France’s New Art Fair Called ‘Paris+’

Paris has a new flagship art fair for October. farewell FIAC; Enter “Paris+, par Art Basel” (or “Paris+, Art Basel” in English).

The group that ran the Grand Palais in January, shock announcement International art fair giant Art Basel, owned by the Swiss-based company, MCH Groupwould replace FIAC during its annual decline. FIAC had occupied the magnificent cathedral-like exhibition hall for a week each October since 2006, but relations between the fair’s owners, the Anglo-Dutch RELX (who also owned it), had cooled. Paris Photo) and the management of the Grand Palais. FIAC moved last year On a temporary site near the Eiffel Tower, the historic Grand Palais closed for renovation.

Today, MCH revealed the details of the new event. Eager to preserve the distinctive character of the French capital’s art scene, the management of the Grand Palais stipulated in its seven-year contract with MCH that the fair not be branded as “Art Basel, Paris”.

In turn, the Swiss-based organizers, in collaboration with the French brand company Yorgo & Co.It came with “Paris+”.

“Paree ploos” as in French, or “Paris plus?”

“The official name of the fair is ‘Paree ploos’, but people will translate it as ‘Paris plus’,” Marc Spiegler, Art Basel’s global director, said in a phone interview. “We wanted something small and minimal because a big part of what we wanted to do was work with other entities in and outside the art world,” Spiegler said. repeating previous interviews He said MCH wanted to create a dialogue between the Paris fair and other cultural industries.

Spiegler said that Paris+ will operate on the temporary site of the Grand Palais with a staff of approximately 170 dealers and will remain there until 2023 before moving to the Grand Palais, which can accommodate more than 200 attendees in 2024.

The director of the new event, Clément Delépine, former co-director of Paris Internationale, is a highly respected fair for emerging gallerists, held in a different venue each year called “FIAC week”.

“We want to enhance its historical continuity and take advantage of the cultural context,” Delépine said in an interview. We will have a VIP team of more than 30 people from Art Basel,” he added, emphasizing that the organizers of the new fair are determined to preserve FIAC’s distinctive French flavor. ” said.

Art Basel said in a statement that three of the seven gallerists on the fair’s selection committee, which select new exhibitors and ensure quality control among existing exhibitors, are based in Paris. In the statement, it was stated that Jennifer Flay, long-serving director of FIAC, will join the Paris+ management team in March 2023 as the chairman of the advisory board of the fair.

“Clement Delépine will bring freshness to the fair, we welcome it,” he said. Christian Ogieris a Paris-based art consultant and private seller specializing in the 20th century art for which Paris is famous. He added that the exhibitors focusing on historical artifacts should not be forgotten.

“There are many fairs for future artists. “If you want American collectors to fly across the Atlantic, you have to give them something to fly,” Ogier said. “Paris is about that.”