Art Brussels has announced that Katerina Gregos, the fair’s artistic director, will leave her post in the summer.

According to a release issued by the art fair, Gregos, who has held the position since 2012, will resume her curatorial activities full-time upon her departure. This year’s edition of Art Brussels, which will take place from April 22-24, will be the last one with Gregos at the helm.

“After four very fruitful, enjoyable and creative years at Art Brussels, I feel it is time to move on, to focus on what I love most: working with artists and making exhibitions,” Gregos said in a statement.

“Art Brussels is now at a point where its solid history of 48 years and its reputation as a discovery fair have been consolidated, and with the move to the new space at Tour & Taxis as well as its continued renewal, it can look forward to an exciting future,” Gregos added.

“It has been a great pleasure to contribute to the evolution of the fair and to work with its amazing, dedicated team,” she concluded.

Anne Vierstraete, managing director of Art Brussels.
Photo: Art Brussels

Gregos’s positive sentiment was echoed by Anne Vierstraete, the managing director of the fair, who left the door open to the renowned Brussels-based curator to contribute to the fair on curatorial projects in the future.

“As a specialist in contemporary art, Katerina has nourished the fair with her extensive knowledge, expertise and international network,” Vierstraete said. “Her contribution has resulted in a very interesting evolution for Art Brussels, confirming and consolidating its specificity as a discovery fair, which we will build on through the continuation of the fair’s strong curatorial profile over the coming years. In light of this, it is very probable that we will collaborate with Katerina as a curator on special projects in the future,” she added.

Gregos has an outstanding curatorial record, with recent landmark exhibitions such as the Belgian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale and the acclaimed 5th Thessaloniki Biennial under her belt, both staged in 2015.

The 34th edition of Art Brussels will see the fair moving to a new location—the turn of the century former customs house Tour & Taxis, situated in Brussels’ inner city area—as well as 31 new exhibitors out of a 140-gallery roster.

Kristof De Clecq’s booth at Art Brussels 2015.
Photo: by David Noels, courtesy Art Brussels

Brussels’ rise as a key art center on the international art map—capable to simultaneously foster a solid market network of galleries and collectors and an exciting scene of young artists and art spaces—has brought the historical art fair some strong competition.

This year, and taking place in the very same week, Brussels will also see the launch of Independent Brussels, the European outpost of the hip New York-based art fair, launched by dealers Elizabeth Dee and Darren Flook in 2010.

Although smaller in scale—gathering over 60 galleries—Independent is bringing some heavy-weights to its debut edition, including David Zwirner, Air de Paris, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, Marc Foxx, Maureen Paley, and Jan Mot.