Eike Schmidt, director of the Uffizi Galleries © Mikhail Metzel/TASS/Alamy Live News
As countries edge slowly out of lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, more public and private galleries are tentatively reopening though visitors will be subject to strict rules on hygiene and social distancing.
The Uffizi Galleries in Florence are due to open mid-May, after closing 8 March, according to Italian government guidelines. Its director Eike Schmidt told Apollo magazine that measures will be taken to combat overcrowding. “We will be implementing additional measures and will also have to lower the number of people who can be in the gallery at any given time—it will probably be half our normal limit of 900 people, so 450 people. The details will all depend on further government rules that were expecting to be communicated in the coming days and weeks,” he said.
He also added that the galleries have lost around €10m in revenue so far. “Thats certainly something that well have to work with by pushing some of our building projects into 2021, by slowing some of them down,” Schmidt said, revealing also to Apollo that the Uffizi has launched its own TikTok account in order to engage with a younger demographic.
Following the Swiss governmental Federal Councils decision to ease coronavirus measures, museums in Switzerland are permitted to re-open from 11 May. Kunsthaus Zurichs exhibition programme has subsequently been re-scheduled: the exhibitions Ottilia Giacometti. A Portrait and The Poetry of Line—Masterpieces of Italian Drawing are extended until 19 July while Smoke and Mirrors-The Roaring Twenties now begins on 3 July and ends on 11 October.
On the commercial front, Perrotin gallery in Paris has launched an initiative called Restons Unis whereby 26 French galleries will present works at Perrotins gallery located in Impasse Saint Claude from mid May. “Although it may not rectify the larger systemic issues of our industry, it does underline the importance of what we accomplish on a daily basis. Online viewing rooms will never replace exhibitions,” says a gallery statement.
The show will comprise four consecutive two-week-long presentations, with each iteration due to include up to seven galleries. Frank Elbaz and Crèvecoeur will,Read More – Source
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