Lifestyle
The Nerve Center of This Art Fair Isn’t Painting. It’s Couture.
The art industry is increasingly shaped by artists’ and art businesses’ shared realization that they are locked in a fierce struggle for sustained attention — against each other, and against the rest of the overstimulated, always-online world. A major New York art fair aims to win this competition next month by knocking down the increasingly shaky walls between contemporary art and fashion.
When visitors enter the Independent art fair on May 14, they will almost immediately encounter its open-plan centerpiece: an installation of recent couture looks from Comme des Garçons. It will be the first New York solo presentation of works by Rei Kawakubo, the brand’s founder and mastermind, since a lauded 2017 survey exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.
Art fairs have often been front and center in the industry’s 21st-century quest to capture mindshare. But too many displays have pierced the zeitgeist with six-figure spectacles, like Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped banana and Beeple’s robot dogs. Curating Independent around Comme des Garçons comes from the conviction that a different kind of iconoclasm can rise to the top of New York’s spring art scrum.
Elizabeth Dee, the founder and creative director of Independent, said that making Kawakubo’s work the “nerve center” of this year’s edition was a “statement of purpose” for the fair’s evolution. After several years at the compact Spring Studios in TriBeCa, Independent will more than double its square footage by moving to Pier 36 at South Street, on the East River. Dee has narrowed the fair’s exhibitor list, to 76, from 83 dealers in 2025, and reduced booth fees to encourage a focus on single artists making bold propositions.
“Rei’s work has been pivotal to thinking about how my work as a curator, gallerist and art fair can push boundaries, especially during this extraordinary move toward corporatization and monoculture in the art world in the last 20 years,” Dee said.
Kawakubo’s designs have been challenging norms since her brand’s first Paris runway show in 1981, but her work over the last 13 years on what she calls “objects for the body” has blurred borders between high fashion and wearable sculpture.
The Comme des Garçons presentation at Independent will feature 20 looks from autumn-winter 2020 to spring-summer 2025. Forgoing the runway, Kawakubo is installing her non-clothing inside structures made from rebar and colored plastic joinery.
Adrian Joffe, the president of both Comme des Garçons International and the curated retailer Dover Street Market International (and who is also Kawakubo’s husband), said in an interview that Kawakubo’s intention was to create a sculptural installation divorced from chronology and fashion — “a thing made new again.”
Every look at Independent was made in an edition of three or fewer, but only one of each will be for sale on-site. Prices will be about $9,000 to $30,000. Comme des Garçons will retain 100 percent of the sales.
Asked why she was interested in exhibiting at Independent, the famously elusive Kawakubo said via email, “The body of work has never been shown together, and this is the first presentation in New York in almost 10 years.” Joffe added a broader philosophical motivation. “We’ve never done it before; it was new,” he said. Also essential was the fair’s willingness to embrace Kawakubo’s vision for the installation rather than a standard fair booth.
Kawakubo began consistently engaging with fine art decades before such crossovers became commonplace. Since 1989, she has invited a steady stream of contemporary artists to create installations in Comme des Garçons’s Tokyo flagship store. The ’90s brought collaborations with the artist Cindy Sherman and performance pioneer Merce Cunningham, among others.
More cross-disciplinary projects followed, including limited-release direct mailers for Comme des Garçons. Kawakubo designs each from documentation of works provided by an artist or art collective.
The display at Independent reopens the debate about Kawakubo’s proper place on the continuum between artist and designer. But the issue is already settled for celebrated artists who have collaborated with her.
“I totally think of Rei as an artist in the truest sense,” Sherman said by email. “Her work questions what everyone else takes for granted as being flattering to a body, questions what female bodies are expected to look like and who they’re catering to.”
Ai Weiwei, the subject of a 2010 Comme des Garçons direct mailer, agreed that Kawakubo “is, in essence, an artist.” Unlike designers who “pursue a sense of form,” he added, “her design and creation are oriented toward attitude” — specifically, an attitude of “rebellion.”
