The famously windy city of Chicago is not adverse to superlatives: a certain verbal windiness is possibly the key to great success in this city of big coats, big hats and sharp elbows. After all, Chicago was the home of American aspirations ranging from Frank Lloyd Wright to Al Capone to the biggest meatpacking operation in the world.

It's possible to contemplate the world's first skyscrapers ("Yep buddy, we invented them right here ...") from Chicago's Navy Pier which juts out into Lake Michigan. Along with some slightly tawdry tourist attractions, Navy Pier is also the site of a massive convention and exhibition centre and for three days every November you can find SOFA (Sculpture Objects & Functional Art) Chicago there.

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Started by Mark Lyman and a few friends in 1993, the Chicago-based Expressions of Culture, Inc. (EOC) produces the annual International Exposition of Sculpture Objects & Functional Art: SOFA, whose objective is "to provide and build the most important market for works bridging design, decorative, and fine arts." SOFA also has a similar but smaller New York operation.

SOFA Chicago is daunting. Beneath an immense ceiling, corridors of galleries stretch off into the distance, with about one hundred stands displaying work not just from the US but Europe, Asia and South America. This small city of galleries and the accompanying work of hundreds of artists, designers, makers and craftspeople has been set up almost overnight and will keep running for 3 long days for an audience of over 30,000 people.

For some years now Australian Contemporary, as part of the Australia Council for the Arts International Craft Initiative, has helped establish an Australian beachhead at Navy Pier. A number of Australian commercial galleries such as Beaver, Narek, Glass Artists Gallery, Raglan and Kirra have also been representing Australian talent at SOFA over the past 10 years

In the 4 years it has been displaying at SOFA, Australian Contemporary managed to establish itself as an authoritative presence. This is partly a result of the considered approach to the presentation of work: there is not an overabundance of it but what is there is well displayed and contextualized. An island of thoughtful serenity in an otherwise hectic visual cacophony, Australian Contemporary's air of substance is reinforced by high quality catalogues containing excellent documentary materials.

Over the years there has been a mix of work that both appeals to SOFA's comfort zone of glass and jewellery balanced by more risky and unusual work. Australian Contemporary tried to capture something of the breadth of work being undertaken in Australia: not an easy task and a choice always guaranteed to rock some boats somewhere.

In spite of whatever Australian viewpoints might be in the choice, from the perspective of an international setting in Chicago, the work stacks up pretty well. It's no small achievement to create a credible presence that establishes Australia a source of interesting work in a very vigorous marketplace. Make no mistake, SOFA is a no-holds barred, full bore marketplace. As the punters throng and jostle, gallery sales staff and collectors collide and eye each other off like well-dressed sharks with top-shelf dental work. Deals are done, money changes hands - discretely of course.

This is no place for the shy or reserved artist. In order to be a commercial success, the artist must make the transition to the larger than life 'personality' willing to meet'n'greet all and sundry in that exuberant manner so treasured by our American friends. Aside from a great deal of after-hours networking at famous (and occasionally infamous) gin palaces and eateries such as Shaw's Crab House or Carson's Ribs, there is also a good deal of more discrete socialising between artists and collectors.

According to at least one visiting Australian artist who was invited to lunch with several collectors, negotiating the status conscious social hierarchy can be a challenging experience. From the relatively modest Australian perspective, the sheer quantity of high-end collectors in the US and their willingness to spend considerable sums of money on artwork is extraordinary. Collecting art and craft is seen as a step in social advancement and the ostentatious display of fashionable and collectable artists is an important part of that quest for eminence and rank. The would-be collectable artist - and Australians are useful in this regard for their relative exoticness - is expected to add lustre to the collector's social cachet. Behave yourself, mind your manners and you'll be rewarded.

For others, the experience of exhibiting work with Australian Contemporary at SOFA has been an excellent one. Gabriella Bisetto, a glass artist who exhibited work in SOFA 2005, it represented an important strand in her career.

"You can feel OK but not too sure about your work when you're making it in the studio. Seeing it displayed at SOFA amongst an international breadth of artwork made me feel much more confident about my work as I could evaluate how it sat in an international field. It's not often you get to see your work in this context, so it was a very good experience.

"Although only one piece sold, professionally I received a lot of exposure and profile building - just in the sheer number of people who saw the work. I also received emails from people who had seen my work at SOFA. The other benefit was the catalogue - hardly anyone has a catalogue in the States unless it's self-funded or they have a GREAT gallery. Our catalogue was great and people thought we were too to have such a good catalogue! The whole experience wasn't a make or break thing, but it has certainly helped establish me."

Other artists who have participated also confirm that exposure at SOFA has resonated for some time (even years later), whether it is in follow-up offers from galleries and curators. Even though on the day there may not be sales, excellence of presentation clearly attaches a sort of bookmark to the artist that could mean later benefits.

Australian Contemporary has clearly walked a challenging tightrope in balancing multiple objectives. One of the most interesting has been the 2007 SOFA show which included Indigenous ceramics from Hermannsburg, Ernabella and Bathurst Island in Northern Territory. These three communities produced their own stories each from their own particular place and land; in Australia we are accustomed to and give great respect to the force and dynamism of Indigenous art and its powerful connection to place. The power of this sense of place is such that it has suffused into the broader Australian cultural community, increasingly moving into the very core of what might make Australian art, design and culture unique. We who live here now easily recognise that sense of place but to American eyes, the indigenous works are possibly 'outsider art' or naive works: they often don't get it. There is a singular challenge to explain what Australian Contemporary means in the sense of the spirit of land, people and place, of resources, how we use and make things. In that sense Australian Contemporary has been a very credible effort.

Nevertheless SOFA, like Talente and other trades shows, is business. On the last day at 5pm, the Jam Factory staff, who develop and manage Australian Contemporary on behalf of the Australian Craft and Design Centres (ACDC) network, including Managing Director Stephen Bowers and tireless Sales Director Pauline Griffin, roll up their sleeves and pack the whole show up into a series of road cases and ship it out (see video). In a couple of days, the Navy Pier exhibition hall will be full again, this time possibly with a mining and dump truck trade show or perhaps a weapon sales convention. This is Chicago after all and it's business as usual.

Mark Thomson
August 2007

Mark Thomson is a South Australian based writer and photographer. He has published several books around backyard culture and include Blokes and Sheds; Makers, Breakers and Fixers; and Henry Hoke's Guide to the Misguided.

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