I am very excited about the spe­cial events sched­uled to cel­e­brate the upcom­ing tenth edi­tion of The Armory Show. Among the most excit­ing ones are projects from John Waters and Mary Heil­mann, and vis­its to art deal­ers’ homes.
John and Mary were of course friends and exhibit­ing artists at The Armory Show’s late founders Colin de Land and Pat Hearn’s gal­leries, so we thought it appro­pri­ate to ask them to col­lab­o­rate on the visual iden­tity for the fair, such as the cat­a­logue, ban­ners, invi­ta­tions, brochures, etc. This is the sev­enth year that we have com­mis­sioned an artist to define the image of the fair and the first time that two artists have been asked to work on it together. They will each also be cre­at­ing lim­ited edi­tion prints and the sales of those will ben­e­fit the Pat Hearn and Colin de Land Can­cer Foun­da­tion and the Pat Hearn and Colin de Land Acqui­si­tion Fund at the Museum of Mod­ern Art.
Also as part of our cel­e­bra­tion, a select group of deal­ers who have taken part in the fair for many years are open­ing their homes for The Armory Show’s VIP Pro­gram. The vis­its to those homes will be in addi­tion to the ones of the homes of New York City col­lec­tors reg­u­larly fea­tured in the pro­gram, which has proven very pop­u­lar. I feel that this event per­fectly demon­strates what it means to have art as an inte­gral part of daily life, and dove­tails nicely with The Armory Show’s aim to present the best new art by liv­ing artists.
I am glad to announce that after its great suc­cess in 2007, The Armory Show is once again being held at Pier 94. Vis­i­tors will be able to see cur­rent art from 159 lead­ing inter­na­tional gal­leries and non­prof­its under one roof. As always, muse­ums through­out New York City will be sched­ul­ing spe­cial exhi­bi­tions and events to coin­cide with the fair. Plus this year vis­i­tors to the city will also have the oppor­tu­nity to visit the 2008 Whit­ney Bien­nial, which makes this March the ideal time to see what is going on in the world of con­tem­po­rary art.

Katelijne De Backer is the exec­u­tive direc­tor of The Armory Show.