Art Basel cancels 2020 Hong Kong fair, blaming coronavirus
Art Basel has canceled its 2020 fair in Hong Kong “due to the outbreak and spread of the new coronavirus,” according to a release issued Thursday by the show’s organizers.
The Hong Kong fair had been scheduled March 19-21. In Thursday’s release, organizers announced 2021 dates of March 25-27.
Launched in 1970 in Basel, Switzerland, Art Basel is considered the world’s premier commercial showcase for modern and contemporary art. In 2002, it expanded to Miami Beach, propelling Miami’s culture scene onto the global radar. The for-profit company, which is partly owned by the Basel government, opened its Hong Kong fair in 2013.
Canceling the 2020 edition “is not a decision you can take lightly,” said Art Basel Global Director Marc Spiegler. “Art Basel plays an incredibly important role within the Asian region. For galleries within Asia and for some outside Asia, it is the most important fair of the year. Before we took a decision of this magnitude, we wanted to try to get as many possible perspectives on it.”
As the coronavirus crisis worsened, Spiegler and his team spoke with gallerists, collectors and partners. “It became clear that there were so many risk factors involved,” he said, that canceling the fair was the only option.
Most important, he said, was uncertainty around the spread of the virus. More than 30,000 confirmed cases have been reported worldwide, with most of those cases in China. (There have been 12 confirmed cases in the U.S.)
The death toll has risen to more than 630, according to CBS News. All of the deaths have occurred in China, except for one death in Hong Kong and another one in the Philippines.
Logistics also played a role in the decision to cancel this year’s fair. Flights to Hong Kong have been canceled from many countries, including the U.S. Schools and universities are closed at least through the end of February.
“An art fair is not an event like a conference or convention where people fly in and show up,” he said. “There are walls that need to be built, art works that need to be finished so they can be crated to be shipped. When there are no flights between Italy and China, what is an Italian gallery supposed to do?”
Even before the virus outbreak, critics questioned whether Art Basel would cancel this year’s Hong Kong fair because of protests that began last year in Hong Kong over tensions with mainland China. Art Basel’s parent company, Messeschweiz, has also faced financial woes spurred by changes in retail.
But Spiegler said Thursday that prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the fair had registered “especially strong” VIP registrations from Asian collectors and major museums around the world, including the U.S. In 2019, the Hong Kong fair drew 88,000 visitors — about 6,000 more than at its 2019 Miami Beach fair.
“Coronavirus completely changed the landscape.”
Art Basel announced its 2021 dates because, Spiegler said, “We see this as a temporary situation. We feel Hong Kong is fundamentally a great city in which to have our event.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Art Basel cancels 2020 Hong Kong fair, blaming coronavirus."
