A DAILY REPORT ON HOW COVID-19 IS IMPACTING THE ART WORLD

As international governments take increased precautions to limit the spread of the coronavirus, museums, fairs, and festivals are facing closures and delays.

Valentina Di Liscia

Raphael dons a face mask (edit by Jasmine Weber for Hyperallergic)

From museums and galleries to theaters and concert venues, it’s an unavoidable fact that some of the most moving experiences of art often involve being in crowded spaces. COVID-19, labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization, has thus posed a special challenge to art institutions around the world, and their efforts to contain its spread are impressive. Here’s our latest on the coronavirus’ effect on the arts, updated daily.

3/13/2020 5:20pm EDT:

In case you were wondering, the cemetery is still open. At least that’s the case for Green-Wood Cemetery, a national historic landmark in regularly scheduled trolley tours with free guided walking tours. “We welcome one and all to find peace and solace in our historic landscape,” says an email.

After the French government banned gatherings of over 100 people, the Louvre has finally shut down, along with the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles (though the Palace’s gardens and the park remain open.) The Musée d’Orsay, Musée de l’Orangerie, and Musée National Picasso are also closing their doors to the public until further notice.

In New York City, many galleries continue to close; some, like Cheim & Read, Lehmann Maupin, and Luhring Augustine, will be by appointment only. In Brooklyn, the multidisciplinary arts center Pioneer Works is temporarily closing and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is suspending all live events through March 29.

The Brooklyn Public Library is automatically renewing library cards for an additional 6 months from the expiration date as a way to “encourage patrons to avoid making a trip to the library if they are unable or uncomfortable doing so,” according to an email sent to this proud BPL cardholder.

Additional institutional shutdowns include MIT List Visual Arts Center, the MCA Denver, and the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University. In New Mexico, all Department of Cultural Affairs divisions, including the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of International Folk Art, and New Mexico Museum of Art, have canceled public events but remain open.

Finally, Art Basel Hong Kong isn’t the only arts programming migrating to a digital platform. The 92nd Street Y in New York, for instance, is going to livestream upcoming concerts and lectures and offer hundreds of online art classes (including remote ceramic classes and a class called “Drawing at the Natural History Museum” with images of museum artifacts via Zoom.)

3/12/2020 12:33pm EDT:

Everything is closed. Or at least it seems that way. In New York City, the Guggenheim; the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and MoMA PS1; the Whitney; the Studio Museum in Harlem; The Drawing Center; The Rubin Museum; the 92nd Street Y; and the New-York Historical Society have all shuttered. Pace, Hauser & Wirth, and Gagosian galleries have closed their New York locations as well. In LA, the Broad Museum and the Getty are closing indefinitely.

Those of us still looking for art can turn to smaller spaces that are staying open because they don’t usually draw large crowds. Brooklyn’s Haul Gallery, currently hosting a two-person show of works by Jade Thacker and Keith Lafuente, is one example.

Elsewhere, some museums are staying open but suspending programming in order to limit gatherings. The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) has temporarily closed all its three sites through the end of March. The Walker Art Center, meanwhile, is canceling all on-site programs until April 15, but its galleries remain open. The Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson in Arizona is also postponing educational programs until further notice, but keeping its doors open for now. The North Carolina Museum of Art has postponed its annual festival of art and flowers, Art in Bloom. Recess, the beloved New York arts nonprofit, will pause its on-site programs beginning this Saturday.

The prognostic is not much better for fairs. Art Brussels, set to open in April, has now announced new dates of June 25 – June 28. ArteBA in Buenos Aires has been postponed, with no new dates announced just yet. The same fate has met the 16th edition of SP-Arte, previously scheduled for the first week of April at the Bienal Pavilion in São Paulo, Brazil.

…but art institutions in China, South Korea, and Japan are starting to reopen. Shanghai’s Power Station of Art and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in South Korea are among those welcoming visitors again.

And a staff member at the Tate Modern in London has tested positive for coronavirus, reports the Art Newspaper. The employee was working on March 2 during the day at the Tate Modern’s office (not its galleries) and later assisted at an adult education event in the gallery’s Starr Cinema that evening. The museum will remain open to visitors.

3/12/2020 6:45pm EDT:

After the Metropolitan Museum’s indefinite closure announcement, a slew of major institutions in New York City followed suit: the Brooklyn Museum, the Frick Collection and Library, the Shed, the Bronx Museum, the Jewish Museum, and the New Museum will be closing to the public and postponing all events until further notice. Smaller spaces like the Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA) and the Brant Foundation are also closing their doors.

