A Dealer Barred an Asian Curator From Her Art Fair Booth Because Asians Are ‘Seen as Carriers’ of Coronavirus. A Firestorm Erupted

A New York art dealer has been dropped from the Affordable Art
Fair’s forthcoming London edition after she disinvited an Asian
curator from her booth out of concern that his presence would scare
away fairgoers worried about the coronavirus.

“The coronavirus is causing much anxiety everywhere, and fairly
or not, Asians are being seen as carriers of the virus,” dealer
Raquelle Azran, who runs a Vietnamese contemporary art gallery,
wrote in an email to curator An Nguyen.

“Your presence on the stand would unfortunately create
hesitation on the part of the audience to enter the exhibition
space.”

The exact relationship between Nguyen and Azran is not
entirely clear. As of press time, neither the curator nor
the gallerist had responded to inquiries from Artnet News.

But in a statement provided to the Independent,
which first reported the story, a spokesperson from the Affordable
Art Fair in London said Azran would no longer be at the
event.

“We have now spoken to the gallery and they will no longer be
exhibiting at the fair next week,” the spokesperson said.

Some art fairs have been canceled
outright in response to the coronavirus, including Art Basel
Hong Kong and the London Book Fair, both of which were slated to
open this month.

The organizers of Art Dubai have
postponed the commercial portion of their event, but will hold
a slimmed-down program of talks during the originally scheduled
March dates.

The post A Dealer Barred an Asian Curator From Her Art Fair
Booth Because Asians Are ‘Seen as Carriers’ of Coronavirus. A
Firestorm Erupted appeared first on artnet News.