Interview: Kassandra Voyagis

Interview: Kassandra Voyagis, Dot Red

I’m Kassandra Voyagis, the producer and director of the LA Art Show. 

Our show is usually in January, so this is our first summer edition. We were actually the last show at the convention center as a public event back in February 2020—and we’re the first show coming back!

What is important about this show this year?

For me, personally, it was important to come back and to actually have a show in person, because over the past 15 or 16 months most shows had to cancel. I think it was also important to have something significant for the community and for the galleries to attend. So I was really pleased that we were allowed to do it. I think coming to an art show even if you’re not a collector or if you don’t know a lot about art, is still a true pleasure. We need some happiness and some fun moments right now. So that was important for me. And also, since this is my first year as the director of the show, I wanted to make sure that the show had a mix of everything. As you can see, we have included different programming. We have NFTs, we have the traditional artwork, we have pop surrealism, and we have photography—all kinds of artwork.

What specific elements of the show would you highlight?

Well, the curatorial statement this year was Women, Science, and Technology. I have a wonderful team of women who helped our organization use technology to transition the way we operated and made decisions during the pandemic. A lot of the artists this year also had to transition to create their artwork using different means—like everyone else, because of COVID, they were stuck at home. So photographers started doing more video and more work on computers. I wanted to highlight their creativity, which is also part of the science and technology theme, which goes beyond traditional two-dimensional artwork.

What do you see the future in the LA art show?

Well, the next show is going to be on January 19 through the 23, 2022. Hopefully, the future will be a return to creativity and community, and we’ll see how things evolve. However, we’d like to return to the previous  large-scale international presence that we usually enjoy with our Asian and European galleries, that unfortunately couldn’t attend this year due to the travel restrictions.

Interview: Kassandra Voyagis, Dot Red
Interview: Kassandra Voyagis, Dot Red

How important is it for you as a female producer to feature women in art?

It’s very important for me. That’s why we focused on women and female artists throughout all the museums and their curatorial projects. We also showcased all female artists in the digital realm and NFTs. Diversity is also important to me, so we featured a diversity of women in our efforts.