Gavin Brown: ‘We are in a place where art is in danger’

Few gallerists come with as much clout as Gavin Brown. The Brit landed in Manhattan in the late 1980s, craving the stimulation of an extended artistic family – and ended up creating his own. Gavin Brown's Enterprise has now long been a New York institution. But this doesn’t mean that the gallerist has ever succumbed to the routine of a well-oiled business. Beside his flagship gallery in the cathedral-like space of a former Harlem brewery, which opened when few dealers would venture north of Central Park, Brown currently runs an Italian outpost in a Roman church, as well as a summer canteen-cum-social space in Delaware County, with his friend and collaborator Rirkrit Tiravanija. In this candid interview for Art Basel’s ‘Meet the Gallerists’ series, he revisits his early New York days and talks about the role art galleries can play in today’s challenging times.

Direction: TORSO 
Cinematography: Jake Moore
Edit: Anthony Valdez
Sound capture: Robert Douthat
Production: Coline Milliard and Jeanne-Salomé Rochat for Art Basel