Recently Der Spiegal, organized a rowdy question and answer session with artist /provocateur Jonathan Meese at Kassel University on the occasion of Documenta 13 (now on view through mid-September). Meese assessed the fair: "Debilitating!" and threw out the accusation that some sculptures at Documenta, were more about design than art and demoted a swath of artists to the status of mere illustrators. In Germany fine art is still thought of as loftier than the applied, or decorative arts and is considered the realm of true thinkers and the highly educated. "Kunstgewerbe", or the applied arts are still linked to "Handwerk" and, as such, are considered lesser.

This led me to the eternal question: What is Art all about anyway? And what makes it good? At the METRO Show we approach it this way – Art is about great ideas and that doesn’t exclude great design. We appreciate great ideas, whether fine art, applied, or decorative and exhibit them alongside each other, so they can lead to sparkling conversations – so that we can all eavesdrop.