tensions?
Strategic selection and programming allow us to include artists and galleries from regions that may face challenges in terms of visibility or mobility, fostering dialogue and exchange without oversimplification or tokenism.
What’s riskier in an art fair: showing something unsellable, or showing something too easy to sell?
Showing something too easy to sell is often the greater risk. While unsellable work can generate critical attention and provoke discussion, overly familiar or commercially safe works risk rendering the fair predictable, dull, and ultimately forgettable.
Be honest: what’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve seen at an art fair?
I must be diplomatic, so I edit myself: oversized installations that are spectacular but entirely unrelated to context or curatorial rationale. It’s amusing for a moment, but ultimately distracting. Context and intention matter as much as scale or spectacle.
You’re known for taking risks as a curator. Within the highly commercial setting of an art fair, what kinds of risks still feel necessary (and possible)?
Risk is essential when it reframes the familiar. This might involve highlighting underrepresented regions, commissioning ambitious installations, or experimenting with cross-disciplinary projects that merge art, performance, and social engagement. Even in a commercial environment, these risks are possible when thoughtfully integrated by clear curatorial rationale and communication with galleries and partners.
Do you want collectors to leave the fair satisfied, or unsettled? Don’t say both.
Satisfied. Satisfaction is not about confirming taste or expectations, but about encountering work that resonates, challenges, and inspires. Collectors come to engage deeply with art and ideas. When collectors leave feeling informed, connected, and motivated, the fair has succeeded on multiple levels—intellectually, socially, and commercially.
Beyond sales and emotions, what sort of intellectual reckoning do you want visitors to take away from this year’s fair?
I want visitors to see the interplay of global perspectives, regional nuance, and experimental practices, and to recognize the value of sustained engagement with the cultural ecosystem. The fair needs to insist on its role as a catalyst for reflection, dialogue, and critical thinking.
What are the first lessons you learn in Vienna’s art world?
Collaboration is essential.
Looking ahead, how do you want viennacontemporary to be remembered under your direction—in Vienna, but also internationally?
I want it to reintroduce it as a platform where artists, galleries, and audiences connect meaningfully; where the city is not positioned as a museum of its past, but as a laboratory for contemporary art dialogue across the region and beyond. And, equally, I want it to be remembered as a place of joy—where the experience of art feels alive, generous, and shared. I have only been in this role for five months. This edition marks the beginning of a new chapter.
viennacontemporary in three words for 2025?
Inclusive. Connective. Meaningful.
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viennacontemporary, 11–14 September | Messe Wien Halle D.
For more info, visit www.viennacontemporary.at
- Footnotes
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<div>Cover: Lukas Thaler, seating variations (bench #1, bench #2), engraved limestone, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Elisabeth & Klaus Thoman;<br><br></div>
Fig.1 Abaseh Mirvali, 2025. Photo by Ana Hop. Courtesy of <em>viennacontemporary</em></div><div>Fig.2 Hermann Nitsch HN/M 277 „Schüttbild mit Malhemd“, oil and blood on canvas, 1995. Courtesy of viennacontemporary<br><br>Fig.3 Huda Takriti, Act Two. Courtesy of the artist</div>
