Industry elders will remember when summer truly was the slow season in the art world: a time for mounting group shows featuring interesting works by contemporary artists on the rise. But this year’s calendar of July art fairs and August art fairs was surprisingly packed—the second edition of Tokyo Gendai was a highlight of the summer and Aspen ArtWeek (along with the Intersect Aspen Art and Design Fair and the new Aspen Art Fair) kicked off August’s art events. Proof positive there’s no longer a slow season in the art world when you come at it globally, perhaps?
That said, plenty of galleries spent the summer preparing for the fall art fairs. September’s art fair calendar is absolutely packed with events, particularly for New Yorkers who have Armory Week to look forward to in a month bookended by Volta and Affordable Art Fair’s New York editions. Frieze Seoul is sure to be another standout September art fair, along with Art Athina in Greece and Haute Photographie in Amsterdam.
Whether you’re hunkering down in New York for the Armory Show-adjacent fairs or hitting the road on an international odyssey of art, Observer’s guide to this month’s art fairs can help you put together the perfect itinerary.
Salon Zürcher 2024
September 2-8
New York City mini fair Salon Zürcher bills itself as an Armory Week oasis—a restful, non-intimidating space to appreciate art on a human scale. The thirty-first edition of the satellite art fair, titled “100 Women of Spirit +, Part 1” (a continuation of the “11 Women of Spirit” series, which originally launched during the 2020 Armory Show) will present work brought by a distinguished group of just eleven women artists: Olivia Beens, Susan Cantrick, Sue Carlson, Camille De Galbert, Brigid Kennedy, Tracy Morgan, Marykate O’Neil, Roxane Revon, Aimée Farnet Siegel, Patricia Spergel and Mary Tooley Parker. Salon Zürcher is held each year in the Zürcher Gallery’s New York space on Bleecker Street, and admission is free, though the best reason to make time for Salon Zürcher is the chance to chat with the artists whose work is on show.
Frieze Seoul 2024
September 4-7
More than 110 of the world’s most recognizable art galleries from across thirty countries will participate in the third edition of this September fair, which takes place at COEX and runs alongside Kiaf SEOUL. This year’s Frieze Seoul will have a strong core of exhibitors from Asia and more specifically Korea, and programming will include sections for emerging talent (Focus Asia) and historical art (Frieze Masters), Frieze Live (a new section for performance-based art), Frieze Film, talks and a Frieze Week festival of culture. The winner of the 2024 Artist Award is South Korean artist Choi Goen, who will debut new work at the fair.
Kiaf SEOUL 2024
September 4-8
While it doesn’t get the attention of Frieze, Kiaf SEOUL was South Korea’s first international art fair. This year, the September art fair running concurrently with Frieze at COEX will host 206 galleries from twenty-one nations; 130 are from Korea. Among the thirty-six art galleries making their fair debuts are 193 Gallery (Paris), Albarran Bourdais (Madrid), Bavan Gallery (Tehran), Crossing Art (New York), dR (Seoul), EGG Gallery (Beijing), Ethan Cohen Gallery (New York), gallerykabinett (Seoul), Lechbinska Gallery (Zurich), Olympia (New York), PIERMARQ* (Sydney), SNOW Contemporary (Tokyo) and WOAW Gallery (Hong Kong). In addition to the usual two halls, Kiaf SEOUL is expanding into a new space on the second floor with Kiaf PLUS, a sector dedicated to emerging artists and new media.
VOLTA Art Fair 2024
September 4-8
This past May, VOLTA director Lee Cavaliere told Observer that the New York edition of the fair would introduce a central ‘town square’ space with an open and collaborative layout in which over 45 exhibitors will show their wares. “I don’t think it’s really appropriate to just have a grid-like format where everything’s uniform; New York required something a bit more interesting,” he said. We’re certainly curious to see how that will manifest at the New York edition of VOLTA Art Fair, which this year will present a Ukrainian Pavilion in association with non-profit partner Razom that will feature displays mounted by Dymchuk Gallery (Kyiv, Ukraine), The Naked Room (Kyiv, Ukraine), Black & White Project Space (New York, US) and Ya Gallery (Lviv, Ukraine). Galleries new to the fair for 2024 include O-Art Project (Lima, Peru), GSA Gallery (Stockholm, Sweden), uJung Art Centre (Seoul, South Korea), CARRASCO (Faro, Portugal), Marion Chauvy Gallery, (Paris, France) and Stone Step Gallery (Dublin, Ireland).
