Paris, Jan. 30 (BUS): France has awarded one of the world’s largest contemporary art fairs to the company behind Swiss Art Basel for seven years, in a process criticized as “expropriation” by the local company. The event has been organized for the past 15 years.
Controversy over the process, dubbed by some in the art world as ‘the ‘war of fairs’, has been going on since last year and the result will lead to Swiss parent MCH, Art Basel, launching a new exhibition of contemporary art in Paris.
The RX France association, which organized the annual FIAC exhibition of contemporary art in Paris until last year, said it will continue to organize an annual international exhibition of photography, Reunion des Musées Nationseaux (RMM) reported in a statement on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Michel Villiers, director of RX France, said last month that RX had challenged the auction procedures, calling it an “attempt to expropriate”.
RX France, which is part of the RELX group (formerly Reed Exhibitions), which was part of the Anglo-Dutch trade and consumer events organisation, had no immediate comment on an inquiry from Reuters.
Art galleries have been hit hard by the coronavirus. In late 2020, MCH shareholders agreed to raise capital to deal with the pandemic downturn and allowed media tycoon James Murdoch and his investment firm Lupa Systems to take a 49% stake in the group. The move gave Murdoch three seats on the MCH board.
MCH, which also organizes the Miami Beach and Hong Kong galleries of contemporary art, said in a statement that Art Basel will bring its 50-year history of creating art galleries to the project.
“By bringing together the history of Art Basel with the cultural heritage of Paris, we aspire to launch a new event that brings together artists, art collectors, curators and gallery owners,” MCH said in a statement on Wednesday.
Art and photography exhibitions will take place at the temporary Grand Palais Ephemere in the Champ de Mars in 2022 and 2023, and from 2024 in the Grand Palais, which is currently being restored.
RMM-Grand Palais said the deal would secure the necessary investment “in light of a more competitive and demanding market”.
HF