Art Basel Paris Undergoes Lockdown Ahead of Opening
Police ordered the Grand Palais to briefly shut down amid the nationwide student protests.
The Grand Palais in Paris went into temporary lockdown during installation for Art Basel Paris on Saturday, October 17, amid nearby protests over France’s education system and public services, a fair representative confirmed to Hyperallergic.
The Paris Police Prefecture ordered the Grand Palais — which has housed Art Basel Paris since 2024, two years after the Swiss art fair network replaced the exhibition hall's longstanding FIAC (Foire Internationale d'Art Contemporain) — to briefly shut down to “ensure the safety of everyone on site and the protection of the artworks,” an Art Basel spokesperson told Hyperallergic. The lockdown occurred at 5 pm, and the building sustained no damage, another fair spokesperson said.
"No one could get out, and no one could get in," an anonymous source from a New York gallery exhibiting at the fair told Hyperallergic. "There were moving trucks loading and offloading works, and at a certain point, they were told to pack up and go."
