(e)merge, the contemporary art fair that's taken over the Capitol Skyline Hotel for a weekend each fall since 2011, will not return in 2015.
According to a statement from (e)merge heads and Connersmith gallerists Leigh Conner and Jamie Smith, the fair will take a year off to transition to a larger venue, which will host the 2016 fair.
"The addition of the booths and lighting last year was very successful," Smith writes in an email. "This is the direction the gallery platform will move in the future. Such a transformation requires a larger venue, and that is why we decided to postpone the fair until 2016."
The Capitol Skyline provided a wonderfully eccentric, if constricted, space for (e)merge—seeing how galleries adapted to the particularities (and weird wallpaper patterns) of hotel rooms was part of the fun. The hotel's pool and underground parking garage offered opportunities for site-specific performance art, installations, and parties. Still, some galleries and artists will probably welcome the chance to show their works in a roomier venue with a more traditional booth setup.
Conner and Smith are also in the midst of a transition phase for their gallery; after nearly a year without a physical space since selling their Trinidad building to Capital Fringe, the gallerists announced that Connersmith will open a building in Shaw.
Photo from (e)merge 2014 by Christina Cauterucci