SPRING/BREAK Art Show 2024
September 4-9
The latest New York edition of SPRING/BREAK Art Show will showcase more than 100 new projects in a brand-new space during this year’s art week. Billing itself as a “curator driven art fair,” it seems to prefer that curators, not galleries, submit proposals around each year’s theme—this year’s is ‘INT./EXT’ (interior/exterior). SPRING/BREAK Art Show is different from most fairs in that sales happen through the fair’s website. And for whatever reason, it tends to be the most social media friendly in terms of visuals—perhaps because it attracts a younger, cooler crowd?
Independent 20th Century 2024
September 5-8
The invitation-only edition of Independent dedicated to works from the 20th Century will be held for the third time at Casa Cipriani at the Battery Maritime Building in New York during Armory Week, and if you want a sneak preview, you can go online on August 29 for an early access look at what’s to come. “This year we anticipate seeing more and more growth across more artistic movements and genres,” Independent founder Elizabeth Dee recently told Observer. Indeed, Independent 20th Century is poised to offer a deeper look at Indigenous practices and artists from the global south, though the public program of talks seems focused in other directions (artists to watch, Sol LeWitt’s works on paper, etc.). Several artists who will be showcased at this year’s fair have only just received institutional recognition in the past year; don’t miss the two-person exhibition of Parquayan artist Julia Isídrez and Brazilian Maria Lira Marques presented by Brazilian gallery Gomide&Co of São Paulo.
Art on Paper New York 2024
September 5-8
The medium-driven September art fair, Art on Paper, is returning to Manhattan’s Pier 36 during New York’s fall art week with a lineup of 100 galleries showcasing the best in paper-based art. The bulk of galleries at the fair’s tenth edition are from New York (among them, Spanierman Modern, Harman Projects, Uprise Art, The Tolman Collection, Tanya Weddemire Gallery, Tomato Mouse, Kingsland Editions, Lincoln Center Editions and Fremin Gallery), though several international galleries will also mount presentations: Rotterdam’s NL=US Gallery; Station Independent Projects and Spence Gallery from Toronto; Argentina’s AC Contemporary and GalleryLabs; and Ireland’s Stoney Road Press. James Yarosh Associates Fine Art Gallery will present the works of two humanistic expressionists of the last century, Miriam Beerman and Sheba Sharrow. Observer correspondent Alanna Martinez once described this September art fair as having a healthy range of price points and offering a genuinely pleasant viewing experience for art, calling it her “Armory Week sanctuary” and as close to a perfect art fair as you can get.
The Armory Show 2024
September 6-8
The largest Modern and Contemporary art fair in New York, and one of the largest anywhere in the world, The Armory Show has become such an anchor of the fall art season that we all just refer to it as Armory Week. Curators for this, the thirtieth edition of the fair and the first under newly appointed director Kyla McMillan, are independent curator Eugenie Tsai (Platform), The Kitchen senior curator Robyn Farrell (Focus); and Hessel Museum of Art chief curator Lauren Cornell, who will chair the seventh annual Curatorial Leadership Summit. Highlights include Kapp Kapp’s booth in the Focus section, which will present a solo exhibition of new works by Louis Osmosis, a rising artist making his fair debut. OCHI will mount a solo presentation of new paintings by Brooklyn-based artist b chehayeb, also in the Focus section. The Fine Arts Work Center founded by Robert Motherwell will be among a select group of nonprofits exhibiting at the fair with its group exhibition featuring the work of nineteen former Fellows including Sam Messer, Lisa Yuskavage, Simonette Quamina and Arghavan Khosravi.
POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair 2024
September 12-15
This year’s POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair will showcase works brought by 111 galleries from twenty-four countries, with a particular focus on galleries from South Korea. Given that this September art fair overlaps with Berlin Art Week, it tends to attract a lot of visitors—30,000 last year, from a range of nations. The Berlin art scene is worth checking out but not necessarily easy to absorb in just a week, as the city is home to more than 200 museums and around 440 galleries. POSITIONS is held in hangars 6 and 7 of Berlin-Tempelhof Airport (which ceased operating as an aviation hub in 2008) and has a supporting program that includes special exhibitions, panel discussions, the Berlin Art Week Collectors Dinner and other events.
viennacontemporary 2024
September 12-15
viennacontemporary is the leading art fair in Austria, now in its tenth edition, and its coming usually heralds the arrival of several other art fairs, festivals and events. This year, they include the ‘Curated by’ gallery festival and Parallel Vienna nearby and VARIOUS OTHERS and Noise_Media Art further afield. Visitors will enjoy art brought by around 90 galleries from several countries (ASHES/ASHES from New York is the only participating gallery from the U.S.), though the lion’s share of exhibitors are Austria-based. In fact, section Zone 1, curated by Bruno Mokross, is dedicated to artwork by emerging artists with a strong connection to the country (galleries include City Galerie Wien and Zeller van Almsick). CONTEXT will present ten curated individual presentations by Central and Eastern European artists from the late 20th Century. One standout feature of this fair is the availability of guided tours in English and German.
Haute Photographie 2024
September 18-22
Haute Photographie in Amsterdam Noord is the autumn edition of the boutique fine art photography fair launched by Roy Kahmann (the winter edition is held annually in conjunction with Rotterdam Art Week). The fair, which in 2024 will take place at Studio 3000, is celebrated for its intelligently curated, museum-style format, which showcases vintage and contemporary photography in conversation, and the annual Bookmarket with new and vintage photobooks. This year’s focus is on the independent photographer—as in photographers without gallery representation—and a lineup of more than fifty photographers from around the world will showcase their own work alongside a smaller-than-usual selection of galleries. Haute Photographie will also introduce a new way of buying prints during the fair—by auction—with the aim of letting collectors buy certain important 20th-century and contemporary works “at interesting prices.”
MENART FAIR 2024
September 20-22
The fifth edition of this Paris art fair in the heart of the Marais district will be an all-female event, with a focus on the women’s art scene in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA). The work showcased at this year’s MENART FAIR—the first international contemporary art fair dedicated to artists from MENA nations—will both examine the legacy of pioneering women artists in the region and provide a platform for contemporary creators. Questions of gender will be explored, as the twenty-nine participating galleries exhibiting work in the Galerie Joseph Saint Merri highlight the richness of the Arab-Persian art scene. Kicking off the fair will be an invitation-only performance by Lebanese drag icons Andrea & Diva.
Unseen Amsterdam 2024
September 19-22
For the uninitiated, Unseen is an art fair wholly dedicated to innovation and new perspectives in contemporary fine art photography. Sixty-five exhibiting galleries are mounting work at this year’s fair, including Blue Lotus Gallery (Hong Kong), Fabrik Projects (Los Angeles), Migrant Bird Space (Berlin) and Urbanek (London). In addition to gallery displays, Unseen presents large-scale projects that exist at the intersection between traditional photography and digital art, installation art, sculpture, video art, virtual reality and landscape art. The 2024 special exhibition, “Unbound,” will showcase works by Adam Magyar, Atong Atem, Jackie Mulder, Joost Vandebrug, Lynne Leegte, Maciej Urbanek and Quintus Glerum.
ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA 2024
September 20-22
The only art fair focusing on the concept of Asia, ART FAIR ASIA FUKUOKA (AFAF) will be held this year at Fukuoka Kokusai Center in Hakata. Now in its ninth edition, AFAF creates opportunities for “diverse interactions between Japan and the rest of Asia” by bringing together galleries that showcase artists from across the region. Eighty-nine galleries from Japan’s art scene and abroad will mount displays, and ten cultural organizations (including companies, schools and partner art fair Ulsan International Art Fair) will also bring work to Fukuoka.
Affordable Art Fair New York 2024
September 25-29
If the question is ‘When is Affordable Art Fair?’, the answer is another question: ‘When isn’t there an Affordable Art Fair running?’ Affordable Art Fair London is on the March art fair calendar. Among the February art fairs, you’ll find Affordable Art Fair Brussels. And so on. The autumnal New York edition of Will Ramsay’s Affordable Art Fair will take place at the Metropolitan Pavilion with a diverse selection of curated works priced betweenm $100 and $12,000 (instead of the usual $10,000, possibly owing to inflation). Affordable Art Fair fairs don’t typically feature work by “celebrity” artists, offering instead a significant platform for emerging artists and younger galleries to gain exposure and connect with new collectors.
