SINGAPORE – At least five galleries slated to participate in Art Stage Singapore say the art fair has been cancelled by organisers. This would have been the ninth edition of the contemporary art fair, which was to run from Jan 25 to 27 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.
Representatives of galleries such as Marc Straus Gallery in New York and Instinc Art Space, Intersections Gallery and Coda Culture in Singapore said they received an e-mail on Wednesday morning (Jan 16) from Art Stage’s founder and president Lorenzo Rudolf, asking them to “cease all preparations for Art Stage Singapore 2019” or to reverse them.
“The given circumstances, about which we shortly will inform you, unfortunately leave no other choice,” he said in the message.
It added: “We will soon inform you about the next steps. We apologise for any inconvenience you may experience.”
Calls to Art Stage Singapore went unanswered. The Straits Times has also reached out to Marina Bay Sands, where the event is scheduled to take place, for comments.
Marc Straus Gallery’s director, Singaporean Ken Tan, spoke to ST from New York. He says his gallery has invested a “five-figure” sum in the fair this year, including paying for the booth at Marina Bay Sands; shipping out 10 pieces by storied Viennese artist Hermann Nitsch; and flying in Korean artist Jong Oh as well as curator Lorand Hegyi, who would have spoken on Nitsch’s work at the fair.
He says communication with Art Stage Singapore has been sparse since the beginning of this month. He will try and recover some of the gallery’s costs through insurance and will be flying down as planned, since he has meetings with collectors. “I’ll try with local contacts and art people to see if they can do a pop-up show,” he says.
Read the full report on The Straits Times
ArtsEquator Radar features articles and posts drawn from local and regional websites and publications – aggregated content from outside sources, so we are exposed to a multitude of voices in the region.