Just before Thursday’s opening, of Independent, the quirky Armory satellite fair, its organizers will award the new $10,000 Privatus Prize— named for the British art advisory — to one of the show’s participating galleries or institutions. Curators Clarissa Dalrymple and Stefan Kalmár will be judging exhibitors based on unique presentation and “outstanding curatorial ambition.” According to the organizers, the prize is “intended to reward risk-taking, visionary presentations within the context of the commercial exhibition/art fair.” The word got out about the prize criteria, but the curators declined to reveal too much about the judging process.
Started by dealers Elizabeth Dee and Darren Flook in 2010, Independent has become known for its innovative approach to fair presentation. From the start, it threw out the booth-based approach to organization in favor of an open floor plan, a strategy that allows galleries to more easily present forms of art beyond painting and sculpture and creates “a more hospitable environment to the nontraditional,” said fair organizers. In years past, its unique approach did not negatively affect sales — Independent has boasted some of the best sales results of any of the alternative fairs during Armory Week.
“I think it’s democratic, in a way,” Sprüth Magers’s Andreas Gegner said of Independent’s design at last year’s iteration. “So many collectors come in and dart into the booths they know. But here, you can’t tell what work belongs to what gallery.”