IN CONVERSATION WITH ALBERT RIERA GALCERAN
INSIDE CLARISSA AND ÉMERGENT MAGAZINE’S COUNTER ARTISTIC DISCOURSE
Mid-October is art fair season. London and Paris pulse simultaneously with the rhythm of Frieze and Art Basel. The magnitude is impressive: hundreds of galleries, collectors, curators, and press converging across two capitals, compressing months of artistic discourse into a single week. The spectacle is undeniable, yet within its polished frenzy, something feels at disconnect.
While the global art market continues to polarize its hierarchies widening between major players and marginal scenes, independent initiatives have begun to propose new models of gathering.
While the global art market continues to polarize its hierarchies widening between major players and marginal scenes, independent initiatives have begun to propose new models of gathering.
Among them, émergent magazine and its first-offshoot project Clarissa, a collaboration with London-based gallery Soft Commodity, offer a different rhythm of artistic conversation.
To understand what drives such projects, LA DÉRIVE spoke with Albert Riera Galceran, artist, editor, and co-founder of émergent magazine. We met in Paris, just after the launch of émergent’s fourteenth issue, a print exhibition of contemporary practice that spans continents yet remains intimately artist-led.
To understand what drives such projects, LA DÉRIVE spoke with Albert Riera Galceran, artist, editor, and co-founder of émergent magazine. We met in Paris, just after the launch of émergent’s fourteenth issue, a print exhibition of contemporary practice that spans continents yet remains intimately artist-led.
ON CREATING COUNTER-SPACES
Albert Riera Galceran: Reuben and I had been wanting to create a project in London for a long time. In Paris, you have several parallel events : off fairs and collective shows that offer alternatives to the main circuit. London didn’t really have that anymore, especially since Brexit.
ARG: Then, by coincidence, we met Ivo from Soft Commodity at Art Basel in June. He had access to a space in King’s Cross, available during Frieze week, and it just made sense. From there, the project evolved very naturally. Clarissa was born out of a shared need to create a space outside the system, yet within it : a space that speaks the same language but with a different tempo.
BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND FLUIDITY: THE VISION BEHIND CLARISSA
ARG: Clarissa doesn’t fit into a single category. It isn’t a fair, nor a gallery. The moment you call something a fair, people bring expectations that are commercial or institutional. Clarissa was deliberately open, with no fixed narrative. It’s more of a community-driven space, one that allows for dialogue, showcasing, and discovery.
In that sense, Clarissa echoes émergent’s ethos. The magazine itself functions as a curatorial statement; a printed exhibition assembling artists from different generations and geographies. Clarissa gave this same principle a body.
In that sense, Clarissa echoes émergent’s ethos. The magazine itself functions as a curatorial statement; a printed exhibition assembling artists from different generations and geographies. Clarissa gave this same principle a body.
ON THE MEANING OF EMERGENCE
SC: Your main project, émergent magazine, carries an implicit name. What does “emergence” mean to you in this context?
ARG: For me, emergence isn’t about market visibility or career stage. We’ve always worked with artists across generations: some established, others unknown, even deceased. What matters is the energy that arises when works exist in dialogue.
ARG: For me, emergence isn’t about market visibility or career stage. We’ve always worked with artists across generations: some established, others unknown, even deceased. What matters is the energy that arises when works exist in dialogue.
ARG : At Clarissa, we avoided fragmenting things. At a fair like Frieze, everything is sectioned: “Focus,” “Main,” “Emerging.” We wanted to dissolve that hierarchical logic.
ARG : You could find two radically different works in the same room, and that tension was precisely what we sought. Emergence, in our sense, is a feeling, the moment of wonder that art provokes, rising from within.
ARG : You could find two radically different works in the same room, and that tension was precisely what we sought. Emergence, in our sense, is a feeling, the moment of wonder that art provokes, rising from within.
