With this announcement of the cancellation of the Belgian fair, we are projected at the beginning of 2021, a year that does not look very promising.
Thursday, at the end of the afternoon, the press release fell, to the chagrin of professionals and collectors who have always loved going to Brussels at the beginning of the year, for this first major meeting which serves as a test of the market.
Gathered in an extraordinary general meeting, the members of the ASBL Foire des Antiquaires de Belgique, organizer of the Brafa, decided to postpone its 66th edition to January 2022. The main reason for this postponement is linked to the uncertainties about the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe.
Read also: Coronavirus: cancellation of Paris Photo, annual art photography meeting
With an average of 130 exhibitors, two-thirds of whom come from abroad, the Brafa is a big fair which requires significant upstream organization, with the support of several partners.
Last year, it welcomed a record number of 68,000 visitors, including a significant number from neighboring countries.
Very real risks of rushed cancellation
“
This is obviously a very difficult decision.
Our priority was not to take any reckless risks for our visitors and our exhibitors.
We therefore took the time to consult representatives of local authorities, the scientific community, colleagues from other general public events, and of course, our exhibitors and partners
”, explains Harold t'Kint de Roodenbeke, president of the Brafa.
“
The enthusiasm and desire to organize the event were nevertheless very real because the list of exhibitors was almost complete, but the risks of forced cancellation a few weeks before the opening were also very real.
The organization of an event such as the Brafa indeed requires several months of preparation and involves the intervention of many actors,
”he adds.
Before concluding: "
deciding now seemed to us to be the voice of reason
".
In the wake of the Brafa, other fairs of this magnitude are now threatened.
We immediately think of Tefaf Maastricht, supposed to be held from March 13 to 21, 2021. Last year, this prestigious art and antiques fair was one of the last international events to be held in Europe before the confinements .
The show had to close its doors before the end due to the discovery of confirmed cases of Covid among some of its exhibitors.
A cluster that no one had dared to talk about ...
Faced with this sad calendar of cancellations, which saw the Fiac then Paris Photo throw in the towel, it is better to be small than big.
Only the more modest fairs that can control their size or those that host few or no foreign exhibitors do well. Even if they were to take place in parallel with the Fiac and its contemporary art week which creates the boiling in Paris, they have decided to maintain themselves.
Read also: Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the Fiac cancels its 2020 edition
This is the case of Galeriste, under the leadership of its founder Stéphane Corréard, which will celebrate its fifth edition at the Carreau du Temple, from October 23 to 25.
Forty exhibiting galleries including 12 new ones will be present, with 15 solo-shows forming a new anthology of French art.
Also maintaining Asia Now, whose director Alexandra Fain has decided not to give up its 6th edition, from October 21 to 24 (VIP preview on the 20th), in the Hoche salons.
"
The current situation has highlighted our need to regain direct contact with works of art and the desire to exchange with artists, their galleries, curators and collectors
", explains this fighter.
Better still, it collects some very good Fiac dealers who also do not let themselves be defeated, such as Almine Rech, Jeanne Bucher Jaeger, Nathalie Obadia, Emmanuel Perrotin or Daniel Templon who will present their artists from the Asian or Indian scene.
For the first time, Asia Now will open to this scene in partnership with the Guimet museum.
Read also: Fiac 2020: the anger of gallery owners after the cancellation
For the month of November, our fingers are crossed.
Fine Arts Paris maintains its edition which had been postponed from November 26 to 29 but has changed address.
Due to the uncertainty of the current health situation, its president Louis de Bayser has chosen to recreate the more intimate universe of the Palais Brongniart.
The initial project of the ephemeral structure installed in the courtyard of the Dôme des Invalides was postponed to the 2021 edition.
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