Art Southampton 2015 Will Use ArtHamptons' Former Location, Date

Art Southampton, an international and contemporary modern art fair, has a new venue and new dates for 2015, Nova’s Ark sculpture fields in Bridgehampton on the weekend after Fourth of July—the place and dates that competing fair ArtHamptons has used for the past few years.

ArtHamptons had already begun advertising that it would be returning to Nova’s Ark in 2015, but now that eighth annual event needs a new location.

2015’s fair will be the fourth annual Art Southampton, which was started by the people behind Art Miami. For three years the event was held on the last weekend of July under a pavilion on the Southampton Elks Lodge grounds on County Road 39 in Southampton. Nick Korniloff, the director of Art Miami LLC, signed a contract with Nova’s Ark co-founder Tundra Wolf to secure the new location and weekend.

Edward Callaghan, a promoter of Art Southampton, says organizers decided to move to Bridgehampton because being farther east would be more convenient for many art collectors, and Nova’s Ark is an ideal location for an art fair, with more acres for parking and the late Nova Mihai Popa’s large sculptures on display. Callaghan says they did not aim to overlap with ArtHamptons’ announced date; rather, they wanted to make their event earlier in the summer, and that was the weekend that was available to book the Nova’s Ark grounds.

Rick Friedman, the president of Hamptons Expo Group—the company behind ArtHamptons, Silicon Valley Contemporary, Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, Houston Fine Art Fair, and ArtAspen—says Art Southampton “poached” the date and venue from ArtHamptons. However, he says that ArtHamptons was outgrowing Nova’s Ark and he looks forward to announcing in a few weeks a larger, more prestigious location for 2015.

ArtHamptons began in 2008 on the Bridgehampton Historical Society grounds, then moved to Sayre Park, also in Bridgehampton. It was held annually at Nova’s Ark since 2012.

Friedman says it is still to be determined whether ArtHamptons will pick a new date, or keep the same weekend.

Art Southampton will kick off Thursday, July 9, with a VIP private preview and continue through Monday, July 13.

During that same weekend, Art Market Hamptons will hold its fifth annual fair from July 9 to 12 at the Bridgehampton Museum grounds (formerly the Bridgehampton Historical Society.)