Galleries happy Art Basel comes to Paris

As soon as the announcement of Art Basel's installation at the Grand Palais, gallery owner David Zwirner published an enthusiastic press release. "It has been clear to me for five years, and of course especially since the advent of Covid-19, that the model of art fairs was going to undergo changes and consolidations […]. While the transition from a regional fair to a truly international fair will certainly require some adaptation for those who have attended Fiac for years, I am sure that the move to Art Basel will be great […]. I am personally delighted with this change. In France, the reactions of gallery owners were just as quick and, on the whole, they did not hide their satisfaction. "We are leaving an organization that showed little interest in the needs and demands of galleries on the French scene for another ultra-professional organization that will be keen to satisfy them. In the end, we are winners and Paris will benefit from a fair that will place it at the level of Basel, Miami and Hong Kong. The FIAC has had its day. RX France had become an outdated and unsuitable structure. There is nothing to regret," underlines Daniel Templon with his usual outspokenness. "We don't feel emotions for RX", recognizes Florence Bonnefous, co-founder and director of Air de Paris. The exit of the Fiac from the Grand Palais does not cause much consternation among its exhibitors. The grievances against RX France have accumulated lately, "but not against the Fiac team, nor Jennifer Flay" , we regularly specify. Concerns of small and medium-sized galleries "The sadness of seeing the brand disappear" is expressed more on the other hand. "Because most of the gallery owners of my generation, and even younger ones, were rocked by this great international fair ," says Georges-Philippe Vallois . "But what interests me now as honorary president of the Professional Committee of Art Galleries (CPGA), is the attention that Art Basel will pay to the particularisms of the galleries and the French scene, and that they are represented at the future fair. We will quickly verify it when we know the name of the person chosen for the artistic direction and the composition of the selection committee. » As soon as the choice of the Réunion des musées nationaux-Grand Palais was made public, the boss of Art Basel Marc Spiegler, wanted to be reassuring on this point in a press release sent to the galleries. "By associating the history of Art Basel and the cultural heritage of Paris, the ambition is to launch a new event which brings together artists, collectors, curators and gallery owners from all over the world and brings together Parisian cultural actors well within the beyond the Grand Palace. » It remains to be seen whether the presence of galleries within the board of directors of the RMN-GP, desired and requested by the CPGA, will be on the program of the next board of directors of the establishment. "The RMN-GP organizes essentially art fairs and the exhibitions increasingly involve the galleries", reminds Marion Papillon to justify her request. Nine months before the inauguration by Art Basel of its new fair, above all remains, for small and medium-sized French galleries, the question of the place that will be granted to them by this new fair. Unlike merchants accustomed to major international fairs and in connection with their organizers, they are more cautious in their comments and do not want to express themselves in broad daylight. Beyond the guarantees provided by the MCH group, the first edition will be eloquent on the positioning of Art Basel, they say. Especially since the spaces of the Grand Palais Éphémère are reduced and requests from foreign galleries should be much more numerous than usual. Seen in Le Journal des Arts, Christine Coste Video : Art Basel, the centrum of Contemporary Art