"New Mysticism" Spring Break & Independent Art Fairs

Both fairs took place during New York's Armory Arts Week in 2013, offering alternatives to the traditional convention-center format of the main Armory Show. Spring​/​Break Art Show, in its second edition, occupied an old schoolhouse on Mott Street in Nolita under the theme "New Mysticism." Twenty-two curators presented work by more than 80 artists exploring how digital culture, the internet, and technology intersected with older visual traditions to shape a new kind of artistic intuition. Independent, founded in 2009 by gallerist Elizabeth Dee, took a different curatorial approach that year, continuing its practice of challenging the conventional art fair format, at that time in its home at the former Dia Center for the Arts building in Chelsea. Together, the two fairs became known for offering more experimental, artist- and curator-driven alternatives to the commercial gallery booths of the Armory Show, drawing collectors and critics eager to see edgier, less market-driven programming happening alongside New York's biggest art week of the year.