The Harvard Art Museums, Institute of Contemporary Art, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston have announced their collaborative decision to close to the public.

The Oklahoma Contemporary, scheduled to open its inaugural exhibition in their new building tomorrow, is temporarily postponing all its opening week events (Opening Celebration, Grand Opening, and regular opening hours.)

The contemporary arts space Ballroom Marfa in Texas announced its decision to close through the end of the month. The Judd Foundation, also in Marfa, is suspending public programs and guided visits.

The restaurant the Modern, located inside The Museum of Modern Art (which has yet to announce any closures) had to shut down earlier this week for deep cleaning after learning that the executive director of the Port Authority,  who tested positive for the virus, had dined there. The restaurant has reportedly re-opened to the public.

But amid all the cancellations and postponements, some in the art world are coming up with more creative solutions. The artist-run Essex Flowers gallery in New York City, for instance, will host a six-hour-long opening for its two new group shows, instead of the usual two hours, in order to thin out crowds. “Might Delete Later” and “Earth Body,” previously scheduled to open tomorrow from 6-8pm, will now open this Saturday, March 14, from 12-6pm. Meanwhile, Casey Kaplan Gallery has shifted its hours in an effort to “mitigate travel during peak rush hours,” says an email statement; beginning tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future, the gallery will be open from 11am-6pm.

Here is a useful list of COVID-specific resources available for freelance artists, including local relief and emergency grant opportunities.

3/12/2020 2:42pm EDT:

Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are circulating a form for those seeking help after the college announced it would close undergraduate and independent living group (FSILG) housing starting March 17. “Many alums and grad students have expressed an interest in opening their homes to affected students who may not be able to return home for any reason (prohibitive cost of travel, visa issues, family issues, etc.) or who may need other support (financial, storage, airline miles, or otherwise),” says a text on the form, started by MIT alumna Yolanda Lau. Efforts to contain the coronavirus’s spread continue to take a massive toll on higher education institutions across the country; Columbia University in New York City has gone remote for the rest of the semester and is encouraging students to move out of dorms.

The Affordable Art Fair’s New York edition, previously scheduled for March 25–29 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea, is postponed for “a future date in 2020,” according to an email announcement. The biannual event is usually attended by 15,000 visitors at its spring edition alone.

All New York City public libraries are suspending public programming and events from Friday, March 13 until Tuesday, March 31. But the city’s libraries are staying open and “continue to offer access to books, public computers, wifi, expert staff recommendations and a variety of resources, including — beginning next week — computers dedicated to the Census,” according to a Brooklyn Public Library e-mail. Among other arts institutions in the US to cancel upcoming programming are the Irish Arts Center, the ICA Miami, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

One of several fundraisers now circulating to aid those especially affected by the measures taken to contain the virus seeks help for sex workers. “Most are unable to take time off to address this issue, or are unable to work because of COVID panic – we need a relief fund to keep our siblings housed, fed, and able to weather this storm,” writes SWOP Brooklyn in its fundraiser page.

3/12/2020 1:45pm EDT:

Today, Metropolitan Museum President and Chief Executive Daniel Weiss announced the Met’s three locations — the Met Fifth Avenue, Met Breuer, and the Met Cloisters — will close indefinitely starting Friday, March 13. According to a statement, “The Museum will undertake a thorough cleaning and plans to announce next steps early next week.” According to the New York Times, the Met has previously only closed on two occasions, following 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy.

3/12/2020 12:30pm EDT:

A total of 231 galleries will take part in the first edition of Art Basel’s Online Viewing Rooms, launching March 20 after the fair canceled its Hong Kong edition over coronavirus concerns last month. According to its website, the digital initiative will run parallel with all its physical shows in the future.

Germany’s cultural institutions and artists affected by closures and low attendance numbers due to the coronavirus will receive financial support from the government, promised Culture Minister Monika Grütters. Though most museums in the country remain open,  Berlin and Bavaria have closed their public theaters and concert halls.

Spain’s “big three” — the Prado Museum, the Reina Sofía, and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza — closed yesterday. According to Telemadrid, attendance at the Prado Museum had fallen by 50% as of the beginning of this week.