ArtRio 2024
September 25-29
ArtRio—or more properly, the Feria de Arte Internacional do Rio de Janeiro—has become one of the more important fairs of the Latin American art scene. It attracts 50,000 visitors to the Marina da Gloria in downtown Rio, there to see displays mounted by about fifty galleries and for the program of ArtRio Talks that precede the fair. One such conversation, titled “Artistic Articulations to Enhance Life,” will bring together artist Laura Lima, Roched Seba from Instituto Vida Livre and Paula Borghi and Gabriela Davies, from Potência Ativa. It’s unclear, however, which galleries will be exhibiting this year as the information about exhibitors on the fair’s website is still referencing last year’s event.
British Art Fair 2024
September 26-29
This September art fair has been gathering the best, you guessed it, British art in London’s iconic Saatchi Gallery since 1988. This year’s more than eighty participating exhibitors will bring works by some of the country’s most famous artists, including Frank Auerbach, Banksy, John Craxton, Tracey Emin, Terry Frost, Barbara Hepworth, Damien Hirst, Ivon Hitchens, David Hockney, Henry Moore, John Piper and Bridget Riley. For the third year in a row, the SOLO Contemporary section—curated this year by artist and gallerist Zavier Ellis—will shine a light on some of Britain’s most interesting mid-career artists. “This year will include a selection of the UK’s most exciting curators and gallerists offering significant one-person presentations,” Ellis said in a statement. A new fair section, PIVOTAL: Digitalism, will show digital art.
The Other Art Fair Los Angeles 2024
September 26-29
The first Other Art Fair was held in London in 2011 by Ryan Stanier, who created the fair with the dual aims of making art discovery easier and democratizing the art buying experience. This is another one of those art fairs that seems to be everywhere—London, Brooklyn, Dallas, Sydney and so on. In Los Angeles, this fair where “art is for everyone” and the displays are mounted by more than a hundred independent artists, is held at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. Did we mention the DJs and the fully stocked bar and the party atmosphere? In case it wasn’t obvious, this is absolutely an art fair geared toward a younger, cooler audience and the prices of the works on view typically reflect that.
art3f Luxembourg 2024
September 27-29
With a whopping twenty-one fairs in eighteen cities, the international contemporary art fair art3f comes to Luxembourg twice yearly, once in spring and once in late September. The focus of the latter Luxembourg edition, this year at Luxexpo – THE BOX, is squarely on friendliness and accessibility (there’s even a special kids’ section). Tickets are just ten euros, the opening night preview is open to all and there’s an emphasis on affordability that you don’t see at many other art fairs. It’s a great place for collectors to discover artists on the rise and to relax in the presence of beautiful things—live music and a fully stocked cafe round out the experience. As art3f puts it, “Because life goes on and optimism takes back its rights, because you have to be positive, drink, eat, have fun, marvel, art is an excellent remedy!”
Even more September art fairs in 2024
As always, what’s above doesn’t represent the totality of the September art fair calendar in 2024—there are always plenty of smaller, lesser-known and niche art fairs happening around the world. Here’s a quick roundup of several more fall art fairs you might want to check out this month.
Clio Art Fair 2024 (New York)
September 5-8
Sydney Contemporary 2024 (Australia)
September 5-8
FNB Art Joburg 2024 (South Africa)
September 6-8
EuropArtFair 2024 (Amsterdam)
September 6-8
Parcours des Mondes 2024 (France)
September 10-15
Reno Tahoe International Art Show 2024 (Nevada)
September 12-15
art3f Reims 2024 (France)
September 13-15
Mira Art Fair 2024 (France)
September 18-22
Art Now Fine Art Fair 2024 (Canada)
September 19-22
Art Athina 2024 (Greece)
September 19-23
art3f Paris 2024 (France)
September 20-22
ARTBO 2024 (Colombia)
September 26-29
Roy’s Art Fair 2024 (London)
September 27-29