Art Basel is postponed until September

It seems that 2021 did not start well for the art world. Although in June last year Art Basel announced the cancellation of the 2020 commitment, today we know that the organization has decided to postpone the date from June 2021, its usual month, to September “due to the ongoing impact of the global pandemic and travel restrictions around the world”. Through a brief statement, the organization stated that the 2021 edition “will take place at Messe Basel from 23 to 26 September, with days prior to September 21st and 22nd”. This postponement, he continues, “will allow us to offer the best possible protection for the health and safety of visitors, while at the same time allowing the largest possible international audience to watch the show”.

The decision was taken after “intense dialogues with galleries and collectors, as well as external experts, putting the health and safety of all agents involved first”, announced Marc Spiegler, director of Art Basel. Although the global vaccination campaign has already begun, the director believes that “2021 is established as a year in which developing plans is complex”. However, in order not to lose the pulse of the market, Art Basel created a new initiative: 'OVR: Pioneers', an edition of Online Exhibition Rooms “dedicated to artists who have broken new ground in terms of aesthetics, conceptual approach, sociopolitical themes and media use”which will take place from March 24th to 27th, 2021.

Throughout 2020, cancellations continued without pause. One of the first was Art Basel Hong Kong, which opted for online service. Then came others such as the Venice Biennale, postponed to 2022, or the prestigious Turner Prize. It took a while to fall the Swiss edition of Art Basel, which before defending its cancellation had changed its date from June to September. “While there are signs of hope as countries emerge from lockdown, the global situation remains precarious and, unfortunately, there is still too much uncertainty to proceed with the fair,” they reported at the time.

this quote was created by Ernst Beyeler, Trudl Bruckner and Balz Hilt in 1970, a year in which more than 90 galleries, 30 publishers from ten countries and 16 thousand visitors gathered. The success grew and in 2000 it began expanding to Miami and, ten years later, in 2010, the fair arrived in Hong Kong with a first edition that attracted the attention of more than 60,000 visitors.

Currently, the coronavirus continues to ravage many countries around the world and it seems that Art Basel, one of the most important contemporary art events internationally that annually brings together more than 250 international galleries and more than 4,000 artists from all continents, bets out of caution and caution. We will see if this year we see a new succession of cancellations.

@scamarzana