Art Fairs: Location Location Location

Artlog’s handy fair map
It’s been a while since we discussed the locations of the various New York fairs, so I thought it might not be a bad idea, particularly in light of a few recent moves.

• Pulse moves to the Piers. I liked their old location at Lexington Avenue and 26th Street too — an armory location as opposed to a hotel is always preferable — but Pier 40 near Houston St puts them a little closer to The Armory Show, which is a step up. Such locations tend to be pricey so I imagine it’s also a sign of success.
• Scope will spend their second year at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park, a prestigious location, but one that also proved to be smaller than they needed last year. Nobody likes narrow aisles and a lack of seating; it’s impossible to see or enjoy the art. Their exhibitors list looks a little scant this year though, so it’s possible this problem has been exchanged for a new one.
• Bridge Art Fair moves from a hotel on the East side of the city to lands at The Waterfront on the West side [correction: Bridge was not in New York last year]. Close to Pulse, and not in a hotel, this represents a move up for the fair from its Miami location…even if the art tends not to be any good.
• ArtNow, Volta, and Red Dot represent the hotel fair district this year, though technically Volta isn’t in a hotel, but rather a Merchandise Mart property billed as a temporary exhibition space. Merchandise Mart owns The Armory and Volta.
• Diva exhibits in containers placed around Chelsea. The fair continues to struggle. In other news, they redesigned their website, and it’s a huge improvement on the last incarnation.
• The Armory exhibits at Pier 94 for the second year running. I asked the fair’s executive director Katelijne De Backer why they weren’t interested in the Javits center on artreview.com a while back, and she cited lack of character. I suspect the decision was a little more complicated than that, but this is the extent of what’s been released to the press.