Far from the hubbub of Frieze’s monster midtown affair sits Independent, newly relocated to Pier 36, a 70,000-square-foot venue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It remains the most refined offering in New York Art Week’s buffet of fairs, though the term “boutique” may soon feel strained: the new location is more than double the size of the fair’s former home at Spring Studios, accommodating an expanded roster of exhibitors and ambitions. (The venue’s architect, SO–IL, also designed Brooklyn’s Amant Foundation, and that same sleek sensibility translates well here.)
Elizabeth Dee, the fair’s founder, told ARTnews that its eyes are on greater attendance and institutional influence; last year’s edition reported a 25 percent uptick in foot traffic. Seventy-six exhibitors are participating this year; notably, 26 of them mark an artist’s New York debut. The opportunity has not been wasted: several of the strongest booths spotlight rising talents, the majority of whom seem inclined, at least glancingly, to register the histories unfolding far beyond the art-fair circuit.
In that vein, don’t miss Sprüth Magers’ timely re-staging of TV Text & Image (PEOPLE WITH AIDS), a self-described “electronic theater” by the late artist Gretchen Bender. Conceived in the 1980s, this contemporary iteration interrupts the fair’s usual programming with a dispatch from a more familiar, dystopic register.
Below, more memorable presentations at this year’s Independent Art Fair, running through Sunday.