Coachella joins the list of music festivals postponing their forthcoming editions. The giant pop event, which takes place every year in the desert of Southern California, has delayed next month’s event to October. “Even rescheduled, the postponement of Coachella could pose a significant disruption to the annual concert season,” writes the New York Times. “The event, founded in 1999, draws up to 125,000 people a day and has come to be a bellwether for the multibillion-dollar touring business.”

As Hyperallergic closely monitors the spaces closing their doors, we’re also interested in the galleries, museums, artists, and other cultural actors who believe the show must go on. Perrotin Gallery’s forthcoming Jean-Michel Othoniel show in Tokyo, for example, is still set to open April 8. “Last we have checked, the artist plans to be at the opening as well,” says an optimistic email announcement. According to our Editor-in-Chief’s (unscientific, but still insightful) Twitter poll, most people are not avoiding art openings or museums because of COVID-19.

3/11/2020 9:20pm EDT:

The largest exhibition on the Baroque painter Giovanna Garzoni, scheduled to open yesterday at the Palazzo Pitti in Florenca, has been postponed.

The New York-based nonprofit Visual AIDS sent an email announcing its office would be closed until March 20 and sharing a helpful article for those living with HIV and worried about the virus. “We recognize that many people in our community are living with HIV and AIDS, chronic illnesses, and disabilities, and that many of us are at higher risk of acquiring the coronavirus,” said Visual AIDS’s statement.

Following days of pressure and a petition with nearly 50,000 signatures, the City College of New York (CUNY) and State University of New York (SUNY) will begin moving to online classes starting March 19. All CUNY schools will also have a five-day instructional recess from March 12 to 18 to allow students and staff time to transition to the new model.

A joint exhibition of the collection of Donald Marron to be mounted by Pace and Gagosian galleries in New York in April has been postponed. A Pace representative told ARTnews that the exhibition was delayed because it had become difficult to secure loans from institutions and collectors.

The first edition of Paris Photo in New York, scheduled for early April, is now also postponed.

New York auction houses Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams, Heritage, Doyle, and iGavel have rescheduled their Asia Week sales from March to June.

3/11/2020 12:25pm EDT:

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. has postponed its forthcoming exhibition A Superb Baroque: Art in Genoa, 1600–1750 because the lockdown Italy has made it impossible to transport the artworks slated for loan from museums in Rome and Genoa. The show, set to be the first major survey of Genoese baroque art in the US, may be rescheduled for next year.

An art dealer who participated in the Dutch art fair Tefaf Maastricht has tested positive for coronavirus. The fair, which opened last Thursday, March 7 and was to run until Sunday, March 15, has decided to shut down early for the first time in its history in order to help limit the virus’s spread.

The 2020 LA Art Book Fair, scheduled to take place at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA from April 3-5, has been canceled, confirmed Printed Matter in an email. The nonprofit is encouraging people to continue supporting its exhibitors, many of whom are independent booksellers.

The online publication Vice has closed its Brooklyn office because of concerns that one staffer may have been exposed to coronavirus. According to Hypebeast reporter Maxwell Tani, all employees of Vox Media — which includes New York Magazine, Vulture, and the Cut, among others — have also been asked to work from home.

After shutting down this year’s edition over coronavirus fears, South by Southwest (SXSW) has fired one third of its staff. The massive layoffs come as an urgent financial measure, since the annual film, tech, and music festival in Austin, Texas said that the cancellation would cost them “tens of millions of dollars.”

The School Of Visual Arts in New York City announced yesterday that it will suspend classes for the rest of the week. Meanwhile, uncertainty and anger continue to rock the City University of New York (CUNY), whose campuses have not yet canceled classes or shifted to online learning even though a petition to do so has now reached nearly 45,000 signatures (up more than 20,000 names from yesterday.) Appalled students and staff have taken to social media to express their outrage.

3/10/2020 3:12pm EDT:

The Seattle Art Museum has shut down touchscreens and children’s play areas, and canceled or postponed all museum events throughout its three locations for the remainder of the month.

Franck Riester, the French culture minister, has tested positive for the coronavirus.  It’s likely he got it from one of the five French parliamentarians who have also come down with the virus. According to the country’s health minister, Riester is resting at home and doing well.

“Save The CUNY Students,” a Change.org petition for the City College of New York (CUNY)’s 25 campuses to cancel or transfer classes online, has reached over 21,000 signatures. The petition cites nearby schools such as Touro University in Flushing, which has closed down due to the spread. In the comments section, several raised concerns over the risks posed for elderly faculty as well as the many students of the public university who can’t afford to get sick because they support their families. Diane Beauchemin, CUNY’s Chemistry undergraduate chair, is one of the signatories. “I know how dangerous the coronavirus is to the students and staff of Queens College,” she said in a comment. “I am for the idea of transferring classes to online mode for the rest of the semester.”

