VOLTA NY, the premiere art fair for emerging international art within primarily solo projects, returns to PIER 90 in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, from March 2 – 6, 2016. The fair opens in previews for the first time ever on Wednesday, March 2, immediately following previews the same day at adjacent affiliate fair The Armory Show at Piers 94 and 92.
In its most diverse edition yet since its 2008 founding stateside, VOLTA NY welcomes 100 galleries, not-for-profits, and artist-run spaces from 50 cities across four continents, together presenting a dynamic survey of innovative contemporary talent by artists from 43 nations. Two-thirds of featured galleries have exhibited in prior VOLTA editions in New York and Basel, with the addition of new participants from Fort-de-France, Reykjavik, Bucharest, Jeddah, Dallas, Harare, Dundee, Taipei, and elsewhere promotingVOLTA's international reach and mission as a truly globally conscious art fair.
“With my move to the Caribbean a few years ago, I became much more sensitive not only to the amazing art production being made in non-traditional art centres, but also to the lack of diversity at many fairs,”comments VOLTA Artistic Director Amanda Coulson. “Maybe in a smaller, fairly homogeneous town in Switzerland this might not feel so uncomfortable, but in New York it felt very important to me that the diversity of the city’s residents be reflected in the range of our artists and exhibitors. We particularly did not want this to be reflected in a 'one time only' section, but have the positions integrated throughout the fair in an organic way that would lead to their inclusion into the international discourse in a meaningful and permanent way.”
Kameelah Janan Rasheed activates the elevated walkway connecting VOLTA NY with Pier 92: TheArmory Show – Modern with her ongoing series “HOW TO SUFFER POLITELY (and Other Etiquette)”, a rallying text-based prospectus of respectability politics confronting the ongoing climate of social oppression within the United States and abroad. Rasheed is sponsored by MoCADA (Brooklyn), a hub for contemporary African Diasporan arts and a first-time VOLTA exhibitor. Additionally, Clocktower Productions, New York’s oldest alternative art project, interviews fair artists and participants for their acclaimed Clocktower Radio series. A full list of exhibitors and artists participating in VOLTA NY 2016 follows this text.
VOLTA NY debuts its Video Wall programming, a daily rotation of single-channel works screened on a 30-foot wall at front of the fair. Both works by artists featured in booth projects — including “Archeton” bySonny Sanjay Vadgama (presented by Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin); and “Microphone Test” by Che-Yu Hsu (presented by Nunu Fine Art, Taipei), subject of a solo installation at Taipei Fine Arts Museum last autumn — as well as other artists represented by exhibiting galleries — including “Traveling Shots: NYC” by Diane Nerwen (carriage trade, Brooklyn), which screened in the 8th Glasgow Short Film Festival; and “2nd Test Sculpture” by Brussels and Barcelona-based Spanish duo Aggtelek (beta pictoris gallery, Birmingham, AL) — will comprise the video program, instilling a deeper dimension to the artists' practices within a prime viewing environment.
Finally, New York-based multidisciplinary artist Derrick Adams inaugurates the fair's Curated Sectionseries with his project “Something I Can Feel”, assembling eight emerging and under-the-radar artists within, in Adams' words, “a physically and psychologically textured exhibition exploring elements of provocation.” The exhibiting artists in “Something I Can Feel” are: Ibrahim Ahmed, presented by Gallery Nosco, London; Leonardo Benzant and Kate Clark, both presented by Dexter Wimberly Projects, Brooklyn; Brandon Coley Cox, presented by Rush Arts Gallery, Brooklyn; Doreen Garner, presented by Cindy Rucker Gallery, New York; Hugh Hayden, presented by Postmasters Gallery, New York;Shaun Leonardo, presented by BRIC and Mighty Tanaka, Brooklyn; and Balint Zsako, presented byThe Proposition, New York.
PIER 90 can be reached by public transportation via the Eighth Avenue line (E or C trains to 50th Street) or from Columbus Circle (1, A, C, B, D trains to 59th Street/Columbus Circle), as well as direct shuttle between VOLTA NY and Pier 94: The Armory Show – Contemporary. Additionally, PIER 90 is connected by an elevated, covered and heated passageway to Pier 92: The Armory Show – Modern.
VOLTA NY gratefully acknowledges Hudson Hotel and Ace Hotel New York as its 2016 Partner Hotels.
VOLTA was founded in Basel in 2005 by dealers Kavi Gupta (Chicago), Friedrich Loock (Berlin), and Ulrich Voges (Frankfurt). VOLTA12 returns to Markthalle in Basel and coincides with Basel Art Week from June 13 – 18, 2016.
