Under the nine-year direction of this former MTV Europe producer, the Armory Show — running this year from March 5 to 8 in New York — has grown to become one of the world’s leading contemporary-art fairs. De Backer seems intent on maintaining that prominence: This year the show expands to a second pier and, for the first time, opens a section devoted to dealers of modern art. Sarah Douglas talks to the Belgium native about recession strategies and why it’s okay when dealers complain.

How did your experience at MTV help prepare you for the Armory Show?

When I had just started working at the fair, as assistant director in 2000, I had to make a production plan for setting up the event. I used a script that I had used for a TV show. I’m very practical. On opening day, the lights go on, and everything has to be ready. Same with TV: We’re rolling, camera, we’re recording.

Two years ago Merchandise Mart Properties bought the fair. How significant a step was that?

It’s like having a big machine behind you. Instead of my calling the company that does the walls or the lights, somebody in the Chicago office will call, and miraculously the problem is solved.

But you still have complete freedom in terms of directing the fair?

Yes. And Merchandise Mart handles all the things I don’t want to deal with, like the invoicing. It wasn’t much fun writing invoices to all these galleries.

This year you’ve added a modern section to the fair. Were the regular participating dealers skeptical of the idea?

Yes. We told the selection committee first. It’s so funny, but in general people are scared of change. We’ll see if it is a success or not.

Merchandise Mart also owns Volta New York. It’s unusual for a company to own both the main fair and a satellite.

Volta New York is all one-artist shows. The directorial team selects the artists, and the galleries run with the selection, so to speak. It’s completely different from what the Armory Show does.

How will the recession impact the Armory Show?

We all have to work harder and be more creative and come up with things that make this fair special, like panel discussions and collection visits.

Why should galleries continue to do fairs?

I would not want to be a gallery in a big building tucked in a corner with no windows and nobody coming by. We attracted 52,000 people last year.

And it was during the art world downturn, in 1994, that a group of dealers started the Armory Show, then the Gramercy Hotel Fair, as a way to join forces.

Exactly. They were all sitting in their galleries thinking, "Nobody is coming by. Let’s do something together."

How are you accommodating dealers who are having a tough time right now?

We’ve allowed quite a few to take smaller booths, and we are working with them on payment plans.

How do you see the role of art fairs evolving?

Galleries will use fairs more as a platform to make a statement about who they are.

What other fair-related programs would you like to develop?

Visits to artists — not necessarily to their studios but to where they live. Collectors would love to see that.

Some major New York galleries, like Marian Goodman and Barbara Gladstone, stopped doing the fair a few years ago. Was it painful to lose them?

Yes, but I can understand their decision. Also, I want to give those spots in the fair to galleries that should be the new leaders.

So the Armory Show is about making discoveries, as you did at MTV?

It is! And you should look at the galleries as a gallery looks at its artists. Artists move on. Things evolve. You can look at a band and say, "Oh they are so indie and so cool," and then it grows up and becomes U2.

What is the most challenging artist project the Armory has done?

Alex Bag’s Untitled (the Van), a real van with videos projected inside. It was with American Fine Arts, in 2001, our first year at the piers. They had to bring it in at three in the morning. The people at the piers were like, "What is this? A van? It’s art! Is it?" They had never had an art fair like ours.