THE ROLE OF CURATION
KAYODE OJO, 2025 MICHAEL DEAN, 2018 KEMBRA PFAHLER, 2016 ANNA CLEGG, 2025 GRAHAM WIEBE, 2025 KEMBRA PFAHLER, 2016 HAMISH PEARCH, 2025 ALAN MICHAEL, 2015
SC: As you’ve just mentioned, Clarissa’s curatorial process, like émergent’s, isn’t governed by market logic or institutional mandates. How would you define it ?
ARG: I can’t define our curatorial line. It’s instinctive. We’re led by intuition, by what moves us. In larger structures, there’s a need to sell a cohesive, marketable vision. But with émergent or Clarissa, we work through affinity, resonance and discovery. I will say the contextual element is primordial: pieces are elevated by a specific context, as much in their temporalities than spatialities.
ARG: I can’t define our curatorial line. It’s instinctive. We’re led by intuition, by what moves us. In larger structures, there’s a need to sell a cohesive, marketable vision. But with émergent or Clarissa, we work through affinity, resonance and discovery. I will say the contextual element is primordial: pieces are elevated by a specific context, as much in their temporalities than spatialities.
ARG: Being an artist myself, I approach curation as a kind of encounter. Like falling in love : you don’t rationalize it, you feel it. That’s how I see art: attraction, curiosity, rejection, discovery. It’s an emotional process before it’s a theoretical one.
If there’s one thread connecting the artists we work with, it’s their willingness to transgress: to break conventions, to shift perception. Ultimately, context, temporality and sensibility are everything.
ON COMMUNITY
SOF PERFORMANCE DURING CLARISSA,
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SOFT COMMODITY
SC : Which community did Clarissa gather ? ARG : Our community is diverse but also quite niche ; there’s artists, students, curators, collectors, people from different scenes and countries. We naturally got a hybrid of newcomers, with our audience tied to Soft Commodity’s.
ARG : But ultimately you had people from all over. That’s when you realize a project works: when it attracts people who aren’t supposed to meet but end up speaking the same language. Ultimately that’s what we want to encourage : new ways of connecting through art.
THE CHALLENGES OF INDEPENDENCE
SC : Independent projects often exist in tension with the systems they critique, operating inside the same cities, under the same conditions, but with different intentions. What were some challenges brought upon by this project ?
ARG: Obviously, the commercial dimension is impossible to ignore.
ARG: Obviously, the commercial dimension is impossible to ignore.
ARG: Even when you try to remain independent, you still face the same practical questions: rent, logistics, production, visibility. Clarissa's priority wasn’t to sell, but we had to acknowledge that we were still part of that ecosystem.
It’s about negotiating your place within it being critical, but not cynical. In the end I learned a lot from it.
It’s about negotiating your place within it being critical, but not cynical. In the end I learned a lot from it.
ON NAMING CLARISSA
SC: I have to ask about the name. Who is “Clarissa” ?
ARG (smiling): It started as a semi-joke. When émergent began, it was just me and Reuben. We invented “Clarissa,” our imaginary assistant. She’d send our professional emails, sign letters, even appear as a contributor in the magazine. Over time, she became a sort of ghost figure and an alter ego for the project itself.
When we were thinking of a name for this new venture, she came back to us immediately. Clarissa represents the invisible labour behind what we do : the collaborative, sometimes fictional, always collective side of creation.
ARG (smiling): It started as a semi-joke. When émergent began, it was just me and Reuben. We invented “Clarissa,” our imaginary assistant. She’d send our professional emails, sign letters, even appear as a contributor in the magazine. Over time, she became a sort of ghost figure and an alter ego for the project itself.
When we were thinking of a name for this new venture, she came back to us immediately. Clarissa represents the invisible labour behind what we do : the collaborative, sometimes fictional, always collective side of creation.
AT THE CORE : PROJECTS LED BY ARTISTS
CESAR SEGARRA, 2023
SC : Through émergent and Clarissa, you continue to explore what it means to support art as both an artist and a facilitator. How do you balance these roles ?
