The Association of Galleries is in a constant process of renewal and development, just like the art market itself, to which our activities are directed. Rapid response to precedent cases provides support to the AGA member galleries, and decisions made can be used by other market participants in the future.
So, one of the latest updates was the revision of the Code of Ethics and the addition of two new clauses:
Clause 3.4.5. provides the possibility of compensation by the artist for the termination of cooperation with the gallery, even with a commission agreement:
The artist should give an artwork to the gallery as a gift after long term cooperation and on the basis of initial contract, to compensate for the gallery’s efforts in promoting the artist and taking into account the "lost profits" incurred by the gallery at the end of such cooperation.
Clause 5.2. regulates the rule of direct contact between galleries in case of negotiations with a new artist:
If the gallery is starting negotiations with an artist, who has previously worked with a different gallery, it must contact the artist’s first gallery to clarify the legitimacy of the artist’s participation in the exhibition, the sale of the artist’s work, complete change of gallery and any other conditions of cooperation discussed with the artist.
The new clauses, as well as the entire Code of Ethics, are aimed at developing and supporting a transparent and logical structure of the art market. The Code can be consulted by artists, galleries and other institutions both in a recommendatory format and using its provisions as a basis for formal relations.