How ESTE ARTE Founder Laura Bardier Built an Art Market from Scratch

Uruguay is hardly the first place that comes to mind when thinking about South America’s art hubs, but the art world’s perception of the country has been shifting in recent years, thanks to two factors. First, the growing influx of high-net-worth individuals settling in the seaside enclave of Punta del Este, and second, what Uruguayan curator Laura Bardier has built through ESTE ARTE.

Now in its 12th edition, the fair has created the infrastructure to support the growth and professionalization of an entire ecosystem. “In little more than a decade ESTE ARTE has truly changed the arts landscape in the region. It has been a catalyst for many, many projects,” Bardier told Observer just after returning to New York, where she is now based and serves as director at James Howell.

Born in Montevideo, Bardier has had a wide-ranging international career within the institutional art system. She spent years working with PAN and the MADRE Museum in Naples and has organized international panels and conferences, including the 2nd Forum on New Media Art, the 1st Forum on Documentation and Art and the New Media Art radio series for MoMA PS1 Radio during the 52nd Venice Biennale. Although she had no prior experience with art fairs or the commercial side of the art world, Bardier had visited many over the years as an in-house curator, gaining a clear understanding of what worked, what didn’t, and what an art fair could—and should—be.

When launching ESTE ARTE, however, she had to start almost from scratch. Unlike neighboring South American countries, Uruguay had yet to develop a structured art scene. The country had some galleries, but many operated outside contemporary professional standards. An earlier attempt at a small fair had functioned more as a platform for independent artists to sell work, but it quickly vanished. “There was this very romantic idea of the artist painting in his studio, being completely independent from the market, not selling, being poor, suffering—as if that were the only option,” Bardier explains. “With ESTE, I wanted to introduce the possibility of another professional path, of building a professional framework, offering other options and providing information.”

“I believed—and still believe—that there were artists with real potential to grow and to develop into a stronger community,” she adds, noting that there were already many artists working, along with museums and an academy. Uruguay produced internationally recognized figures such as Joaquín Torres-García, the foundational force behind Uruguayan modernism and creator of Constructive Universalism, and more recently, Pablo Atchugarry. “Some things were missing, yes, and things could be stronger, but each institution was doing the best it could within its budget.”

Bardier, who typically returns to Uruguay every Christmas, had begun exploring whether she could acquire works by local artists for a collection she was advising on. She quickly realized that while there was talent, what was missing was the infrastructure to support artists in building sustainable careers. That prompted her to consider launching an art fair. “I started by doing deeper research to understand what had been done before, because I wanted to create something that strengthened the community, not something alien that just arrives,” she says. She met with everyone who had previously worked in the arts in the region and tried to involve them in the process. “Some people expressed concerns. They didn’t really understand what an art fair could bring to the table. I think that mentality has changed, but at the time there was a strong resistance toward the commercial environment, or the idea of artists ‘selling their souls.’”

Bardier chose to launch ESTE ARTE in Punta del Este, often dubbed the Hamptons or Monaco of South America. Once a seasonal retreat for South American elites, Punta del Este has, over the past few decades, evolved into a global destination for affluent buyers, investors and luxury lifestyle seekers. The city’s high-end real estate market has seen double-digit price growth—especially in luxury and beachfront properties—driven by wealthy foreign buyers from neighboring Argentina and Brazil, as well as from Europe, particularly Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands. Uruguay has long been one of the most politically and economically stable countries in Latin America. Although it remains somewhat influenced by fluctuations in Argentina and Brazil, its broader stability has made it increasingly attractive to international residents.

At the time, however, there were very few serious collectors. Most Uruguayan buyers acquired art through auction houses abroad, while wealthy residents in Punta del Este tended to purchase decorative marina paintings for $5,000 or $10,000 to hang in their homes. Bardier began to question the cultural, historical and market value of such works: if someone later wanted to resell a painting like that, what would happen?

“I then tried to create an infrastructure where there are options—where you can discover other artists who may have resale value but also historical value, artists who contribute to the cultural and aesthetic history of the region,” she explains. “There is a lot of wealth in Punta del Este. Most of the people come from Argentina, Paraguay and Peru—essentially the wealthiest individuals from across the region—but they were not necessarily collectors. There were a few, mostly from Argentina and Brazil, but overall many wealthy people simply weren’t buying art.”

Without the budget to attract a large cohort of international VIP collectors, Bardier made it her mission to convert local wealth into local collecting—something easier said than done. This remains one of the central questions of the art world: how do you turn wealthy individuals into collectors?

The answer was patience—and sustained personal engagement. Through direct relationships built one by one over time, Bardier gradually helped form a collecting community. “You can see it very clearly now,” she says. “There is a group of Uruguayans who actively buy art. They started by buying at ESTE, and then they visit Art Basel Miami Beach, ARCO and other international fairs.” Three years ago, she further reinforced this ecosystem by creating a selection committee composed exclusively of collectors who had been acquiring work at ESTE for over a decade. Some of those collectors have since grown both financially and institutionally, becoming patrons and even founding foundations that are helping expand the country’s art scene.

