The partnership is in its third consecutive year and represents part of the fourth iteration of The Armory Show’s public artworks project, Armory Off-Site.

“We’re thrilled to again partner with the US Open to showcase artworks by artists of underrepresented backgrounds. Both The Armory Show and the US Open are defining parts of New York’s fall calendar, and this partnership comes during an exciting cultural moment for New York City,” Kyla McMillan, director of The Armory Show told ARTnews via email. “Through our partnership, we hope to reach new and familiar audiences by providing an opportunity to discover artists and artworks, perhaps even forming a lasting connection with the fair.”

The projects on view during the US Open include the installation Tetl Mirror I (2024) by Claudia Peña Salinas, presented by Embajada, which explores Aztec and Mayan mythology; Eva Robarts’ sculpture, Fantasy of Happiness (2022), which uses discarded tennis balls caught within the chain-link of a reclaimed gate and is presented by the gallery Ruttkowski;68; Taiwanese-Canadian sculptor An Te Liu’s bronze-casted Venus Redux (2018), presented by Blouin Division; and Tomokazu Matsuyama’s Runner (2021), presented by Kavi Gupta.

The works will be on view throughout the tournament, from August 19 to September 8. As part of US Open Fan Week, access to Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is free from August 19 through August 25.

The Armory Off Site program includes performances across New York City. The artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons’s recent work Procession of Angels for Radical Love and Unity (2024) is comprised of visits to seven historically significant New York City communities, from Harlem Art Park to Madison Square Park, with poetry readings at each site and a workshops and performances at the end of the route. 

Oliver Herring will present 20-minute performance that serves as an homage to “queer icons whose creative forces and visionary careers were tragically and prematurely interrupted” on the Bowery, and a new work by David Salle with grace Times Square as part of the Midnight Moment program.

This year The Armory Show will celebrate its 30th anniversary. More than 235 galleries are expected to participate in the fair, scheduled to run from September 6–8, with a VIP preview day on September 5, at the Javits Center in Manhattan.

Several changes will be introduced to this year’s fair, including a new floor plan and a new lead partner, American Express. The 2024 edition also marks the second iteration since the fair was acquired, alongside Expo Chicago, by Frieze and the first to be planned completely under Frieze ownership.

The fair is also currently without a director, after its longtime leader Nicole Berry departed the fair in March for a development role at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; it is currently helmed by Frieze’s director of fairs, Kristell Chadé, and its Americas director, Christine Messineo.

In a statement, Messineo said, “The addition of The Armory Show to our network of fairs solidifies Frieze’s standing in New York by building on the collective of galleries. The upcoming edition inaugurates a floorplan that enhances the visitor experience with reimagined meeting spaces, reoriented sections, a new theater hosting conversations with art world luminaries, and engaging partnership activations.”

In recent years, the Armory Show has been unable to secure one of the four mega-galleries or several other blue-chip exhibitors that are hallmarks of Frieze’s exhibitor line-up. That appears set to continue for this year’s edition. In its release, however, the fair said it will see more than 145 exhibitors return from last year, which fairs often cite as a metric of successful sales conducted during the fair’s run. Among those are dealers like Victoria Miro, Almine Rech, James Cohan, Nara Roesler, Sean Kelly, Kasmin, Jessica Silverman, and Michael Rosenfeld Gallery.

Exhibitors returning after at least a one-year break include Jeffrey Deitch, Proyectos Monclova, Sperone Westwater, Mariane Ibrahim, Bank, and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, while first-time participants include Commonwealth and Council, Labor, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Hannah Traore Gallery, Gallery Baton, and Experimenter. Blade Study is also a first-timer, after recieving the fair’s Gramercy International Prize, which goes to a New York–based gallery that has never shown at the fair before.

Last December, the Armory Show announced the curators who will organize certain sections of the fair: the Kitchen’s senior curator Robyn Farrell for Focus and independent curator Eugenie Tsai for Platform. Among the galleries in Focus, for single- and duo-artist presentations related to the Armory Show’s first edition in 1994, are Kapp Kapp, Monique Meloche, Lubov, Whatiftheworld, Et al., and Luis De Jesus. Platform presentations, for large-scale works, are being brought to the fair by dealers like Lehmann Maupin, Peter Blum Gallery, Goya Contemporary Gallery, and Tern Gallery.  

In a statement, Chadé said, “For the past 30 years, The Armory Show has been an anchor of the city’s cultural landscape, championing art at the forefront and providing galleries an opportunity to engage with New York audiences. It has been a pleasure working with the team to build on the strengths of the fair and expand its reach. We look forward to welcoming a number of new exhibitors and thoughtful presentations, underscoring The Armory Show’s position as a platform for discovery.”

The full exhibitor list follows below.

Galleries

Solo

Focus

Presents

Platform

Not-for-Profit