Future Fair Is a Big Artist Party

The 2026 Future Fair at Chelsea Industrial brought together 69 exhibitors from nine countries from May 13 through 16. The fair created a warmer experience than typical aerial views of isolated booths and small visitors. Instead of segmented gallery spaces, it fostered connections between exhibitors. Profit-sharing origins began in 2020 when one third of ticket profits were split with inaugural exhibitors. The fair later dedicated 15% of proceeds plus exhibitor donations to subsidize emerging galleries. During the preview, visitors encountered exhibitors traveling from other cities to present work in small booths, emphasizing personal presence and relationships around the art.

"Instead of presenting a series of segmented gallery booths, the Future Fair, dare I say, fostered roots between them. Part of this interconnected environment may stem from the event's profit-sharing origins dating back to its first edition in 2020, when the fair split a third of its ticket profits between its inaugural exhibitors. Years later, it's now dedicating a 15% cut of its proceeds, plus other exhibitor donations, to subsidize emerging galleries' participation."

"The stereotypical press photograph of a major art fair usually shows an aerial perspective, revealing the cold, industrial bowels formed by gallery booths and their miniature-looking visitors. Unlike this image, which might make one feel like a prey animal observed from above, the six-year-old Future Fair offered a warmer, more interpersonal adventure."

"So much of my experience of visual art is rooted in interpersonal connection. It's not that an artist needs to be standing directly in front of their work for me to appreciate it, I just always find myself latching onto their presence - whether it's physical in the gallery or imbued within their creation. Future Fair, held this year at Chelsea Industrial from May 13 through 16, seems to capture this very spirit."

"On Wednesday evening, during the preview, I encountered Nanor Hakimian, who traveled from Montreal to present two high-energy figurative paintings by her brother Garo at a small corner booth. Mentioning lightheartedly that her brother tears through $100 tubes of oil paint like nothing, Hakimian stood proudly in front of two of Garo's mixed-media works curated by Maria Yoon."

Read at Hyperallergic