The Other Art Fair was a physical art fair founded in London in 2011 by Ryan Stanier. It expanded internationally, and Sydney became its first market outside the United Kingdom. Over the years, the fair ran 18 editions in Australia across Sydney and Melbourne, building a reputation as an accessible alternative to the established art fair circuit.
In 2016, Saatchi Art acquired The Other Art Fair. The fair continued to operate under the Saatchi Art umbrella, expanding further across the United States and United Kingdom.
As of 2026, Australia does not appear anywhere on The Other Art Fair's schedule. Sydney is gone. Melbourne is gone. The Australian operation has ended.
What it cost to exhibit
For artists who exhibited at The Other Art Fair in Australia, the cost was significant.
Booth fees ran to thousands of dollars. The sales process was designed to create urgency - artists were given 24 hours to pay a deposit to secure their spot, or lose it. That pressure was deliberate. It discouraged careful consideration of the terms and the true cost of participation.
Once inside the fair, Saatchi Art took 18% commission on all sales made at the event. The terms went further. If a collector met an artist at the fair and later purchased work from them directly - outside the fair, through the artist's own channels - Saatchi Art's position was that commission was still owed on that sale. The relationship, in their view, belonged to the platform that had introduced it.
What artists actually experienced
The marketing promise of The Other Art Fair was access to serious collectors in a curated, artist-focused environment. The reality, as many exhibiting artists described it, was different.
Marketing by the fair itself was minimal relative to the booth fee charged. The audience that attended was not primarily made up of serious buyers. It was an event - an experience, an atmosphere, a night out with art as backdrop. Some collectors were there. Many attendees were not. Most artists who exhibited at the Australian fairs reported significant financial losses after accounting for the booth fee, the commission on any sales made, the cost of transporting and installing work, and the time invested.
The anger among artists was widespread. The losses were real. And then, without significant public announcement, the Australian operation ended.
What artists were left with
Artists who had invested in the Australian fairs were left with nothing they could take forward. No collector database from the event. No ongoing relationship with the platform. No recourse for the financial losses incurred.
This is the structural reality of building your presence through someone else's platform. When the platform decides to leave your market - for whatever commercial reason - your investment leaves with it. The audience you hoped to build was never yours. The collector relationships initiated at the fair belonged to the fair's terms and conditions, not to you.
Why this matters beyond the fair itself
The Other Art Fair story is not an isolated incident. It is an illustration of a broader dynamic in the art industry.
Artists are consistently asked to invest - financially, in time, in marketing effort - in platforms and events that extract value from that investment. The platform benefits whether or not the artist does. When the arrangement stops being commercially useful to the platform, it ends. The artist absorbs the loss.
The artists who came out of the Australian Other Art Fair experience with the most resilience were those who had built their own platforms alongside their fair participation. They had their own websites, their own mailing lists, their own collector relationships that existed outside any single event or marketplace. When the fair closed, they still had something.
Building something you own
The case for owning your own platform - your website, your mailing list, your collector relationships - is not abstract. It is exactly this. Platforms close. Events end. Algorithms change. Terms of service are updated without meaningful notice. Companies are acquired and their priorities shift.
An artist's own platform does none of those things without the artist's knowledge and consent. Every collector in your own database is your collector. Every sale you make through your own website is fully yours, with no commission owed to a platform that may or may not be operating in your market next year.
Solene Haus exists as a platform where artists are not dependent on the health of a corporation's Australian strategy. The zero commission supports platform operations. Everything else - the audience, the collector relationships, the work - belongs to the artist who built it.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to The Other Art Fair in Australia?
The Other Art Fair, owned by Saatchi Art, ran 18 editions across Sydney and Melbourne. As of 2026, Australia no longer appears on their fair schedule. The Australian operation has ended without significant public announcement.
How much did it cost to exhibit at The Other Art Fair in Australia?
Booth fees ran to thousands of dollars, payable under time pressure - artists were typically given 24 hours to pay a deposit or lose their spot. Saatchi Art also charged 18% commission on all sales made at the fair, and their terms included ongoing commission on post-fair sales to collectors met at the event.
Did artists make money at The Other Art Fair?
Many did not. Artists widely reported significant financial losses after accounting for booth fees, commission, transport, installation, and time. Marketing by the fair was minimal relative to the costs charged to exhibitors.
Is The Other Art Fair still running in Australia in 2026?
No. The Other Art Fair has no Australian cities listed on its 2026 schedule. Sydney and Melbourne editions are no longer running.
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