Art Basel’s Swiss fair has been rescheduled for 21 to 26 September, just three months later than its usual June dates.
That seems optimistic given the high incidence of Covid-19 in Europe, and the emergence of more contagious variants. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control recommended on Thursday that non-essential travel be avoided.
The fair, however, is backing vaccination programmes to have the disease much more under control by its new dates.
‘Following ten months of vaccination programs in many countries, we anticipate broad international participation in our Basel show in September, because all our conversations within the art world indicate a strong desire to see art in person and engage face-to-face with the global cultural scene,’ said Art Basel’s global director Marc Spiegler.