Also taking this position is “Costume Art,” the spring exhibition at the Costume Institute. Opening May 10, the show pairs individual works from multiple designers — including Comme des Garçons — with artworks from the Met’s holdings to advance the argument made by the dress code for this year’s Met gala: “Fashion is art.”
True to form, Kawakubo sometimes opts for a third way.
“Rei has often said she’s not a designer, she’s not an artist,” Joffe said. “She is a storyteller.”
Now to find out whether an art fair sparks the drama, dialogue and attention its authors want.
Dara and her song “Bangaranga” skyrocketed Bulgaria to first place at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest
Helmut Fohringer/APA/AFP via Getty Images
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Bulgaria has won the 70th Eurovision Song Contest — the country’s first-ever win.
The achievement surprised many because Bulgaria wasn’t among the favorites to win in 2026. But with its catchy “Welcome to the riot!” refrain and bouncy vibe, performer Dara’s banging anthem “Bangaranga” bested 24 other nations for the glittery global musical crown at the finals on Saturday in Vienna, Austria.
Israel came in second, as it did last year. Ten competitors were eliminated from the original group of 35 in the semi-finals earlier this week.
In his appraisal of his 10 favorite Eurovision 2026 songs, NPR critic Glen Weldon called “Bangaranga” an “insanely catchy bop” and praised its “deep, profound, abiding grooviness.”
“Oh my god!” Dara yelled, as she accepted the Crystal Microphone, the event’s glass trophy, from last year’s winner, JJ of Austria.
As with other global cultural events, such as the Venice Biennale currently underway in Italy, the glittery annual songfest is intended as a display of goodwill and togetherness between nations. “In a world often divided, we stand united by music,” said host Michael Ostrowski at the conclusion of this year’s event.
Last year’s contest, held in Basel, Switzerland, saw record viewership, reaching 166 million viewers across 37 markets.
Israel prepared for ‘boos’
Eurovision has long strived to prioritize artistry over political antagonism. However, as with the Biennale, Eurovision 2026 found itself at the center of protests related to the war in Gaza.
Five countries — Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain — pulled out between September and December 2025 in protest over event organizer European Broadcasting Union’s decision to allow Israel to participate amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
In this year’s finals, Israeli singer Noam Bettan performed the romantic breakup song “Michelle” in French, Hebrew and English. Unlike in the semifinal, when the artist sang over chants of “stop the genocide,” Bettan was not booed — at least audibly. The artist told The Times of Israel last month he had been practicing performing in front of hecklers.
There were both anti- and pro-Israel demonstrations in Vienna this week.
Pro-Palestinian protests at the last two contests called for Israel to be disbarred from Eurovision over its role in the conflict, as well as allegations it attempted to manipulate voting to favor its entries. The European Broadcasting Union changed its voting rules in response. Among other requirements, contestants and broadcasters are prohibited from taking part in promotional campaigns by third parties including governments. Countries outside of Europe, such as Israel, participate in Eurovision because eligibility is based on European Broadcasting Union membership, not necessarily geographics.
A double standard?
Although Israel’s participation is the biggest cause of dissent in 2026, the country avoided being banned from the event.
That was not the case with Russia, which was disbarred indefinitely from participating in the contest soon after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
European Broadcasting Union deputy director general Jean Philip De Tender defended his organization’s decision to allow Israel to perform, the European edition of Politico reported ahead of the contest’s final, because Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, the body behind its entry, is independent, whereas Russia’s state broadcaster, VGTRK, is run by the Russian government.
In a social media post on Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez decried the European Broadcasting Union for its “double standard.”
This story is part of Image’s May Momentum issue, which looks at art as a sport and sport as an art.
I love reading about artists’ processes and routines. Toni Morrison wrote before dawn, before her children awoke and she had to go to her publishing job. In the evenings, Maya Angelou cleaned and put away all her dishes before she sat with what she had written that morning. Louise Bourgeois only worked in complete silence. These rules and routines are reminders that art takes work — and immense amounts of energy.
