Making this anniversary exceptional, Higgs and Independent founder, Elizabeth Dee, are co-curating a special-focused presentation, titled “15 x 15: Independent 2010-2024,” which features artists and galleries who have made a significant impact on the fair’s history— Alice Mackler, Peter Nadin, and Martín Ramírez among them.
Including infotainment in the mix, Independent is launching its inaugural live program of thought-provoking discussions and screenings of experimental film, video, and media artworks from the 1960s as part of the 15-year celebration. The May 11th conversation between Higgs, Director & Chief Curator of White Columns, and Roberta Smith, Former Co-Chief Art Critic of The New York Times, promises to be one of the most popular talks, while the presentation of Kusama’s Self-Obliteration, a 1967 film by Jud Yalkut, should also draw a large crowd.
“The reason we started the fair is biennial culture was beginning to incorporate younger voices, which was a huge opportunity for gallerists of my generation to put forward institutional validity in the early part of an artist’s career,” Elizabeth Dee shared with Art & Object.