Reopening the art world as lockdown is eased
The reopening of the art world has been one of the most hotly anticipated developments in the gradual easing of lockdown in the UK. Many commercial galleries have reported increased levels of customer enthusiasm via engagement on digital and social media platforms, welcoming their patrons back with open arms from mid-June. Of the many galleries reopening including Cristea Roberts, Hauser & Wirth and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, White Cube has opened the Mason’s Yard and Bermondsey spaces and Gagosian has launched three brand new exhibitions across its London venues.
This has come at the right time for many leading figures in the art world, for whom the novelty of crisis innovation has worn off. The mass digitisation of the art world in recent months has been both a fascinating and enjoyable adaptation that has kept the art market alive, nevertheless at a simmer compared to its usual boil. For decades, the art market has been slower to embrace digital than almost every other industry, but lockdown has forced the issue. Galleries have done away with the extortionate fees of the global art fairs and have introduced art to a wider audience through online viewing rooms. In the words of Marc Spiegler, Art Basels’s Global Director, “Coronavirus has catalysed a rapid digital renaissance… the art world’s entire artistic production [becoming] accessible to anyone with a WiFi connection.”
However, Spiegler speaks for many when he speaks of his dread for the “Amazon art world,” where trading happens almost exclusively online. He believes installations and flatter media such as paintings and drawings “suffer when digitised,” and leads a chorus of other art critics and gallerists in the celebration of the opening of the UK’s most prominent galleries. The Guardian’s Jonathan Jones goes as far as to say that, “The sooner this well-meaning limbo ends, the better. Art is a physical and sensual activity that happens in real space and time. Exhibitions are… events in the world that cannot be replicated in front of your computer.”
Of course, our collective return to the art world as we know it, of visiting galleries, picking carefully over contemporary art installations with less concern over our proximity to others than to the installation itself, or of gathering shoulder to shoulder to admire a world-famous classical work, long-hidden behind the gallery’s empty walls, must prioritise safety.
Galleries have pledged to enforce strict social distancing policies including appointment-led visiting and lower capacity viewings. Tate’s Director, Maria Balshaw, has advised that it will be working to a 30% capacity level, “From a visitor safety perspective.” Masks are also necessary, and hand sanitiser will be provided in many of the re-opening galleries. As Christopher Battiscombe, the Director-General at Society of London Art Dealers told Artnet, gallerists are “looking forward to opening their doors again… As much as they have enjoyed doing online, it will be great for them to be able to meet their customers face to face again and we are confident that this can be done safely while observing all the necessary precautions.”