San Francisco Chronicle

Fog calls off its annual fair at Fort Mason

- By Tony Bravo

The Fog Design + Art fair will not be rolling into Fort Mason in January.

The fiveday event, which was to host its opening gala Jan. 20 and run through Jan. 24, has been postponed until 2022 due to concerns about stilluncer­tain conditions pertaining to the coronaviru­s pandemic, Fog Executive Producer Megan Knight confirmed.

“We did an analysis to see what it would take to make the fair happen and what markers we needed to be at in time. We couldn’t guarantee San Francisco would even let us have an event in January,” Knight said.

Fog cofounder Stanlee Gatti said that while the leadership committee held off on canceling the eighth edition of the fair as long as possible, “the No. 1 thing we have to think about is safety. It was decided it wasn’t feasible to move ahead at this time.”

The Fog Design + Art fair has become an event that attracts internatio­nal figures from the art world every year, including gallerists, artists and collectors. The glitzy Fog gala benefiting the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is considered one of the key events of the New Year’s social philanthro­py calendar, while the fair and accompanyi­ng programmin­g have developed a diverse

audience of art and design connoisseu­rs. For $ 25 to $ 32, fairgoers can see wellknown contempora­ry art like Ai Weiwei’s giltcovere­d stainless steel bicycle sculpture “Forever” or furniture and design by such noted companies as Fornasetti and Superstudi­o.

Fog has not planned any remote programmin­g for the week when the fair would have taken place. Instead, Knight says Fog will use its social media accounts to boost online events that week hosted by galleries. Exhibitors accepted for the canceled 2021 fair will be carried over to the ’ 22 fair, as will the Fort Mason venue.

Knight said it is possible the 2022 Fog fair could still be operating with COVID19 considerat­ions in mind, but she is certain the fair will return.

“I think largescale events will come back, but they could look different in how we serve food, maybe mask wearing — some of that might be here to stay,” Knight said.

“Fog has never been exactly the same anyway,” Gatti said.

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