The future for art fairs
Throughout the pandemic, high-earners and investors have continued spending on luxury items, including fine art. Despite the inability to see art in person in many cities, sales of high-end artworks are still going ahead through online viewing rooms and virtual, live auctions. The biggest change, however, has perhaps come from the drop in sales from art fairs.
With art fairs cancelled or re-iterated virtually and commercial galleries closed for much of 2020 sales for galleries have been hugely impacted. In 2019 art fairs accounted for approximately 45% of gallery sales, a figure which surely will have dropped in 2020. Art fairs have been relied on not just for sales but also visibility, so the question being asked now by galleries and the fair organisers is whether art fairs are likely to come back in their previous form and when?
The international art fair has become somewhat of a phenomenon in the last 20 years. The first art fair began in 1970 with Art Basel, and fairs have since grown in both size and popularity, particularly with the growth of Frieze which launched in 2003. The key to the success of the art fair model is bringing galleries from around the globe together in one curated space, with dealers and collectors flying in from all corners.
Popular fairs such as Frieze have made art more accessible and brought contemporary art in particular into greater awareness in the collective mindset. In cities like London, New York and Hong Kong, they are now a firm fixture on the social calendar. Besides the status they bring, the benefits are numerous - not least, greater exposure for the seller and greater opportunity for buyers - but increasingly the arrival of an art fair in town will benefit the hospitality sector with hotels and restaurants being some of the economic beneficiaries.
2020 put an end to this. With no international travel and social distancing restrictions, art fairs from London, New York, Basel and Hong Kong, were all cancelled with many being re-imagined on a virtual platform. As 2021 rolled around, there was optimism in the planning for most fair organisers but with international travel still on hold, the art fairs may have to be re-thought again for 2021.
At the time of writing this, most were still planning to go ahead, (albeit it at a later date than originally planned) on the assumption that lockdowns will ease and travel will resume. Art Basel which is scheduled for June has announced new dates for September 2021. (Noting that the postponed September date in 2020 for Art Basel didn’t happen either.) TEFAF Maastricht, normally scheduled for March was postponed until May and subsequently September 2021 has also been announced. In Hong Kong, where the pandemic seems to be less virulent, Art Basel is scheduled to go ahead in May.
It won’t help organisers, however, if international exhibitors and clients cannot travel to the fairs. Organisers of Art Basel Hong Kong have circumvented this by offering the opportunity to ship works to the fair and have a stand managed by their staff. This is less than ideal, not least as galleries also have to take into account the increasing costs of shipping. Sales often rely on relationships and knowledge of the artist and their work. With an absence of international travellers, buyers would have to be local; all of which adds up to the conclusion that the fair will not look as previously planned.
2021 will be a critical year for art fairs. The speed at which organisers adapted their model was remarkable but ultimately came down to an urgent need or risk of losing out entirely. Despite the somewhat successful move online, art sales are not well suited to a virtual environment and the ‘viewing room’ could be seen as entertainment rather than a sales platform. Unlike retail, fine art requires a more considered and emotional response to purchasing.
September seems to be the optimistic view of when life will return to “normal”, with travel resuming and some economic certainty returning. Having already had to implement a Plan B for 2021 by shifting the dates of the big fairs, organisers will be waiting anxiously to see how things unfold. Much will depend on the global roll out of the vaccine and whether or not new variants continue to emerge.
Regardless of whether life bounces back, however, Art Fairs as a concept may be under review.
By the end of 2019 there were fairs planned in every major city around the world. LA was the latest city added to the Frieze calendar in 2019 (following the inaugural fair, 2020 was unable to go ahead and the 2021 date has already been moved). The art fair had started to reach saturation point. With every culture, genre and taste accounted for in both large and small iterations, fairs were starting to lose their appeal, feeling formulaic, uninspiring and a bit dated.
It seems the future of art fairs is somewhat predicated on the future of global travel. There is, however, a big gap between the large international fairs like Art Basel and the virtual viewing room. There are other options for organisers, namely to downsize and become smaller and more focused. They may want to consider recruiting local galleries, becoming more indigenous, ‘homegrown’ events rather than big global affairs. This may involve adapting their financial model to become more accessible to small, local galleries.
Assuming travel does resume, it is likely there will need to be some adjustments with fairs becoming smaller and shorter in duration. Having almost reached saturation point, the time was probably right to start scaling back and we may see more carefully curated, niche fairs appearing. Organisers may also want to consider bi-annual events, or a rotation from year to year between cities.
The one thing that fair organisers can perhaps hang on to is the appetite for seeing and buying art. The longer we are all shut away only able to interact through our screens, the greater our appetite will be for getting out, travelling, socialising and seeing art in real life.