One of the last remaining major art fairs still on the 2020 calendar has officially been cancelled as its host country sees a rise in coronavirus cases. The organizers of the Foire internationale d'art contemporain, more commonly known by its acronym FIAC, said that they would call off the art event, which was scheduled to take place from October 22-25 at the Grand Palais in Paris.
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Featuring almost 200 exhibitors and 75,000 attendees, the most important French contemporary art fair communicated its cancellation with a brief and direct message. This is just the umpteenth art market event that was annulled in this unexpected year. Indeed, as we have already seen, Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Basel Basel and Miart were cancelled, Frieze/Frieze Masters and, ultimately, Art Basel Miami Beach have been postponed.
Recently, like many other Western European countries that had been able to get the spread of the coronavirus under control, France reported a surge in new cases. In the past seven days, the country reported over 56,000 new cases, according to data published by the New York Times. In total, France has had over 387,200 confirmed cases with at least 30,850 deaths from the virus.
As explained by the organizers "The decision is the result of numerous and constant evaluations with exhibitors, collectors and partners. Despite the desire to keep the commitments made, the fair is not in the position to inaugurate an event that meets the legitimate expectations of those who participate". Needless to explain the reasons… And thus, while Art Paris, smaller in size, has held up by opening from 10 to 13 September an edition of the resistance, as the promoters have defined it, Fiac had to capitulate. It seems increasingly clear that smaller entities are those resisting better in this condition of uncertainty are, while without the foreigner buyers travelling to Europe, the situation drastically changes for the bigger ones.
The next edition of Fiac will be held from October 21 to 24, 2021; in the meantime, the event promises to fully reimburse all exhibitors with the amount paid. On a sweeter note, the Turin Art Week, which should take place from 6 to 8 November 2020, is approaching. Work is proceeding quickly, and Artissima is still confirmed: if everything goes as expected, the Italian event will have to deal with burdens and honors for being the only international fair event enduring for the season.
