View of Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019 Lynne Sladky / AP
Art Basel Miami Beach, a subsidiary of the main contemporary art fair in the world, Art Basel, and the last great event that remained in this 2020 of the great pandemic, announced this Wednesday that it also suspends its edition this year.
In a statement posted on their website, the organizers point out that the fair, which was scheduled to take place between December 3 and 6 at the Miami Convention Center, is postponed to 2021, when it will take place between December 2 and 6. December 5th.
Art entrusts its sales to the Internet
A walk through Art Basel on your mobile screen
“Given the current impact of the pandemic, which is spreading from South Florida to other parts of the country and the world, along with limitations and uncertainties regarding the organization of large-scale events, travel restrictions and bans international and quarantine regulations in the US and internationally, Art Basel has no choice but to cancel the 2020 edition of Art Basel in Miami Beach, "they say in the aforementioned statement.
“It is with great sadness and disappointment that we announce the cancellation of our December show, which we know is crucial for our galleries, as well as the Miami arts community and its economy.
We thank all those who have shared their perspectives and ideas with us in the past weeks and months and we are looking forward to returning to Miami next year with a successful fair, ”said Art Basel Americas director Noah Horowitz.
To replace the physical event, Art Basel has organized two online fairs: OVR 2020, which will take place between 23 and 26 September around works of art created this year;
and OVR: 20c, with works from 1900 to 1999, to be held from October 28 to 31.
In December, the Online Viewing Room will open with the works of the galleries that had planned to participate in Art Basel Miami Beach.
In a recent interview with this newspaper, galleries such as the Barcelona-based ADN and the Madrid-based Elba Benítez, who were among the international participants of Art Basel Miami Beach, already warned that it was possible that they would go off the hook, both due to the risk of cancellation and to save costs. after several months of closing their spaces.
"The Convention Center [the space where the fair is held] is right now a field hospital," Inés López de Quesada, co-director of the Madrid-based Travesía Cuatro, told this newspaper in July, "so I think it is certain that they will cancel".
This year, top-level international art fairs such as Frieze London, Frieze Masters and Frieze New York as well as Art Basel and Art Basel Hong Kong have suspended due to the coronavirus.
In all cases, the events have been replaced by the so-called Online Viewing Rooms, a virtual solution to display and sell works of art in times of social distancing.