The first edition of a new fair dedicated to contemporary African art and design, which was due to open in Paris on 3 December, has been cancelled after the terror attacks on 13 November that killed 130 people in the capital.
Victoria Mann, the director of the fair called Also Known as Africa, says a combination of heightened security and the prevailing bleak economic outlook forced the organisers to postpone the event until 2016. Some galleries had already pulled out, Mann says. A new date has not been announced yet.
Despite the “horror and sadness” of the Paris attacks, Mann says the organisers initially decided to open the fair as planned. But the ensuing attack on a hotel in Bamako, Mali, and the heightened state of alert in Belgium, which is still on lockdown, forced the organisers to think again.
“The attacks were meant to spread terror, but they were also aimed at weakening our businesses,” Mann says. “Although the measures announced by the president had an impact, they also highlighted that the risk remains.”
The photography fair Paris Photo also closed two days early on 14 November, straight after the attacks. More than 55 participating galleries from around the world are instead exhibiting the works intended for the fair in their own spaces this weekend, with extended opening hours on 28 and 29 November. In a statement, the organisers of Paris Photo said the 19th edition of the fair had been on course to be their “most successful to date”. But they remained defiant, saying: “[the attacks] cannot and must not deprive us of our most important cultural events”.
Last week the French ministry of culture announced it was creating a relief fund worth several million euros to help organisations that have had to cancel shows in the wake of the attacks. According to an article in Le Libération, Fleur Pellerin, the minister for culture, said she hoped copyright-collecting societies would contribute to the fund.
Meanwhile, Christie’s Paris sale of African and Oceanic art, also scheduled for 3 December, is still due to go ahead.
• with additional reporting by Gareth Harris
UPDATE: Victoria Mann, the founder of Also Known as Africa (AKAA), announced today (27 November) that the fair will take place on 9-13 November 2016. "I am extremely touched by the outpouring of solidarity and support from French and international galleries, artists, partners and friends of AKAA," she said in a statement.