Independent Art Fair Relocates to Spring Studios in TriBeCa

The Independent art fair has finally found a new home and, surprisingly, it’s fashion space Spring Studios in TriBeCa.

Since the fair began in 2010, it has been held on 548 West 22nd Street in Manhattan, in the building that once housed the Dia Art Foundation.

But the building was sold to housing developers last year, who kicked the fair out of the building—which will be torn down to make way for condos—and the fair has been searching for a new home since.

Independent co-founder and gallery-owner Elizabeth Dee told the New York Times that she had spent months searching for a Manhattan venue.

Spring Studios, a large London-based photographic studio space, has been developing the TriBeCa site for the last four years. The space has been used as a show space during New York Fashion week, but this partnership establishes the site as an all-round space, open to music and the arts as well.

As beloved as the Dia Center building was, it had many access issues, while Spring Studios is specifically designed to host large-scale events.

“It had its own memory, and here we’ll have an opportunity to create new memory,” Matthew Higgs, Independent’s creative adviser, said of the move. “The majority of the art world has never seen this space,” he added.

Architect Jonathan Caplan will design the exhibition spaces and there is talk of the fair, taking place in November 2016, being open to female artists only.

The fair is also expanding across the pond. Earlier this year, it was announced that Independent would launch its first edition in the European city of Brussels next year, in the former Dexia Art Center.

Roberta Smith and Jerry Saltz at Indpendent 2015
Photo: patrickmcmullan.com

Spring Studios
Photo: courtesy Alexander Severin/RAZUMMEDIA