The contemporary art fair leaves Spring Studios behind for a 70,000-square-foot East River venue, doubling its footprint and formalising a debut programme for artists showing in New York for the first time
Independent, the New York contemporary art fair founded by Elizabeth Dee in 2010, has confirmed the 76 galleries participating in its 17th edition, scheduled to run 14–17 May at Pier 36 on the Lower East Side. The move marks the fair’s departure from Spring Studios in Tribeca, where it had been held for the better part of a decade, and represents a significant expansion of its physical scale. The new venue, a waterfront shed on the East River at 299 South Street, offers approximately 70,000 square feet of space — more than double what was available at Spring Studios. In 2025, Independent accommodated 83 exhibitors at that Tribeca location in circumstances that required converting even the coat check into a dedicated project space.
The architectural character of Pier 36 will be shaped for the fair by Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu (SO–IL), the Brooklyn-based firm known for its work on the Kukje Gallery in Seoul and the Amant art space in Brooklyn. SO–IL will transform the building’s exterior for the occasion, while Berlin studio D_P_S takes charge of the interior exhibition design. Together, the two practices are tasked with developing what the fair describes as a new spatial model for how an art fair might present itself.
Of the 76 participating galleries, nearly half will be showing at Independent for the first time. The fair has also formalised a programme it is calling Independent Debuts, which draws attention to the more than one-third of stands that will present artists who have not previously had a solo presentation in New York. Among those making their New York debut through this initiative are the German artist Bettina Pousttchi, whose sculptures take their cues from bike racks, bollards and other elements of urban infrastructure, presented by Berlin’s Buchmann Galerie. The Reykjavik-based i8 Gallery will introduce the Icelandic textile artist Arna Óttarsdóttir through tapestries and related works on paper.
The solo-presentation format has long been central to Independent’s identity, and that orientation continues in this edition, with more than 70 percent of stands devoted to a single artist. Notable among these are Jason Fox at David Kordansky, Petra Cortright at Interval, Silvia Heyden at Charles Moffett, and Trude Viken at Ricco/Maresca Gallery. A presentation of more than 20 designs by Rei Kawakubo, the founder of Comme des Garçons, will be installed within a bespoke architectural environment of her own design.
The expanded footprint at Pier 36 creates conditions for larger and more physically ambitious works. A substantial bronze by Francis Upritchard, presented by Anton Kern Gallery, is among the site-responsive pieces the fair is highlighting. Sprüth Magers will present an iteration of Gretchen Bender’s TV Text & Image series from the 1980s and 90s, a body of work that has attracted renewed curatorial interest in recent years. The Athens-based gallery Callirrhoë has worked with the fair on a commissioned installation for the main entrance by Nikolas Ventourakis.
Forty-two percent of exhibitors are based outside the United States, and the fair is also presenting a notable cluster of local galleries, several from the Lower East Side and Chinatown neighbourhoods that surround Pier 36. Spencer Brownstone Gallery, Superhouse, Post Times, Uffner & Liu and Jupiter are among those with a local foothold. David Peter Francis, a Chinatown gallery making its Independent debut, will show large-scale abstract photography by Carrie Schneider, who will simultaneously appear in the Venice Biennale.
The Pier 36 location also places Independent in closer geographic proximity to several concurrent events during what has become one of the busiest weeks in the New York art calendar. TEFAF New York, Frieze New York, and NADA New York are all scheduled during overlapping dates in May, alongside the major spring evening sales at Bonhams, Christie’s, Phillips and Sotheby’s. Independent’s position on the East Side of lower Manhattan, near the FDR Drive, offers a more convenient connection to the Park Avenue Armory, where TEFAF is held, than the Tribeca location did.
The fair’s opening on Thursday 14 May will be by invitation only, from 11am to 5pm. Public hours run from 11am to 7pm on Friday and Saturday, and 11am to 6pm on Sunday. The Thursday evening will also see a gala benefit in partnership with the Henry Street Settlement, the historic social services organisation based on the Lower East Side. Independent 20th Century, the fair’s sister event devoted to under-recognised artists of the last century, is separately scheduled to relocate in September to Sotheby’s new headquarters at the Breuer Building, the former home of the Whitney Museum of American Art on Madison Avenue.
Further details on exhibitors, programming and registration are available at independenthq.com
Independent, 14–17 May 2026. Pier 36, 299 South Street, New York, NY 10002.