Art Basel’s parent company cuts regional art fairs amid major losses

Naysayers have been incorrectly predicting the demise of the art fair for years... but in my opinion art fairs have "expanded" too rapidly and there are too many of them... when December comes to Miami, there will be around 26 art fairs around the area.

MCH Group, the Swiss fair conglomerate that owns the Art Basel fairs, announced significant cost-cutting measures on Friday, including that it will abandon its two-and-a-half-year-old initiative to acquire regional art fairs around the globe. The move was announced by interim CEO Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, who took over direction of the live marketing giant in September amidst significant declines in revenue from its once-marquee Baselworld watch and jewelry fair.

MCH will consolidate its focus on the three Art Basel art fairs in Basel, Miami Beach, and Hong Kong, as well as Masterpiece London; Design Miami, with editions in Basel and Miami Beach; Baselworld; its car fair, Grand Basel; and a further, unspecified “large number of exhibitions focused on the Swiss market,” according to the announcement.

 Read the Artsy article here.