"Although gallery closures and tepid auction results loom largest, art fair casualties have been another signal of the market's challenges in 2025. The Art Dealers Association of America postponed the 37th edition of its Manhattan fair, the Art Show, this summer, days before Taipei Dangdai's 2026 iteration was called off. The forthcoming editions of Photofairs Hong Kong, the India Art Fair's Mumbai expo and the Baltimore Fine Art Print & Photo Fair were all cancelled, too."
"Esther, whose second edition hosted 25 exhibitors in Manhattan in May, was co-founded by the gallerists Margot Samel, the owner of the eponymous Tribeca gallery, and Olga Temnikova, a co-founder of Temnikova & Kasela in Tallinn, Estonia. After its inaugural programme in 2024 focused on Baltic artists, Esther's scope expanded to include galleries of varying specialisations in year two. The fair's location in Estonian House, a 19th-century Beaux-Arts clubhouse in the Murray Hill neighbourhood, also redrew New York's hectic spring fair map."
Gallery closures and weak auction results coincided with multiple art-fair cancellations in 2025, including the postponement of the Art Dealers Association of America's Manhattan Art Show and the cancellation of Taipei Dangdai 2026. Photofairs Hong Kong, the India Art Fair's Mumbai expo and the Baltimore Fine Art Print & Photo Fair were also cancelled. Alternative fairs emerged across regions from Paris to the Berkshires, proposing smaller-scale, coalition-driven and more affordable formats. Esther expanded from a Baltic focus to 25 Manhattan exhibitors with a mild tilt toward Eastern Europe and used Estonian House to reposition fair geography, slowing pace and encouraging intimacy between exhibitors and visitors.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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