ARG: At our core, we’re artists. Over the years, I’ve learned to understand the curator’s role, the journalist’s lens, even the gallerist’s perspective. But it all comes back to the same thing: to look closely, to listen, to give form to others’ visions.
ARG: At our core, we’re artists. Over the years, I’ve learned to understand the curator’s role, the journalist’s lens, even the gallerist’s perspective. But it all comes back to the same thing: to look closely, to listen, to give form to others’ visions.
ARG: Looking back at my beginnings in the art world, I was producing a lot, chasing conventional success. Over time, I realized that what truly mattered was the depth of the work, not its recognition.
ARG: Now, I’m interested in what surrounds art : the contexts, the dialogues, the small movements that shape meaning, but mostly the perspective shifts that come out of all that. That’s what defines my work as a whole.
ARG: Now, I’m interested in what surrounds art : the contexts, the dialogues, the small movements that shape meaning, but mostly the perspective shifts that come out of all that. That’s what defines my work as a whole.
ON THE ART WORLD TODAY
SC : Having observed the art world’s evolution over the last decade, how do you read it today?
ARG: It’s complex. Brexit and COVID disrupted everything : travel, trade, attention. Some thought it would be the end of fairs. Others questioned technology’s role. There’s fatigue, but also reinvention.
ARG: It’s complex. Brexit and COVID disrupted everything : travel, trade, attention. Some thought it would be the end of fairs. Others questioned technology’s role. There’s fatigue, but also reinvention.
ARG: With émergent, we try to create space for new voices, to give visibility to artists and ideas that might not fit traditional systems. Clarissa continues that mission.
SC: Do you feel you’ve succeeded?
ARG: In a way, yes. Success, for us, means offering people another way to connect through art, something more personal, sincere, and grounded.
SC: Do you feel you’ve succeeded?
ARG: In a way, yes. Success, for us, means offering people another way to connect through art, something more personal, sincere, and grounded.
MAPPING CREATIVE GEOGRAPHIES
SC : You studied art in London, are based in Barcelona and often come to Paris for work. I’m curious to know if you could define these artistic geographies ?
ARG: Interesting. I think London remains the most dynamic : great schools, international energy, constant renewal. Paris is more institutional, but changing fast, especially with its crossovers between fashion, design, and art.
ARG: Interesting. I think London remains the most dynamic : great schools, international energy, constant renewal. Paris is more institutional, but changing fast, especially with its crossovers between fashion, design, and art.
ARG: Barcelona is smaller, but there’s a strong sense of community and diaspora. Many artists from there are gaining recognition across Europe. It’s a scene still in formation, but with incredible vitality. I’m proud to contribute to putting it on the map.
ON WHAT’S NEXT
SC : All of this being said, do you have a dream project ?
ARG: As a man of visual language, my natural answer has to be a film. I don’t know what it will be about yet, but I know it will have to do with essence : capturing something necessary. For me, film feels like the ultimate visual synthesis.
SC: For someone whose language is image and encounter, the idea makes perfect sense.
ARG: As a man of visual language, my natural answer has to be a film. I don’t know what it will be about yet, but I know it will have to do with essence : capturing something necessary. For me, film feels like the ultimate visual synthesis.
SC: For someone whose language is image and encounter, the idea makes perfect sense.
CLOSING REFLECTION
In the blur of this year’s art calendar, Émergent and Clarissa stand as reminders that not all visibility needs to be institutional, not all success quantifiable. Instead, they propose a different ecology of attention : one that privileges intimacy over spectacle, intuition over strategy, and dialogue over transaction.
Through these projects, the notion of emergence reclaims its truest meaning: the slow, persistent act of coming into being through artistic encounters.
Through these projects, the notion of emergence reclaims its truest meaning: the slow, persistent act of coming into being through artistic encounters.
PROFILE: Albert Riera Galceran
WORDS: Solveig Wilson Carrier