I grew up with parents who are also artists and had to find time for their projects between life and daily obligations. My father wrote in the early mornings; my mother painted in the hours after lunch and before we were done with school. It normalized for me the intentional carving out of time needed for writing, reading and creating. This has meant that I’m almost always busy doing something, and sometimes tired, but when I don’t carve that time, I’m guaranteed to be in a bad mood, like the hanger that comes from skipping a meal.
In Viv Chen’s interview with Tory Burch, the designer compares her workdays to being “like an athlete where it’s about discipline and grit and endurance.” It’s a sentiment that sums up much of the spirit of this issue, which looks at art as a sport and sport as an art. Whether you’re playing fútbol, sewing clothes or staging a performance, it’s a physical as well as mental game.
Above all, the artist-athletes in these pages show us the rewards of their commitments. We witness this in the sizzling images of Tory Burch shoes pounding the hot Los Angeles pavement and in the sportswear designs that Otis students worked on for months, the results literally glowing and electric. We witness this in the portraits of Betye Saar, regally dressed in a Gucci kaftan for what will likely be the last exhibition she’s involved in during her lifetime. We witness this in the image of our fútbol queen on the cover, strong, reverent and at peace. These stories are all reminders that dedication to one’s craft is not just life-giving, it’s what makes life worth living.
Elisa Wouk Almino Editor in chief
Jess Aquino de Jesus Design Director
Julissa James Staff Writer
Claire Salinda Staff Writer
Keyla Marquez Fashion Director at Large
Elizabeth Burr Art Director
Jamie Sholberg Art Director, Web
Samantha Lee Editorial Intern
Jennelle Fong Contributing Photographer
Tyler Matthew Oyer
Contributing Photographer
Mere Studios Contributing Producer
Cecilia Alvarez Blackwell
Contributing Producer
Dave Schilling Contributing Writer
Harmony Holiday Contributing Writer
Goth Shakira Contributing Writer
Cover
Fashion Direction Keyla Marquez
Creative Direction Keyla Marquez
Photography Guicho Palma
Styling Julianna Aguirre Martinez
Talent Yusra, Natalie Renelle Muñoz,
Dylan D. Lopez
Hair Jeanette Ponce
Makeup Selena Ruiz
Nails Tatiana Calderon
Production Cecilia Alvarez Blackwell
Styling Assistant Matzi
Videographer Abraham Anzurez Galindo
Gaffer James Armas
Photo Assistants Monica Zulema,
Diego Luciano
Image Flag Bas van Brandwijk
Ken Jennings attends Kennections during the 2026 TCM Classic Film Festival on April 30, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Araya Doheny/Getty Images for TCM)
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This week’s show was recorded in Chicago with host Peter Sagal, judge and scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, Not My Job guest Ken Jennings and panelists Tom Bodett, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, and Faith Salie. Click the audio link above to hear the whole show.
Who’s Bill This Time
ou Cruise, You Lose; Renovations on the Mall; A New Game Show For Word Nerds
Panel Questions
No Justice For Plumbers
Bluff The Listener
Our panelists tell three stories about an unusual situation on the beach, only one of which is true.
Not My Job: Jeopardy‘s Ken Jennings lives down his demons and answers our three questions about H&R Block
Peter talks to Jeopardy legend and host Ken Jennings. Ken plays our game called, “What is H&R Block?” Three questions about H&R Block, the subject of the Jeopardy question Ken got wrong and it ended his 74 game win streak.
Panel Questions
Open Your Heart and Lock Up Your Assets; Restaurants Get Clingy
Limericks
Bill Kurtis reads three news-related limericks: Uranus Overshadowed; Running From Romance; Double Date Danger
Lightning Fill In The Blank
All the news we couldn’t fit anywhere else
Predictions
Our panelists predict, what will be the next show made out something we do to kill time?
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