Artwork on display at the 2010 Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair. The fair returns Sept. 6-9, 2012, to Balboa Park. Photo by Franz Krachtus

For four days, there will be another city inside Balboa Park. New Art City is a fresh concept to showcase the Art San Diego 2012 event. The city concept organizes and presents this 4-year-old art fair in a whole new way.

The idea all began with the move from a hotel to the 38,000-square-feet Balboa Park Activity Center, designed by Rob Wellington Quigley.

"This move allows us to expand," said Anne Berchtold, the event's co-founder and director. "Inside the city, there will be four districts and each one has its own community and different color coding, but it's all under the umbrella of the fair. Each district will be a different experience."

The four districts include Contemporary Art, Contemporary Product and Furniture Design, Mid-Century and Modern Art, and Solo Artists Curated Booths. Museums, artists and galleries will create spaces within each district so that new and established art collectors can browse by style and type. There will also be art throughout the park.

Art includes traditional painting, sculpture, photography, films, interactive art and performance art. More than 500 artists will have their work displayed.

"Art San Diego is like no other fair ---- presenting first-class art and an interactive experience," said Berchtold in a press release. "The fair size is intimate and our programming offers a great diversity of art viewing, talks, films, culinary events, and music and dance performances."

Another change this year is the timing. The fair is a week earlier than past events.

"We moved it up because we heard that a lot of collectors took trips on Labor Day weekend," explained Berchtold. "There are also galleries who wanted to participate, but were busy Labor Day."

The event will feature spaces curated by the San Diego State University Contemporary Furniture Design Program, VisArts | The Visual Arts Department at UC San Diego, the San Diego Museum of Art, and the Woodbury University School of Architecture. Galleries include Quint Contemporary, Joseph Bellows, Susan Street, RB Stevenson, Salazar Contemporary, CJ, Nico Gemmell, McNabb Martin Contemporary, Objects USA | San Diego Mid Century Art and Design and Boomerang.

On Friday night, the fair will present Vision China, a showing of traditional and contemporary art from China. It features paintings and art created by Chinese masters. The exhibition will include 50 Chinese delegates speaking to visitors about the exhibit.

"This far is meant to be a celebration of the arts," Berchtold said. "I want visitors to feel the strength of the art community, from cutting edge art to the traditional."