Massimo De Carlo reflects on LISTE's 1996 debut and evolving art fair landscape

Massimo De Carlo participated in the inaugural LISTE art fair in 1996, recalling his positive experience sharing a floor with David Zwirner and Eva Presenhuber. He notes that LISTE emerged alongside other alternative fairs like UNFAIR in Cologne and the Gramercy in New York following the 1991 art market financial crisis. These smaller fairs offered young galleries opportunities to build networks and expand client bases with more realistic budgets than larger events. De Carlo represents artists including Maurizio Cattelan, Paul Chan, and Rashid Johnson through galleries in Milan, London, and Hong Kong. He believes art fairs have grown increasingly important as international hubs for dealers and collectors since LISTE's founding, though he observes an overabundance of fairs today with only a few achieving significant success. For younger galleries applying to LISTE, he advises creating vibrant, aesthetically enticing booths while maintaining focus on commercial prospects. The fair first opened in 1996 and has developed into a key platform for new galleries, with E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers serving as main partner since 1997. This private bank was founded in 1886 by Carl Gutzwiller and remains owned and managed by the Gutzwiller family and partners from its Basel headquarters.