ArtDependence | Interview with Scope director Katelijne De Backer during the Miami Art Week

By Anna Savitskaya - Sunday, December 7, 2014

Right in the heat of the ongoing Miami Art Week Artdpendence Magazine managed to catch up with Katelijne De Backer, SCOPE Art Show director for a few questions.

Right in the heat of the ongoing Miami Art Week Artdpendence Magazine managed to catch up with Katelijne De Backer, SCOPE Art Show director for a few questions. SCOPE Art Show returned to the sands of Miami Beach for its 14th edition, amidst tremendous support from the City of Miami Beach, an outpouring of critical acclaim from press, curators and collectors, and a digital and social media outreach campaign that garnered over 90 million impressions.

Organizers expect SCOPE Miami Beach’s pavilion, situated on historic Ocean Drive, to welcome near 40,000 visitors over the course of 6 days. More than 100 exhibitors and 20 selected Breeder Program galleries will present groundbreaking work, alongside SCOPE’s special programming, encompassing music, design and fashion. Katelijne De Backer, director of SCOPE Art Show, shares with Artdependence Magazine some impressions about the fair in general and its 14th edition in particular.

Artdependence Magazine: How would you position Scope in terms of art offered towards other numerous fairs running the same time in Miami? And what is special about Scope?

Katelijne De Backer: SCOPE has always and still does serve as a platform for emerging talent. SCOPE gives the opportunity for young and emerging galleries, artists and curators to be exposed to the contemporary art world in a way that is unavailable anywhere else, and we have a long tradition of doing so. This is our 14th year in Miami!

SCOPE Miami Beach Tent, courtesy SCOPE

AD: What are you proud of in this year edition of Scope?

KDB: Our investment in the new contemporary movement that we did in collaboration with Juxtapoz this year is a huge success and something we are very proud of. Also our FEATURE program that brings together 15 galleries from Korea gets great feedback. And the four site-specific installations curated by Kaseem "Swizz Beatz" Dean, is a highlight. In general, I also think the level of galleries that participate this year is very high.

Recurrence SP201408, 2012
Acrylic and oil on canvas
31 3/5 × 46 in (80.3 × 116.8 cm)
Courtesy Park Ryu Sook Gallery and SCOPE

AD: It's a tough time for organizers to attract collectors, celebrities and just visitors. What do you do to see your audience at Scope?

KDB: We don't really have a problem attracting collectors, celebrities and visitors. We make the fair a meeting point where art aficionados from around the world get together. SCOPE is a fair with great energy. Our goal is that galleries meet the right curators, that collectors meet great artists, that galleries meet buying collectors. A great fair should give a clear sense of what is happening in the global art world today. And if on top of that the galleries sell a lot of art to the right people, then you can call the fair very successful.

Breeder Program: Gallery on Wade: Michael Vickers, courtesy SCOPE

AD: It's already your second year as Scope director. Can you compare the two editions held under your supervision?

KDB: Last year was our first year on the beach and in terms of operations this year we knew the few things that needed to be fixed, and we fixed them. Also because of the success we had last year, we had many more applications and had a bigger pool and better galleries to select from, and it definitely shows. Once this fair closes we can start working on SCOPE New York which will be in a new wonderful location very close to The Armory Show. That is super exciting!

AD: Thank you, Katelijne! Good luck with SCOPE!


SCOPE's entrance Saturday morning	Inside SCOPE Miami Beach’s pavilion

By Anna Savitskaya

Anna is a graduate of Moscow’s Photo Academy, with a previous background in intellectual property rights. In 2012 she founded the company Perspectiva Art, dealing in art consultancy, curatorship, and the coordination of exhibitions. During the bilateral year between Russia and The Netherlands in 2013, Perspectiva Art organized a tour for a Dutch artist across Russia, as well as putting together several exhibitions in the Netherlands, curated by Anna. Anna has taken an active role in the development and management of ArtDependence Magazine. She left ArtDependence in 2019. Anna interviews curators and artists, in addition to reviewing books and events, and collaborating with museums and art fairs.

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Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.

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ArtDependence Magazine is an international magazine covering all spheres of contemporary art, as well as modern and classical art.

ArtDependence features the latest art news, highlighting interviews with today’s most influential artists, galleries, curators, collectors, fair directors and individuals at the axis of the arts.

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