NEW YORK, NY.- Independent announced further details of the artists and galleries participating in the fair’s 17th edition. Taking place from May 14th to 17th in its new home at Pier 36 on the Lower East Side, New York, the fair will feature exhibitions by more than 100 artists presented by 76 participants.

Reinforcing Independent's renown as a place of discovery, nearly half of all exhibitors in the 2026 edition are participating in the fair for the first time, while more than a third of the presentations will showcase artists marking their first New York solo display through the curatorial initiative Independent Debuts. Across the fair, more than 70% of the presentations will showcase individual exhibitions, allowing for in-depth engagement with each artist’s practice. This year’s fair brings together a diverse roster, with 42% of participating galleries based internationally, from Colombia and Reykjavik, to Cape Town and Athens.

Independent's new location positions it strategically along the East Side of Manhattan, close to a thriving gallery community and important contemporary art institutions. Many of Independent's new East Side gallery neighbors will be exhibiting at the fair for the first time, including Spencer Brownstone Gallery, Kiang Malingue, David Peter Francis, Superhouse, OSMOS, and Post Times, while Uffner & Liu, MARCH, Long Story Short, and Jupiter will return to the fair this year, creating a strong local presence.

The fair's curatorial approach to design, site-specific commissions, and installation reflects Independent's commitment to reimagining the art fair experience. The research-based design studio D_P_S (Diogo Passarinho Studio) is leading the exhibition design, drawing on a community of thinkers, artists, and theoretical discourse to create an innovative interior environment. In conjunction, the internationally recognized architecture and design firm Solid Objectives Idenburg Liu (SO–IL) will take on the exterior design of the venue, ensuring the fair's integration with its Lower East Side surroundings.

The works on show reflect a growing sense of global anxiety that are a product of our uncertain times. An overarching theme of dystopia can be found among the presentations, many of which tackle some of the pressing issues the world faces today. These include the challenges of our “post-truth” society, in which images and meaning are manipulated and recontextualized through the use of artificial intelligence and other rapidly developing digital tools. Our complex relationships to place and belonging are also explored, including those brought about by political and social upheaval as well as environmental and ecological disasters. Across both figurative and abstract works, many of the artists make direct references to a sense of emotional and psychological tension. Some depict their everyday lives as a reflection of dissonance while others create imagined worlds for their subjects that elicit feelings of isolation, introspection, and escapism. Independent will create a dystopic installation at the fair’s entrance that will immerse visitors in this theme from the outset.