FAIR ENOUGH by ART COLOGNE + TEXTE ZUR KUNST #8

FAIR ENOUGH is a podcast series by ART COLOGNE in collaboration
with the journal TEXTE ZUR KUNST. Presented by Micaela Dixon, FAIR
ENOUGH brings together artists, curators, writers, and thinkers to
reflect on how art and its institutions are responding to the
urgencies of our present moment. This season marks the 35th
anniversary of TEXTE ZUR KUNST. Here, the journal's motto for the
year is taken up, there is no art without criticism. Each episode
returns to a past issue of the journal to revisit the debates it
sparked and to consider how those questions continue to shape the
cultural and political landscape today. What makes a good
gallerist? Vision, loyalty, risk — or something else entirely? In
this eighth episode, Micaela Dixon speaks with Daniel Hug, Director
of ART COLOGNE and board member of the Moholy-Nagy Foundation,
about the enduring “myth” of the good gallerist — and what it
reveals about the shifting ethics, ambitions, and responsibilities
of the art world. Drawing on his own path from gallerist to fair
director, Hug reflects on the gallery as a fragile ecosystem — part
sanctuary, part stage — and on how its moral and cultural purpose
has evolved in an era of globalisation, speculation, and speed. And
as the conversation unfolds, Cologne itself comes into focus: an
art city undergoing renewal, where new energy and vision are
transforming both the local and international landscape. With his
signature mix of candour and insight, Hug asks: what does it mean
today to believe in artists, in art, and in the work of shaping
context? “The myth of the good gallerist is powerful because it
speaks to belief — belief in art, in artists, and in what art can
still do.” — Daniel Hug FAIR ENOUGH is a podcast by ART COLOGNE in
collaboration with TEXTE ZUR KUNST, bringing together artists,
curators, writers, and thinkers to examine how art responds to the
urgencies of our time. Season 1 marks TEXTE ZUR KUNST’s 35th
anniversary with the theme: There Is No Art Without Criticism.