What started as a trickle of cautious announcements from art-market events about monitoring the coronavirus situation has now become a full-on wave of postponements and cancellations. A spate of major international fairs was officially called off or rescheduled today, including ArteBA, the Dallas Art Fair, and Art Cologne.
The cancellations will have an impact on hundreds of galleries around the globe, which rely on fairs to provide a significant portion of their revenue for the year (not to mention much-needed cash flow).
ArteBA, the international fair in Buenos Aires, was originally scheduled to take place from April 16–19. New dates have not yet been confirmed.
Art Cologne in Germany, the world’s oldest art fair, was to be held April 23–26, but will be rescheduled to November 19–22. It will now run parallel to the Cologne Fine Art & Design fair.
Meanwhile, next month’s Affordable Art Fair Brussels has been postponed on advice from the Belgian government. Art Brussels, a leading contemporary art fair in the region that was originally scheduled for April 23–26, is widely expected to follow suit. (Sources say it is likely to be rescheduled for June.)
The Dallas Art Fair in Texas, slated for April 16–19, has been pushed to the fall, rescheduled for October 1–4. And the Affordable Art Fair in New York, originally scheduled to be held at the Metropolitan Pavilion between March 26–29, has also been postponed with no new date confirmed.
ArteBA organizers made the decision to postpone after the city government announced the suspension of all mass gatherings in light of the World Health Organization’s declaration yesterday that COVID-19 is officially a pandemic.
“This is a measure that is in line with the recommendations of authorities and specialists, and with the efforts that the main actors of the art world are making worldwide to address this problem,” representatives for ArteBA wrote in the email. A new date will be announced “once the conditions are in place for the fair to develop in an absolutely safe manner.”
To keep up on the latest art-world events impacted by the virus, check our comprehensive and up-to-the-minute list here.