VIP Art Fair was an international art fair held exclusively online. The fair was founded in 2010 by James and Jane Cohan, owners of James Cohan Gallery in New York, and Jonas and Alessandra Almgren, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. The inaugural fair was held January 22–30, 2011 and the second edition of the fair will be held February 3–8, 2012.
The new technologies developed for VIP Art Fair are the most significant changes for VIP 2.0. First, the site is now integrated with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter – enabling visitors to build personalized tours on the Fair site then share them on their social media pages. Next, the site now supports all web-browsers, iPad and other mobile devices. Finally, the chat feature on the site has been improved, using cloud technology, and expanded so that it can now be used on mobile phones – functioning like iMessage or BBM. The world’s leading contemporary galleries have participated in VIP 2.0, including David Zwirner, Galerie Max Hetzler, White Cube, Gagosian Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Xavier Hufkens, Fraenkel Gallery, and James Cohan Gallery.
VIP 1.0
The first edition of VIP Art Fair ran from January 22–30, 2011. At that time, it was the first art fair to be held entirely online. VIP 1.0 featured 138 contemporary art galleries from 30 countries, and included works by more than 2,200 artists. Over its nine-day run, VIP Art Fair attracted some 41,000 visitors, but was plagued by technical difficulties. The fair might have been victim of its own success, as peak loads slowed the service down. The experience by exhibitors was mixed, with some expressing outrage at the shortcomings, while others were happy with the results and saw future potential. To strengthen the technology platform, the founders of VIP Art Fair decided to bring all development in-house, and hired Severin Andrieu-Delille to head the tech team.
In January 2012, Liz Parks was hired as the new Fair Director, a former head of sales at Artnet, to replace Noah Horowitz, the founding director.
In January 2012, VIP Art Fair raised $1 million from international collectors including Selmo Nissenbaum, Partner in Personale Investimentos, and Philip Keir, media and arts specialist and former Founder of NextMedia.
In January 2012, VIP Art Fair announced three more fairs to be held in 2012: VIP Paper, VIP Photo and VIP Vernissage
In April 2013, VIP Art announced it had been acquired by Artspace
