Art Basel Says It’s ‘Too Early’ to Confirm Its Marquee Fair Will Take Place This Fall, But Promises More Online Offerings

Amid continued uncertainty about how long the global pandemic
will keep the world—and, by extension, the art world—on lockdown,
Art Basel organizers have extended the deadline for exhibitors to
determine whether they will attend the rescheduled Swiss fair.
Galleries were originally asked to commit by this Friday, May 1.
But in a letter sent to participating galleries today, the fair’s
organizers said they would extend that deadline to June 1.

“As has become increasingly clear, that date [May 1] is too
early—for us and for our galleries—to make a decision about how to
proceed,” Art Basel leaders Marc Speigler, Noah Horowitz, and
Adeline Ooi wrote in their letter.

The 50th anniversary edition of the event—the most important
(and lucrative) fair for modern and contemporary art in the
world—was originally expected to take place in June. Late last
month, organizers announced plans
to postpone the fair to the fall, now running from September 15
to September 20.

Today, however, Art Basel leadership openly acknowledged that
they are unsure whether a large-scale event such as the Swiss
fair—which last year drew 93,000 people over six days—would be
permitted by the fall. Organizers wrote:

At the moment, there are simply too many open questions. When,
and under what regulatory conditions, will fairs such as ours be
able to take place? When will borders reopen? At what point will
flights, now vastly diminished, be adequately restored? Alongside
these logistical matters come fundamental health and safety
concerns—from new infection rates to the availability of widespread
antibody testing, let alone vaccines. Finally, when will there
be
significant confidence among collectors, museum professionals, and
other members of the art world when it comes to traveling and
congregating?

Organizers did attempt to offer some benefits to calm dealers’
nerves. If Art Basel is forced to cancel a fair in 2020, either in
Basel or Miami, it will refund any fees already paid by exhibitors.
The 25 percent of booth fees that it retained after cancelling its
Hong Kong show this past March (a point of concern for some
dealers) will be rolled over into next year’s stand fees in Hong
Kong, Basel, or Miami Beach.

The fair also pledged to produce a second online viewing room
for Basel 2020, regardless of whether the physical event is held or
not. (The fair conglomerate’s first viewing room, held in lieu of
Art Basel Hong Kong, debuted last month
to mixed reviews.) Like
the Hong Kong iteration, the Art Basel viewing room will be free
for exhibiting dealers.

In an effort to boost its value proposition beyond in-person
events, Art Basel leaders also said they have been working to
expand their viewing room offerings to serve all Art Basel
galleries and will begin to include virtual events and exhibitions
in the fair’s Gallery Guide app.

Lastly, in a tacit acknowledgment that gallery budgets are
changing rapidly, organizers said they are studying “how we can
reduce your costs across many levels once fairs start running
again.”

The lockdown era has hit the event business harder than most.
The letter notes that there are signs of hope: some Asian and
European countries are beginning to relax health measures;
galleries in Germany and Austria are beginning to reopen; and Swiss
children will return to school on May 11. But the Swiss government
has made no pronouncement yet about the feasibility of large-scale
events.

“Given all the current uncertainties around holding fairs, we
will continue trying hard to find other ways in which we can
support our galleries and their artists,” Art Basel’s organizers
write. “Because whatever the ‘new normal’ will be, we can only
thrive again in the future by helping each other pull through this
crisis together now.”

The post Art Basel Says It’s ‘Too Early’ to Confirm Its
Marquee Fair Will Take Place This Fall, But Promises More Online
Offerings appeared first on artnet News.