The Monocle Minute

Last weekend, the Nordic creative community gathered at the Charlottenborg Kunsthal in Copenhagen for the annual Chart Art Fair. Every August for the past 12 years, the fair has showcased the region’s leading galleries alongside emerging names. This year, there was also a book fair, as well as talks, performances and a collaboration with the Tivoli amusement park – a fitting symbol of Chart’s fun-loving, laidback spirit. Across the grounds were 18 contemporary-art installations, which were placed on the park’s roller coasters, in ticket booths and in the gardens. Some 36 galleries presented work from the likes of Seoul-based Minjae Kim and Sweden’s Charlotte Gyllenhammar.

With major art fairs such a Frieze and Art Basel attracting so much attention, it’s easy to overlook these smaller players. But whether you’re a gallerist, collector, curator or journalist, they offer plenty of opportunities for business and networking. Chart offers a very different experience from its bigger cousins, such as the Venice Biennale and New York’s The Armory Show. The intimate setting is well suited for mingling; you get to meet everyone under the same roof and spend an hour or two at an exhibition, talking to people and discussing the art. In the evening – provided that you’ve networked well and secured a few invitations – the conversation continues at cocktail parties on rooftops or at dinners in one of Copenhagen’s cosy restaurants.

“If we help one another, we can make a statement and attract a bigger audience,” says Julie Quottrup Silbermann, Chart Art Fair’s director. “It has never been about ‘your’ collector or ‘my’ collector. It has always been about what we can achieve together.” There is nothing wrong with bigger events but Chart’s allure lies in the camaraderie generated by its close-knit group of attendees. In the art world, having great taste is important but so too is balancing the inherent exclusivity with a little inclusivity. I’ll certainly be back again next year – both for the art and the connections that the fair fosters.

Elna Nykänen Andersson is a Monocle contributor based in Stockholm. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Turkey has officially asked to join the Brics group of emerging-market nations, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt and the UAE. With the return of foreign investors to the country, a recent asset boom and the success of homegrown companies such as drone manufacturer Bayraktar, Ankara might be confident of its bid – but the move might not go down well with its traditional allies.

Turkey is a Nato member and Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s friendly relations with Vladimir Putin and his refusal to place sanctions on Russia have already upset others in the military alliance. It’s also an EU candidate country. But with full membership a distant hope, Ankara seems to have concluded that it needs to look out for its own interests – and cosy up with the Brics.

Many foreign visitors to Japan might have found navigating the country’s vast public-transport system more difficult over the past year due to a lack of travel cards. Sales were stopped last summer as a result of a global semiconductor shortage, which made it harder to obtain the chips needed for the cards. This week, however, JR East and Pasmo Co announced that their travel cards were available to purchase once again.

While a nuisance for visitors, the chip shortage has encouraged transport companies to consider alternative payment methods. Many cities have their own unique solutions: digital passes are becoming more popular, with places such as Kumamoto deciding to phase out physical cards altogether. Fukuoka City Subway, however, allows both national passes and credit cards. For now, it seems that plans for a unified payment system are on hold.

The leader of Sri Lanka’s left-wing National People’s Power (NPP) coalition, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, is the frontrunner in the country’s presidential election, which will be held on 21 September. Monocle speaks to him in Colombo.

What does the NPP offer Sri Lanka?
Both the main opposition and the ruling party follow the same neoliberal economic model. Today, sadly, we are a bankrupt nation. Sri Lanka has an external debt of €34bn, poverty has increased and the price of essential goods has skyrocketed. Our priority is to save the country from this economic crisis.

What about foreign policy?
There are many power camps within a multipolar system. We won’t be a part of that geopolitical fight, nor will we be aligned to any party. We don’t want Sri Lanka to be sandwiched, especially between China and India. Both countries are valued friends and, under an NPP government, we expect them to become close partners. We also want to maintain relations with the EU, the Middle East and Africa.

You won 3.16 per cent of the vote in 2019. Now you’re polling at about 40 per cent. What has changed?

In the past, people wanted us to be the opposition. Now they want us to run the country. They have realised that the two main parties rule together. Their economic policies and governance structures are the same.

For more agenda-setting stories on politics, affairs and diplomacy, pick up a copy of Monocle’sSeptember issue, which is on sale now. Orsubscribetoday so that you never miss an issue.

Robert Bound is joined in the studio by writer David Peace to discuss his new book, Munichs. The novel tells the story of the 1958 Munich air disaster, in which 23 people, including eight Manchester United players and three officials, were fatally injured. Peace’s dramatisation is a tender story of stoicism, sadness and strength.