Armory Week Splits Into Two
As Armory Show’s shift moves New York Armory Week further into March, not every fair jumps to the new 2018 opening date
The Armory Show, the contemporary art fair that headlines “Armory Week”, has chosen to open in the first full week of March 2018, later than its usual end of February. “The dates keep shifting backward because February is a short month,” explained fair director Benjamin Genocchio to ARTnews, but now the 7 March update has caused a scheduling rift in the timing between it and other New York art fairs.
The usual week-long schedule of fairs will now be split over two weeks, with NADA and Independent having shifted their opening dates to 8 March, while ADAA Art Show will maintain the original time frame it has held for two decades. “After the ADAA and our partners at Henry Street Settlement confirmed the dates for the rental of the Park Avenue Armory for the 2018 fair, the Armory Show informed us that their leadership had decided to push the fair back a week for the first time in many years,” said ADAA president Adam Sheffer, indicating it was impossible to reschedule given the already overbooked venue.
With fairs on both weeks standing to potentially lose out-of-town collectors due to the time gap, risk is arguably heavier on ADAA’s side given the busier schedule of the second week. Sheffer remains positive. “Ultimately, it’s impossible to predict exactly how the Armory Show’s shift may impact attendance at the Art Show, but we’re very confident the fair will continue to draw the major collectors, curators, and arts enthusiasts who look forward to [it] each year,” Sheffer said. While Genocchio admitted to feeling bad for “leaving ADAA out in the cold”, he indicated that representatives from each fair corresponded via email in March about moving the opening date, a claim ADAA refutes.
Sheffer has since stated ADAA will attempt to realign with the rest of the fairs for Armory Week 2019.
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