Ahead of the fair’s opening on March 7th, three exhibitors have announced they will no longer be participating in The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht, this year. This is due to the on-going spread of coronavirus.
They are Wildenstein & Co, Fergus McCaffrey and Galerie Monbrison. “We fully respect all exhibitors’ individual decisions and have been in touch with them all,” a spokesperson for the fair told Private Art Investor.
But, on March 1st, the TEFAF management confirmed that, despite this, the fair will go ahead with its 282 other exhibitors.
TEFAF’s decision to go ahead with the fair is based on a letter addressing the issue from Annemarie Penn-Te Strake, Mayor of Maastricht, Theo Bovens, governor of Limburg and Rob van de Wiel, MD of Maastricht Exhibition & Conference Centre (MECC). “Neither the recommendations of RIVM [National Institute for Public Health and the Environment] nor those of the Security Region give any reason to cancel TEFAF at this time,” the letter said.
They state there will be a TEFAF team and local authorities monitoring the situation daily, following the guidelines set by the ministry and competent authorities. These include an information desk and “extra precautionary” measure such as “additional all-day cleaning services and distribution and placement of hand sanitisers at the fair”.
TEFAF will also have daily morning meetings at MECC with the mayor, the governor and the MD of MECC.
At this, the fair’s 32nd edition, exhibitors from 22 countries will be showing 7,000 years of art from the March 7th to March 14th. TEFAF attracts approximately 75,000 every year.
For other disruptions to art market events, read:
Sotheby’s moves its Hong Kong Modern and Contemporary sales to New York and Top auction houses postpone Asia Week auctions due to coronavirus.
