Art Basel Prepares to Launch Its First Online Viewing Rooms, Featuring 231 Dealers Selling Over $250 Million Worth of Art

Art Basel has released the full
list of dealers participating in its inaugural online viewing
rooms, the initiative positioned as a digital stand-in for
the organization’s cancelled 2020 Hong Kong
fair. The 231 dealers involved will collectively offer more
than 2,000 artworks spanning the Modern to contemporary periods in
traditional and new media alike, all of which were originally
slated for inclusion on their respective stands at Art Basel Hong
Kong this March.

Together, the available pieces
boast an aggregate value north of $250 million, almost undoubtedly
making this the priciest collection of works ever offered through a
single online portal. 

Just like the physical fair, the
online viewing rooms will stagger visitors’ entry based on prestige
levels. VIP clients will have first crack at the inventory on offer
from March 18 through 20. The general public will then be allowed
through the virtual gates from March 20 to 25. To keep the groups
separated, VIPs will be required to log into the online viewing
rooms using their Art Basel-assigned credentials.

In a nod to transparency, all
works on offer will be accompanied by either a precise price or a
price range. There will be no “click to buy” functionality on the
platform. Instead, sales inquiries will be made through an online
form sent to a gallery representative, who will then answer
questions or finalize a transaction outside of Art Basel’s platform
(meaning by phone,  email, or perhaps an encrypted chat app).
Responses are guaranteed within 24 hours, and an Art Basel
spokesperson confirmed that the fair has advised replying to
inquiries within the hour if at all possible. (Time-zone
differences between buyer and seller could cause a slight delay in
some cases, particularly if a dealer’s entire staff lives in the
same region.) 

The exhibitors in Art Basel’s
online viewing room form a cross-section of its marketplace, from
single-location dealers featuring emerging artists in the fair’s
Discoveries section, to multi-location heavyweights moving
blue-chip talent in its main Galleries section. The former group
includes the likes of Jessica Silverman Gallery, presenting a solo
booth of madcap Bay Area ceramicist Woody de
Othello. The latter
group includes the likes of David Zwirner, who will offer a curated
selection of paintings exploring the history and limits of
figuration.

All told, more than 90 percent
of the dealers admitted to Art Basel chose to participate in the
online viewing room program, and more than half of them maintain a
permanent space in Asia. It helps, of course, that fair organizers
offered exhibitors the opportunity to participate for free this
time—which may not be the case in future editions. But at least
this time around, even top galleries that have
developed their own independent online viewing rooms are
joining hands with Art Basel’s virtual project. Gagosian, the other
mega-dealer most prominently associated with innovating in the
e-commerce space, will also participate. So while the end
result won’t completely replace the physical fair lost to
coronavirus concerns, it does represent a potential step
forward. 

“While nothing can replace the
experience of seeing art in person,” said Adeline Ooi, Art Basel’s
director Asia, “we hope that this initiative can bring some support
and visibility to all the galleries and their artists affected by
the cancellation of our March show.”

The post Art Basel Prepares to Launch Its First Online
Viewing Rooms, Featuring 231 Dealers Selling Over $250 Million
Worth of Art appeared first on artnet News.