Independent and Object & Thing Forge Partnership for Hybrid Art and Design Fair

Independent, the New York-based art fair founded in 2009 by Elizabeth Dee, Darren Flook, Matthew Higgs, Laura Mitterrand, and a consortium of galleries, has announced a collaboration with Object & Thing, a design fair dedicated to 20th and 21st century design founded by Abby Bangser, former artistic director of Frieze Art Fairs for the Americas and Asia. The partnership will see Object & Thing presented within Independent, creating a unified installation that merges contemporary art and design without traditional booth divisions. This move comes after Independent canceled its Brussels edition, which had been launched in 2016 and revamped in 2018 under the curatorship of Vincent Honoré as a performance-focused festival, due to financial and logistical challenges. Object & Thing debuted in May 2019 at 99 Scott in Brooklyn, featuring no participation fees but a commission on sales, with objects priced between $1,000 and $50,000. The collaboration aims to prioritize creative presentation and sales, as stated by Elizabeth Dee: "As Independent, Object & Thing is a collaborative platform interested in creating a new space with talented artists and galleries that have a vision."