Mexican artist Nina Menocal, right, prepares his art works at the Art Forum Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 27, 2007. Photographer: Jochen Eckel/ Bloomberg News

Art Forum Berlin, a contemporary art fair that took place annually for 15 years, has ceased operations and this year’s event, which was scheduled to open on Sept. 29, has been called off, the organizer said.

Negotiations to merge Art Forum with a rival event, Art Berlin Contemporary, broke off on May 27 after the two parties failed to agree on a division of roles, Messe Berlin GmbH, the owner of Art Forum Berlin, said in a May 28 e-mailed statement.

“For an art event, the value of Messe Berlin’s input comes from its organizational abilities,” Christian Goeke, the executive director of Messe Berlin, said in the statement. “If these are not desired, there is no basis for cooperation.”

Last year, 110 galleries from 18 countries showed works by more than 2,000 artists at Art Forum, which took place in the main exhibition halls of the Berlin Messe complex. The fair attracted about 40,000 visitors annually. In 2008, two new co- directors, Eva-Maria Haeusler and Peter Vetsch, were drafted in from Art Basel, the world’s biggest contemporary art fair.

ABC, or Art Berlin Contemporary, was set up about four years ago by Berlin art dealers who also organized an open-house Gallery Weekend that takes place in the spring. This year’s fair is scheduled to take place from Sept. 7 to 11 and will focus on painting, according to the website.

“It would be counterproductive to stage Art Forum Berlin 2011 without the support of those for whom we are organizing it,” Goeke said in the statement.