Plans for art fairs in 2021 are drawn up in pencil

(Reprodução/CASACOR)

Patience, of course, is a virtue, and it seems that art fair organizers and exhibitors are in for a virtuous 2021. The art events that defined and fueled a global boom in recent years have been on hold since the start of the pandemic and have been adapted to the online which consequently proved to be less profitable. In 2019, sales at global art fairs totaled around $16.6 billion, with dealers counting on these events to generate more than 40% of that year's revenue, according to Art Basel & UBS Art Market Last year's report .

(Reprodução/CASACOR)

Now, as countries roll out vaccination programs even as the virus mutates and case numbers rise, the art world is banking on the return of in-person events. In November, in-person fairs returned to local collectors in China, where infection rates have decreased. However, most of the major international art world events scheduled for the first months of 2021 have already been postponed or converted to safe formats due to the pandemic.

The Tefaf Maastricht Fair in the Netherlands in March 2020

(TEFAF/CASACOR)

ARCO Madrid has moved from February to July, as has Frieze Los Angeles , which this year will leave Paramount Studios and be held in different locations around the city. Tefaf Maastricht has moved from its traditional March to May, as has Art Basel. Hong Kong . Frieze New York says it will keep its regular hours but has cut its exhibitor roster by two-thirds and will move from Randall's Island to the Shed, the new cultural hub in Manhattan's Hudson Yards area. “New York is one of the few cities where you can hold a fair for 60 international galleries without having to rely on a large international audience. There are so many collectors in the city,” Victoria Siddall, Frieze’s board director, told the New York Times. . “It’s a much smaller fair, but it felt right for the first half of the year.”

(Brett Beyer/CASACOR)

Servais told The New York Times that he had planned to be in the Netherlands in early February for Art Rotterdam , a showcase primarily for northern European galleries representing emerging artists that was previously scheduled to be an in-person event. But the restrictions imposed by the Dutch government, due to the pandemic, could lead to the postponement of the fair until July. “There is room for local fairs, if they have a good focus,” said the collector. “The big international fairs are the most complicated for this year. People will travel less and these fairs rely on international presence for their success,” he added. .

Art Rotterdam 2021: MOVED FROM FEBRUARY TO JULY

(Almicheal Fraay/CASACOR)

This shake-up in the international fair scene comes at a time when many gallery owners were already questioning the cost of exhibiting at these events. “In 2017, we were doing 12 art fairs,” Marianne Boesky , a New York gallerist, told the NYTimes . “I felt like I had to do these events. They had gotten so expensive. When I looked at our grosses compared to the overhead at art fairs, we barely even make the desired profit—and that doesn’t even count the hours worked.”

(Reprodução/CASACOR)

The thermometer for measuring how things will go in the major art events will take place in June this year at Art Basel , Switzerland. In recent years, the event has become a must-see for most international collectors. The in-person fair, which usually features around 290 exhibitors attracting around 90,000 visitors, was cancelled in 2020 and converted to an online format. “If things move quickly and in the right direction with new vaccination programs, and we start to see an easing of travel restrictions, we would love to have Art Basel Hong Kong in May and Art Basel in June marking the beginning of a great return to “For the art world and for the art market,” Marc Spiegler, global director of Art Basel, told the NYTimes. “Now, that’s our hope, but it’s not our only scenario.”

(Reprodução/CASACOR)

If Art Basel does happen, with or without the glitzy parties and dinners that accompany it, will a critical mass of collectors, curators and advisors be prepared or allowed to fly across the world to be there? “As much as I would love to attend Art Basel in June, I would not want to attend a fair until such an event is no longer the highest risk activity for Covid-19,” said Heather Flow, an art consultant in New York. “I won’t suggest a client go to a fair until the risk level is lower. Very few people like to buy art online, but nobody wants Covid-19.” Source: New York Times

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