Art fairs are nothing if not cutthroat. In March, just as the Armory Show opened its doors, Frieze Art Fair released details of its sinuous Randall’s Island pavilion. The sly move kept the looming competition on the art world’s mind as it strolled through the piers. With Frieze opening next week, the Armory Show has prepared news of its own, releasing the dates of its 2013 fair: March 7 to March 10, 2013. The dates in and of themselves mean little — but as fairs like Pulse and Red Dot, historically Armory Show satellites, have moved their dates to May to coincide with Frieze and new fairs like SEVEN and NADA spring up around the British export, the Armory Show’s announcement amounts to a statement: We’re not going anywhere.
The Armory Show was also careful to point out that it will not be losing any of its other satellite events to New York's Frieze Week next year. The fair will be joined by the Independent, ADAA’s The Art Show, Volta NY, Moving Image, and Scope, all of which will be held on the same dates as the Armory Show. (Take that, Frieze!)
“The fifteenth edition will build on the overwhelming success of this past year, and will again be a must-attend art world event and an engaging center for the artistic community of our great city,” Armory Show founding director Paul Morris said in a statement. “We look forward to celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 1913 Armory Show.”
If you are in the mood the reminisce, check out a time-lapse video released by the Armory Show, capturing the 2012 fair from start to finish, below: