Dealers Are Blasting TEFAF for Not Cancelling Its Maastricht Fair Now That Dozens of Attendees Have Contracted Coronavirus

Just over two weeks ago, organizers of the The European Fine Art
Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht, the Netherlands, decided to close four
days early after it was reported that a dealer from Italy had
tested positive for coronavirus.

Now, at least 25 positive cases of coronavirus have emerged
among exhibitors and visitors to the fair, according to a report
in the Art Newspaper. And
organizers are coming under fire for not having canceled the event
altogether.

“It was irresponsible of TEFAF to open the fair,” Boedy
Lilian of the Amsterdam and Geneva-based gallery Salomon Lilian,
told the Art Newspaper. Lilian tested positive for the
virus alongside two members of his staff, one of whom he says is
“very badly” ill.

Asked whether it would have acted differently in hindsight, a
representative for TEFAF told Artnet News: “We are all truly facing
a unique situation given the global coronavirus pandemic and
are together facing a new world. The world has changed dramatically
from when we opened the fair in Maastricht until today and it
continues to do so. We had no crystal ball to anticipate the
world we are facing today. Based on the facts and the health advice
we had, we made decisions solely based on the health
advice given by the authorities every day.”

The fair attracted some 28,500 visitors during its
seven-day run. Between 23 and 35 exhibitors and visitors may have
contracted the virus at the event, according to the Art
Newspaper. Some have since been hospitalized, several in
intensive care, but the total number of those affected is likely to
be much higher.

“As the situation is ever-evolving we are hearing about more
cases of people who have been sick or are currently feeling sick.
We hear about confirmed cases, people with symptoms, people who are
recovering well and unfortunately also cases who have been or are
in intensive care,” the TEFAF representative said. “At this point
we at TEFAF cannot monitor numbers reliably, nor can we confirm
when and where members within our community have been in touch with
the coronavirus.”

Not everyone is critical of TEFAF’s decisions, however. “The
situation was quite different a couple of days before the fair,”
Hugh Gibson, owner of London’s Thomas Gibson Fine Art, told Artnet
News. Three galleries chose to withdraw prior to the opening, he
noted, adding that “if exhibitors had serious concerns about the
safety of the fair they could have just not turned up. It is of
course unfortunate how the virus has spread and how infectious it
has proven to be but for my part I do not hold TEFAF responsible. I
am sure if the organizer knew then what we know now, they would
have cancelled.” (Three out of the 285 exhibitors dropped out
of the fair in the days leading up to the March 5 VIP preview
day.)

The TEFAF representative said that news of the virus spreading
at the fair “worries and saddens” us, but that it is “unfair” to
blame the fair for its spread. “There were no cases in The
Netherlands when we started the fair,” the representative said. “A
vast majority of our dealer community was at the start of the fair
expressing their gratitude.”

The post Dealers Are Blasting TEFAF for Not Cancelling Its
Maastricht Fair Now That Dozens of Attendees Have Contracted
Coronavirus appeared first on artnet News.