The Fifth Annual Symposium of Latin American Art, scheduled to take place at CUNY’s Graduate Center, NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, and Columbia University from April 2-4, has been temporarily postponed.

In France, the annual book fair Salon du Livre decided to cancel its 2020 edition, but the Salon du Dessin, the drawing fair to be held at the Palais Brongniart in Paris at the end of the month, plans to go on with its show. (On Sunday, March 8, the French government forbid all indoor gatherings of more than 1,000 people; while the Salon du Livre can reach around 160,000 visitors, Salon du Dessin’s president said it usually does not welcome more than 1,000 visitors at once, but it will offer two distinct opening hours in order to keep numbers under the government cap.)

Days before its openings, the Photography Show and the Video Show in the UK announced on Twitter that the two festivals would be postponed until September.

Harvard has asked its students to move out of university housing within the next five days “in an effort to de-densify [its] community.” The institution had already started transitioning to virtual instruction. Amherst College has implemented similar measures, asking students to leave campus by March 18 unless they have received special permission to stay.

In Iran, which trails closely after Italy in number of cases (8,042 diagnoses and 291 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak), the Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts has ordered the cancellation of all Nowruz (Persian New Year) celebrations. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, the hours of museums, palaces, and cultural sites across Iran will be reduced.

One of Asia’s most visited sites and the world’s largest religious monuments, the Angkor Wat Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia, is virtually deserted. The landmark is one of numerous popular tourist sites across Asia that are being hardest hit by fears of the coronavirus’s spread. According to Khmer Times, Angkor Wat has seen record low tourist numbers this season; tour guides and other cultural workers are increasingly feeling the economic impact of the virus.

3/9/2020 5:51pm EDT:

In Italy, the country with the second-largest outbreak after China, the government has shuttered all museums and heritage sites, including the Colosseum, the Pompeii archaeological park, and the Vatican Museums. The unsparing government decree will be in place until April 3. Among the hardest hit by the measures is the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome, which had pre-sold 60,000 tickets for its recently opened exhibition Raffaello 1520-1483. Organized to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death, the show features more than 200 works by the Italian master painter.

In New York City, all Armory Week fairs were able to move forward as scheduled, but as the number of diagnosed cases in the state continues to climb — 142 confirmed as of this morning — the art world is inevitably looking ahead to Frieze. A spokesperson for the fair told Hyperallergic that it is proceeding with preparations for its New York edition, slated to open on Thursday, May 7, but will be “monitoring the situation closely in partnership with local, state and federal health officials. The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, also opening in May in New York, does not yet have plans to cancel either.

The Venice Architecture Biennale, which originally planned to proceed with its May opening, has now been delayed three months. The new dates for the show are August 29 – November 29.

In an Instagram post, artist and activist Ai Weiwei communicated that rehearsals for his new production of Turandot at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma had suffered a “sudden death” due to the coronavirus crisis in Italy. “The fate of this opera is just like the fate of the current struggle in this time of globalization and involvement with China. The true tragedy is yet to come,” he added.

South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual film, tech, and music festivals in Austin, Texas, have also been canceled; in concerning news, the company’s insurance does not cover disease-related cancellations, so the move may significantly impact SXSW’s finances.

After staffers at the Louvre Museum in Paris walked off the job and voted to close the institution in order to protect its 2,300 workers, the Louvre has reopened but “is taking measures to limit the number of people in the museum,” according to its website. Only visitors with pre-booked e-tickets or those entitled to free admission will be guaranteed entry (previously, the Louvre had banned cash payments, as banknotes change hands frequently and can contribute to the virus’s spread.)

The MFA in Studio Art department at Hunter College in New York City has canceled its Open Studios, a highly anticipated event that brings thousands to its 205 Hudson building in Tribeca. Meanwhile, many universities across the country are putting in-person classes on pause. Higher education institutions including Columbia, Fordham, Hofstra, Princeton, Stanford, Seattle, Yeshiva, and the University of Washington will either cancel classes altogether or migrate them to online platforms.

