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<\/p>\nThe London gallery Herald St, which for the past 20 years has nurtured the careers of artists such as Nicole Wermers, Cary Kwok and Pablo Bronstein, will open a new space in Bologna, northern Italy, early next year.<\/p>\n
Although the Emilia-Romagna capital is known for its renowned culinary scene and the world\u2019s oldest surviving university, rather than a thriving art market, it holds plenty of appeal for a gallery, says Herald St\u2019s co-founder Nicky Verber. \u201cPeople love travelling to Bologna and it is well connected to the bigger cities of Venice, Milan and Florence. It also contains a very interesting local collector base, and a small handful of excellent institutions, such as Mambo (Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna) and galleries like P420.\u201d<\/p>\n
Verber and his business partner Ash L\u2019Ange canvassed their clients before confirming their Italian location, and received \u201cvery positive\u201d responses to the Bologna plans. \u201cMany of our European collectors expressed great enthusiasm about travelling to the city to see exhibitions.\u201d Having a base in Italy also places the gallery\u2019s programme in closer dialogue with the wealth of museums, private collections and curators across the country, Verber adds.<\/p>\n
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Herald St founders Nicky Verber and Ash L’Ange, in front of a work by Bologna-based artist Francis Offman<\/p>\n
Herald St has been deepening its ties in Bologna for some years. It staged a group exhibition in the city in 2020 and signed the Bologna-based artist Francis Offman in 2021. It has also taken part in recent editions of the local fair Arte Fiera, Italy\u2019s oldest for modern and contemporary art. That fair allows for \u201cthoughtful, slower conversations with collectors from smaller cities nearby like Modena and Ravenna, in a way that Frieze and Basel fairs do not\u201d, Verber says.<\/p>\n
At a time when many mid-sized galleries are suffering from having pursued overly ambitious expansion plans, Herald St’s new space reflects a more sustainable strategy for business growth. \u201cA Bologna gallery provides an outlet for a different type of economy,” Verber says. “Certainly the economic pressures of doing business there are not those of London. We are working in a financial context that we feel comfortable in.\u201d Speaking of the current art market environment, he acknowledges the mounting challenges of doing business, “the art world is less playful than when we began and the financial barriers for entry are much higher\u201d, but asserts that “every gallery’s story, and success, is unique”. <\/p>\n