Art Basel Launches Online Viewing Rooms to Help Dealers Reach Collectors Virtually After Canceling the Hong Kong Fair

Wondering what will happen to the art worth hundreds of millions
of dollars that was slated to go on display at the now-canceled Art Basel
Hong Kong?

Fair organizers have an answer.

Today, Art Basel announced that the first iteration of its new
online viewing rooms will launch in March, allowing exhibitors to
show works on the web that they had originally planned to bring to
Hong Kong. (After weeks of uncertainty, the annual show, held
at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, was officially
nixed on February 6 because of fears about the novel
coronavirus.)

“While the online viewing rooms cannot replace our 2020 fair in
Hong Kong, we firmly hope that it will provide a strong support to
all the galleries who were affected by the cancellation of our
March show,” said Adeline Ooi, the Asia director for Art
Basel. “We are delighted to be able to premiere this new initiative
now.”

Just as with the physical fairs, showrooms will open early only
to VIP card holders from March 18 to 20, followed by several days
of open access to the public, from March 20 to 25.

In the future, according to organizers, the new digital
initiative will run parallel to the shows, “rather than replacing
the physical experience of an art fair, and will allow gallerists
to showcase additional curated exhibitions of works not presented
at the fair, each listed with a price range.”

All galleries that were accepted to the 2020 Hong Kong show are
invited to participate at no cost for the first edition, organizers
said.

It is unclear whether the fair will charge a fee or commission,
and how much, for participation in future iterations of the
program. “We will be exploring the commercial dynamics of this
after the Hong Kong launch; for now, all of our focus is on
delivering a successful debut of the online viewing rooms,” a
representative told Artnet News.

The viewing rooms will be available through the Art Basel
website and the Art Basel app. Organizers said further details on
participating galleries and their presentations will be announced
in the coming weeks.

For now, collectors can expect to be able to browse
thousands of artworks and to search by gallery, artist, and medium.
They can also directly contact dealers with purchase inquiries.

In recent years, online viewing rooms have become a popular tool for dealers
at the very top end of the market to offer works by blue-chip
artists that might already be known quantities to their clients.
Like the Basel version, most of the gallery-specific viewing rooms
are active for a finite period of time in an effort to capture the
relative urgency of an art fair. Last March, Gagosian sold an Albert Oehlen
painting listed at $6 million—exceeding the artist’s auction
record—in a dedicated viewing room. The Basel iteration might offer
smaller galleries with less robust tech infrastructure and budget
an opportunity to get in on the action.

“As the art market continues to evolve, Art Basel has
continually investigated how new technologies can give us new
opportunities to support our galleries,” Marc Spiegler, the global
director of the fair, said. The new digital platform provides “a
further possibility for engaging with our global audiences,
complementing the essential personal interactions that continue to
underlie the art market.”

The post Art Basel Launches Online Viewing Rooms to Help
Dealers Reach Collectors Virtually After Canceling the Hong Kong
Fair appeared first on artnet News.