Last Thursday, Palestinian authorities closed the Nativity Church in the biblical city of Bethlehem in the West Bank — a tourist hotspot, especially in the upcoming Easter holiday season. The coronavirus outbreak is affecting places and forms of worship worldwide: in the United States, some dioceses are asking for ceremonies that involve physical touch, such as the exchange of peace, to be halted until the outbreak is over.

In the face of a canceled Art Basel Hong Kong and ongoing health and political crises, Hong Kong’s art community has launched ART Power HK, an online platform that will allow galleries, museums, and auction houses to exhibit art virtually. Online viewing rooms, recorded and live-streamed exhibitions and studio visits, interviews, and talks are all part of its programming.

The following blurbs are from Hyperallergic’s earlier report, “An Update on How COVID-19 Is Impacting the Art World,” by Monica Castillo.

3/3/2020 6:33pm EST:

The United Nations in New York City has trimmed its previously scheduled two-week meeting on gender inequality to a one-day session. The Commission on the Status of Women will note the 25th anniversary of a momentous women’s rights declaration on March 9. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the commission will have its full session at a later time.

Art Dubai will pare down its 2020 edition that was originally planned to run March 25-28.  Instead, programmers will rearrange some events with a more local and regional audience in mind. New panels and presentations will be announced for the same dates, but it will lack the usual commercial component.

The Cervantes Institute and ARCO canceled its annual “Asian Maps” program in Madrid over coronavirus concerns. Many international guests from the country hardest hit by the pandemic were scheduled to travel to the event scheduled from February 26 to March 1. The Cervantes Institute also suspended its programs at their Shanghai and Beijing locations for the time being.

As some Italian museums and attractions in less affected areas return to normal operations, the Venice Architecture Biennial announced it would go on as planned. The 17th edition of the biennial would run from May 23 — November 29 with 114 architects and architectural firms from 63 countries set to appear. The overall theme of the biennial, How will we live together?, was curated by Hashim Sarkis, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Plans for the Tokyo Olympics are still underway despite the slew of canceled events throughout the world. International Olympics Committee member Dick Pound said that any decision about canceling the games would be made in May, about two months before the Opening ceremony. In a statement, the IOC said athletes should keep training as usual and that they would follow the advice of the World Health Organization. The Summer Olympics are scheduled to run from July 24 through August 9.

3/3/2020 7:00am EST:

In Paris, staffers at the Louvre Museum voted to close one of the world’s most famous art destinations on Sunday for fear that visitors could bring the coronavirus to the 2,300 workers. The museum remained closed on Monday with updates on its site. There is no set date yet for the museum to reopen. On Saturday, French health officials banned all gatherings of over 5,000 people and advised the public against shaking hands or kissing others on the cheek.

A number of art fairs around the world are bracing for possible disruption. The upcoming Armory Show in New York City will go on as planned according to its organizers, and previews of the fair will start Wednesday. However, the European Fine Art Fair in the Netherlands announced it will be taking more precautionary steps during its mid-March run to disinfect visitor areas and offer free hand sanitizer. Two art-related events in Milan have been canceled. Organizers at the SP-Arte in Brazil and Art Paris are waiting to see what measures should be taken.

Meanwhile, Italy’s cabinet declared museums not in the hardest-hit areas of the country could reopen with a warning that guests should stay about one meter (or around 3 feet) away from each other. Last week, the government asked museums and cultural centers to shut down to slow the spread of the virus, but the closures would only last for a week until they were reevaluated. In addition to museums, shops and restaurants could reopen, but theaters and cinemas would have to remain closed until March 8.

Iran’s Art Bureau and Health Ministry have teamed up to launch a cartoon contest for artists and designers to come up with a creative campaign against the coronavirus. The purpose of the work should be to give hope and remove fear. The Art Bureau is handling submissions and will accept artwork for the contest through March 30.

Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” is one of 60 artworks from London’s National Gallery that will wait in quarantine as many of Japan’s museums remain closed for the next two weeks in response to the outbreaks. Tokyo’s National Museum of Western Art had planned on opening its new exhibit “Masterpieces from the National Gallery,” which featured “Sunflowers,” earlier in March but will now have to wait until the closure order is set to end on March 16. Several of South Korea’s museums also remain closed until further notice.

Thanks to a large-scale quarantine and travel fears, art buyers in China are staying out of markets and auctions. Galleries are closed, orchestra tours planned long in advance are being canceled, and several movie releases will be delayed in response to the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak has already caused the cancellation or postponement of several events, including Art Basel Hong Kong earlier in February and the Major Triennial in Beijing in January.

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