Adaptations in Art Handling Sara Lau
The impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the arts has been welldocumented worldwide. While galleries, museums and artists have had their fair share of coverage, the pandemic’s consequences for art handling companies have been less reported. With the shutdown of international travel and the cancellation of major events such as international exhibitions and art fairs, these companies have experienced significantly reduced revenue streams. The International Convention of Exhibition and Fine Art Transporters (ICEFAT), which referred to the industry as the “unseen engine room of the art world”, released a three-part report in July 2020 detailing the extent of the pandemic’s impact, sharing insights from their members about the decrease in business, the restrictions and increased costs of air freight and the shifts in art handling protocols and systems. In Southeast Asia, there have been similar consequences for art handling companies. Several countries in the region have been badly hit by the pandemic and are struggling to recover. Harry Wibowo, Managing Director of Bowo Logistics, says that they have had to rely on local art moving assignments in order to sustain their business, although the income from this is not enough to cover their monthly office overheads. The company relied heavily on art fairs as their main source of income, an unsurprising fact given that the country was steadily growing as a regional art centre prior to the pandemic. While the situation in Singapore has been more stable, art handlers here have been affected as well. Vincent Ng, Business Development Manager at Malca-Amit, reports that art handling requests have declined by approximately 20 to 30 percent for their company. “Collectors are also much more cautious in purchasing art and hence there has been a decrease in shipment frequencies, which has had a significant
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