To further encourage collecting and patronage, ESTE ARTE established two awards. “There isn’t a long tradition of philanthropy or sponsorship here, unlike fairs that have existed for 25 years,” Bardier explains. “So we created awards to recognize and encourage collectors and philanthropists.”

The first is named after Princess Laetitia d’Arenberg, a longtime figure in Uruguay’s cultural life. Each year, she personally presents the award to a collector or philanthropist. This year’s recipient was Eda Kaftler, an Austrian collector who relocated to Uruguay and has been actively collecting works by Uruguayan women. Past honorees include Martín Seregui, an Uruguayan collector with an extraordinary Escuela del Sur collection, and Tomás Moyano, an Argentine collector who moved to Uruguay and created a foundation.

The second initiative is the inaugural Don Baez Acquisition Award, which supports the purchase of a work valued at up to $10,000 presented at ESTE ARTE. The award is funded by the Don Baez family, owners of an Uruguayan wool company with international reach. “One of my biggest efforts has been to develop the idea of corporate and business collections,” Bardier notes. “There was no precedent for this in Uruguay.” The award stands as a concrete example of how such collecting practices can emerge locally.

An international fair with local roots

Through the years, ESTE ARTE has evolved through ongoing dialogue with collectors, visitors, buyers and art lovers. “Some people don’t buy, but they still come to the fair, visit museums, galleries and artists. We kept asking: what works for them?” Bardier says. Designing a fair that made sense within its specific context was essential. “I wanted to treat the context as an active framework, not as a backdrop—to think about what actually works within our environment.”

This philosophy shapes the rhythm of the fair. ESTE ARTE is open only from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., during sunset. “You’re on the beach, watching the sun go down. That rhythm is Uruguay,” Bardier says. The fair also emphasizes intimacy over spectacle. While many fairs depend on scale and visibility, ESTE ARTE reserves spectacle for the VIP preview. “Our collectors aren’t interested in showing off,” she notes. “Uruguay sits between Argentina and Brazil, which are much more about spectacle. Uruguayans are very low-profile. We try to find the right balance.”

For that reason, the fair is limited to 14 exhibitors, each presenting a curated solo show. This structure makes the experience more accessible to local audiences while ensuring curatorial clarity and quality. All works are new, often produced specifically for the fair, with a strong focus on the primary market and living artists—though rare, curated exceptions are made for historical figures. During public days, each artist presents and discusses their project, a format Bardier sees as essential for accessibility.

Responding to growing demand from galleries, ESTE ARTE introduced a new initiative in 2026 that invited exhibitors to present a second artist outside the booth, with installations dispersed throughout the city and visible for the duration of the season. “I didn’t want to expand physically with bigger tents or new structures. I wanted to stay grounded in time and place,” Bardier says.

Today, ESTE ARTE receives roughly three times as many applications as it can accommodate. “This year alone we received around 600 applications. Not all are perfect, of course, but the quality was noticeably higher”—a clear sign of the fair’s growing appeal.

In its early years, most exhibitors came from Europe and the U.S., as Uruguay lacked a critical mass of professional galleries. Bardier leaned on her international network to introduce global standards to the local market. Today, ESTE ARTE is, as she puts it, “international with local roots,” as more domestic galleries and independent spaces continue to emerge.

Where participation in ARCO or Art Basel Miami once marked the pinnacle of visibility for South American galleries, interest has shifted toward more decentralized markets like Uruguay. “After COVID, that need changed,” according to Bardier. She recalls how Brazilian gallerist Eduardo Fernández approached her during the second hour of this year’s opening day, surprised to have already met five new Brazilian clients he had never encountered in São Paulo.

When selecting international galleries, Bardier prioritizes those with a meaningful connection to the region. “It might be through the director, or through another artist they work with. It doesn’t have to be the artist they’re presenting,” she says. “What matters is that they understand how the system works here.”

From the outset, Bardier has also sought to foster meaningful dialogue between international curators and collectors—on equal terms. “Not from the position of ‘we’re in the Third World, we need validation,’” she emphasizes. Recent guests have included Frances Morris from Tate, Hoor Al Qasimi from the Sharjah Art Foundation and, this year, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, curator of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo. Each invitation is paired with locally rooted engagement tailored to the curator’s interests, ensuring that exchanges extend well beyond the fair itself.

Every two years, ESTE ARTE organizes discussions around the Uruguayan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. This year, the conversation expanded to include representatives from Chile and Argentina. “The idea was to open the discussion to the region,” Bardier explains, noting her ambition to eventually establish an association of Latin American art fairs.

It’s an ambitious goal, but after 12 years, Bardier has certainly fulfilled her original aims—not only launching an art fair, but helping to build a market and a broader ecosystem. The fact that her former assistant is now director of culture for the current government, and that a recent Uruguayan Pavilion in Venice was curated by another long-time collaborator, speaks to ESTE ARTE’s generational impact. Looking ahead, she remains focused on refinement. “It’s not about quantity. It’s about quality. I want to keep raising the standards every year.”

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