The approach

Showing at

INDEPENDENT
548 West 22nd Street
New York
3rd Floor
4–7 March, 2010

Cris Brodahl
Edward Lipski
John Stezaker

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25 January, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW HYBRID FORUM COMES TO NEW YORK FOR ART FAIR WEEK

INDEPENDENT, a new model and temporary exhibition forum, will take
place at the former X Initiative and former Dia Center for the Arts
at 548 West 22nd Street in New York from March 4 – 7, 2010, and will
be open to the public free of charge, Thursday from 4PM to 9PM,
Friday and Saturday from 11am to 8pm, and Sunday from 12pm to 4pm.

INDEPENDENT was conceived by Elizabeth Dee, New York gallerist
and founder of X Initiative, and gallerist Darren Flook, from
Hotel, London. Part consortium, part collective, INDEPENDENT lies
somewhere between a collective exhibition and a reexamination of the
art fair model, reflecting the changing attitudes and growing
challenges for artists, galleries, curators and collectors. The
week long program hosting presentations and installations by highly
regarded international figures has been developed with creative
advisors, Thea Westreich Art Advisory Services, New York and
Matthew Higgs, Director of the nonprofit White Columns, New York.

The international list of participating galleries, independent
curators and nonprofit spaces was developed through personal
invitations from the founders, the advisors and, as well, the
participants themselves. This approach has allowed the project to
evolve through conversations, collaborations and shared conceptual
engagements as opposed to the application process that typically
characterizes the contemporary art fair. In so doing, the
participants have entered into a consortium rather than a
transactional arrangement with a governing party. Structured as a
transparent financial cooperative, each participant is aware of the
project’s expenses, including rent and the support services required.
The collaborative process allows for both financial efficiency and
the creation of more ambitious projects.

The individual concepts for presentation are met with custom spaces
which are curated in relation to other projects, allowing for a
dynamic and diverse flow through the vast spaces on each of the
building’s four floors. There will also be a series of performances
in coordination with the exhibits, collaborations between galleries
presenting works together, and lectures on the ground floor
throughout the week. Additionally, INDEPENDENT will present an
artist project by Claire Fontaine entitled Please God Make Tomorrow
Better, 2008, a neon text work above the façade door which will be
on view 24 hours a day during the run of the entire project.

The list of participants is as follows:

The Approach (London)
Artists Space (New York)
Laura Bartlett (London)
BolteLang (Zürich)
Bortolami Gallery (New York)
Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi (Berlin)
Elizabeth Dee (New York)
Dispatch (New York)
Farimani
Gavlak Gallery (Palm Beach)
gb agency (Paris)
Hard Hat (Geneva)
Hotel (London)
Galerie Ben Kaufmann (Berlin)
Johann König (Berlin)
Andrew Kreps Gallery (New York)
Kate MacGarry (London)
McCaffrey Fine Art (New York)
Mestre Projects (Barcelona/New York)
mitterrand + sanz (Zürich)
Moss/Westreich-Wagner (New York)
New Galerie (Paris)
October
Maureen Paley (London)
Renwick Gallery (New York)
Reserved for Leo Castelli
Rodeo (Istanbul)
Sabot (Cluj-Napoca)
Stuart Shave/Modern Art (London)
Sutton Lane (London/Paris)
White Columns (New York)
Winkleman Gallery (New York)
Galerie Jocelyn Wolff (Paris)
Zero (Milan)

The INDEPENDENT Team is lead by Co-Directors Laura Mitterrand and
Jayne Drost. They are joined by Exhibition Designer Ian Sullivan
and Technical Coordinator David Shull. INDEPENDENT has been
sponsored in part by the exhibitors, The Jane Hotel, Café Gitane,
and Mousse, Milan. For more information, please contact
Laura Mitterrand at +1.917.414.7941 or info@independentnewyork.com.
Visit our new website soon at www.independentnewyork.com.

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For further information regarding The approach,
please contact Vanessa Carlos, (vanessa@theapproach.co.uk)

The approach
47 Approach Road
Bethnal Green
London E2 9LY

Telephone  +44 (0) 20 8983 3878
info@theapproach.co.uk
www.theapproach.co.uk

Gallery open:
Wednesday – Sunday: 12 – 6pm
or by appointment