Reporter's Notebook: Which art fairs will survive these challenging times?

The Korean art market is struggling amid adverse economic conditions. The harsh atmosphere was palpable at the past two art fairs in April -- Galleries Art Fair and Art OnO -- and similar concerns loom over the upcoming Art Busan.

A gallerist I met at Galleries Art Fair, which ended on Sunday, said people seem to believe the price of art “will be cheaper tomorrow than it is today,” a sentiment also seen regarding the stock market.

Galleries Art Fair is the oldest fair in the Korean art market, launched in 1979 and open only to homegrown galleries that are members of the Galleries Association of Korea. The organizers prioritize fairness for the member galleries, offering booths at reasonable prices. All booth sizes are the same, and they are allocated through a lottery system.

Until last year, Galleries Art Fair was the first such event on the calendar each year, and it has been considered a barometer for the art market in the months to come. For this year, 168 galleries participated in the fair, which ran from Thursday to Sunday at Coex in Seoul.

Some participants in the Galleries Art Fair, however, said their sales seem to have been affected by the newcomer to the local art fair scene, Art OnO, which was launched last year and held its second edition from April 11 to 13 at Setec in Seoul.

“People didn't buy much this year, and I heard some people already made their purchases at Art OnO,” said a gallerist on Sunday.

Art OnO, another homegrown art fair, founded by collector Noh Jae-myung, was a fresh addition to the art fair calendar last year with a motto to break away from standardized art fairs in terms of the presentation of works and showing artists who are promising or established, yet not familiar to collectors here.

Still relatively small, it attracted around 40 high-quality galleries from home and abroad and turned out to engage more with collectors than general audiences. The fare for one-time general admission was higher than that of the other two fairs, priced at 50,000 won ($35).

“During the art fair, we met some good collectors. It is important to know about tastes and trends among local collectors,” said Hanna Yun, Seoul director of the Portuguese gallery Duarte Sequeira.

Whether the founder's intention for the fair and its quality are sustained, however, will be seen over the next couple of years: For now, it could be seen as being popular simply for being new to the scene.

One art fair is still yet to have taken place in the first half of this year: Art Busan. The family-owned, 23-year-old art fair in the port city of Busan used to be the second-largest art fair after the joint Kiaf-Frieze Seoul, which takes place in September. Now, it is at a crossroads over raising its profile in the global art scene.

What's more, Busan is seeing a fast decline in its younger population, which may lead to the withdrawal of potential young collectors. Art Busan is scheduled to be held May 9-11.

Art fairs are crucial events for the local art market, bringing together numerous galleries to present and sell their artists' works to collectors, art professionals, curators and art lovers. Which ones will be able to endure despite these challenging times, and which ones might need to get more savvy?