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Vincent Anthony Falkiewicz The sudden fall of SoHo's art district and quick expansion to New Yorks Chelsea district was extremely unexpected, but is a significant change worth looking at in contemporary art history. It's rapid pace shocked many investors and dealers; "from 1996 to 2007 (July), the number of Chelsea galleries grew from 12 to at least 260. (Contemporary Art 4)." This forced "many former SoHo galleries to relocate to Chelsea (Contemporary Art 4)." One reason for the move is the differening styles or designs, for lack of a better word, between the two districts. While SoHo was "an occupational and residential community of artists...Chelsea is not a residential community of artist (Contemporary Art 21)." In fact, few artists can afford to live there. It is correlated to the changing times in the art world. Chelsea is more of an "occupational district," where people who own, work in, or run galleries live. On top of that, SoHo was becoming a place where the normal residents could not afford the new price raises in the strengthening economic district. Residents and many of those tied with the art community were forced to vacate the area; many of whom chose to move to Chelsea. Some experts believe a similar effect will take place in Chelsea. However, others argue that there is too low a percentage of the population tied to the art community for this effect to take place. Finally, the significant amount of capital owned by this small percentage is the final reason why Chelsea might survive as an art district, and why SoHo fell. This significant capital enables them to "insulate themselves from the commercial rental market (Contemporary Art 22)." |
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Erica Gilbert-Levin The art gallery district in Chelsea on Manhattan's Far West Side has replaced SoHo as the most prominent and "most important" site in the world "for sales of new works of Contemporary Art," according to Halle and Tiso. This development is the result of a confluence of factors, all of which shed light on dynamics integral to today's art market.
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