Art Basel Paris Closes Two Days Early, Leaving Dealers to Scramble

Art Basel Paris will close at 7 p.m. Friday, two days earlier than planned, ahead of protests expected this weekend. Dealers now face the logistical problem of getting their artworks out of the Grand Palais.

The fair was originally scheduled to run through Sunday. Multiple dealers told ARTnews they received an email announcing the decision at around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday. Many had already suspected Saturday's opening might be canceled. The loss of Sunday came as more of a surprise.

"Everyone individually is figuring out who can get their crates in," Wendy Olsoff, whose New York gallery P.P.O.W is exhibiting at the fair, told ARTnews.

What happens to the booths?

Dealers can bring packing crates into the Grand Palais after the fair closes Friday, sources said. No one will be permitted inside on Saturday. Depending on conditions, exhibitors may return Sunday to pack up their booths.

Olsoff said P.P.O.w will probably stick to its original plan to pack up Monday. That could change, depending on what the gallery's shipper can arrange.

Evan Reiser, a director at Bortolami manning the booth in Paris, said dealers typically hire their own art handlers and shipping companies. The biggest headache, he said, will be rearranging schedules already in place.

Reiser called this his most successful edition in recent years. Paris, he said, has become one of the most important stops on the art market calendar.

"It's really become the best audience and the most international audience, and the most condensed action in the market," Reiser said. "Secondary dealers are making millions, but our level is making very good profit."

Who loses the most?

Smaller and medium-sized galleries will be worse off, said Vienna-based dealer Emanuel Layr, who nonetheless felt the fair had made the right decision to shut early.

"What's going on is quite crazy," Layr said, describing a historical, "charged moment" of social strife. As he spoke, Layr and his team were deciding who would leave town early, when and how they would travel, and what to do about inventory. Full removal before Monday is impossible, he said, since the fair stays open until Friday night and Saturday is the protest.

Sales will also suffer, Layr said. "There are a lot of medium-sized, smaller collectors who work during the week, who come on the weekend, and no longer can," he said. "This is going to hit smaller and medium-sized galleries."

A representative for another small gallery, asking not to be named, agreed:

• The fair is as much a marketing opportunity as a sales opportunity. "The public days are just as valuable to us as the VIP days."
• Many collectors skip the second floor during previews and return on the weekend specifically for the Emergence section, often among the more transactional days for galleries there.

Will there be compensation?

Layr had received no word from organizers about financial compensation. "Everyone hopes" there will be some, he said, especially given an already slower art market.

An Art Basel spokesperson said: "It is too early to comment on any financial or contractual implications. We remain in direct contact with our galleries and will share further information with them in due course." The spokesperson added: "These are extraordinary circumstances, and our immediate priority is ensuring the safety of our visitors, teams, and exhibitors, protecting the artworks, and delivering a secure and orderly move-out."

A strong fair cut short

The early closure comes at the end of what some dealers described as an exceptionally strong fair. P.P.O.W sold Martin Wong's monumental 1986 painting La Iglesia de Dios, priced at $1.75 million, to an unnamed American institution.

Olsoff expressed unease about what good commerce might mean right now. "For me, personally, selling art while there's a huge protest about people facing a lack of [economic opportunity] … it wouldn't be a good feeling," she said.

More troubling to her was the fate of people who depend on the fair for work. She had just spoken to a woman selling drinks at the fair who was losing shifts because of the closure.

"People don't realize how many people this place employs, and these people need money," Olsoff said. Taxi drivers, restaurants and other businesses that depend on fair crowds will also feel the losses. She described the situation as a "big shitshow."

Does Paris's art scene shut down entirely?

No. Marian Goodman said it would shutter its Paris gallery on Saturday and reopen Tuesday with regular hours; the Tacita Dean and Bruce Nauman exhibition remains on view through December 19.

"Anyone who had intended to come to the fair over the weekend has changed their plans to visit today or tomorrow, so it's all condensed over a shorter time," Thaddaeus Ropac said in a statement to ARTnews. "People will certainly be leaving the city earlier than they'd initially planned, but those remaining are looking at the options of what will be open in areas of the city that are safe. We'll assess as events unfold, but plan to have our gallery open in Pantin for the final weekend of Anselm Kiefer's exhibition and the first weekend of David Salle's show, where the area isn't affected by the demonstrations."

The immediate question for exhibitors is whether Sunday access is granted — and whether Art Basel offers any compensation once the crates are out of the Grand Palais.