.Frieze Week London 2016: Big Money Meets Big Art.
Frieze Week London 2016: Big Money Meets Big Art
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Lisson Gallery, Frieze London 2015. Photo: Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze.
Pavement pounding, hand shaking, paint swirling, harsh lighting and hangovers: it hardly needs to be said that Frieze Week can overwhelm. The biggest week in London’s cultural calendar—that marks the official start of the season across Europe—started here 14 years ago and is now bigger than the art market, with top curators, critics and museums featuring as prominently as artists in the programme of talks, panels, screenings, book signings, awards, special projects, and live events that the non-buying public will attend. It’s reported that 80% of the visitors to Frieze—that usually caps 68,000—are there to observe, not to buy.
In fact, it may be that Frieze Week is less about selling art than ever, but it’s a glimpse of who is making the decisions about art at the top level and who is really included in the conversation. Since 2006, Frieze magazine publishers Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, who founded the fair, have not released any sales figures, so even if you want to know what’s selling, you won’t be able to find out. What Frieze is still good at is fashion: from the well-heeled guests to good-looking gallery booths, you can expect to find the bleeding-edge of the art world in London. Whether you’re attending to participate, spectate, or purchase, we’ve made a pick of the best fairs, talks, exhibitors, and auctions for each day.
Thursday 6 October
Frieze London 2015. Photo: Graham Carlow. Courtesy of Graham Carlow/Frieze.
The Fair: Frieze London
The godfather of the art fair circuit doesn’t need an introduction: any visit to London this week has to start in Regent’s Park—a week earlier in 2016 than in previous years. More than 1,000 leading artists of today will have artworks in here. It’s also the location for Frieze Projects, Frieze Talks, and Frieze Sounds—and ten pop-up places to eat and drink. New for 2016 is a gallery section called The Nineties, recreating iconic exhibitions that took place at galleries in London, Paris, Cologne, and New York during the decade, curated by Nicolas Trembley—part of a wider surge of interest in the art of the 1990s. (Also see Christie’s sale on October).
The Exhibitor: Kayne Griffin Corcoran
It’s the first time the New York gallery (who also have a space in Los Angeles) have a booth at Frieze London and they’re bringing a crowd-pleaser: an immersive light installation by James Turrell. Beware of selfie sticks.
The Project: Yuri Pattison
Emerging British artist Yuri Pattison is the recipient of the Frieze Artist Award 2016. Pattison’s career has steadily been on the rise since he started out as part of Peckham collective Lucky PDF in 2009. Following a two-year residency at Chisenhale gallery and a recent solo exhibition there, Pattison unveils a networked artwork that will be collecting information from the fair and presents it on a series of ‘Big Board’ monitors—oh so Orwellian. The installation is part of Frieze’s non-profit programme, Frieze Projects, curated this year by Raphael Gygax.
Vivian Suter, studio view in Panajachel, Guatemala, 2015. Courtesy: Proyectos Ultravioleta and the artist.
The Focus: Proyectos Ultravioleta at Frieze Focus
The inclusion of Proyectos Ultravioleta is a Frieze landmark: it’s the first time in 14 years a gallery from Guatemala has presented at the fair. Proyectos Ultravioleta was founded in 2009 in Guatemala City, and will show works by Elisabeth Wild and Vivian Suter in London.
The Talk: Gods and Monsters
As part of the programme of talks at Frieze Masters, Gods and Monsters: Contemporary Art in the Historical Museum (and vice versa) considers the relationship between the past and present, and the relationship we have to art and artifacts. Kicking off at 3pm, the topic will be thrashed out by Jennifer Higgie, Okwui Enwezor, Hou Hanru, and Sheena Wagstaff.
The Commission: Pilar Corrias, London
Pilar Corrias has undoubtedly what will be one of the highlights of Frieze 2016: a new sculptural work by Philippe Parreno, Speech Bubbles, (Transparent Orange). The artist is hot property this season, and unveils his Hyundai Commission at the Tate Modern on 4th October; he’ll also be in conversation with Nancy Spector at Frieze Masters on October 6th.
Pino Pascali, Coda di Delfino (Tail of a Dolphin), 1966. Estimate: ￡1.5-2m.
The Auction: The Italian Sale, Christie’s
At Christie’s King Street, this major sale of 20th century Italian art includes lots by 39 artists, including key Post-War artists such as Lucio Fontana and Enrico Castellani, alongside emerging names, from Ettore Spalletti to Carol Rama. Recommended are major Arte Povera lots: Pino Pascali’s Coda di Delfino, for example, is one of the only two dolphin tail sculptures the artist ever produced, estimated at 1.5 – 2 million GBP.
The Event: Decolonial Desire
Too many parties, plenty more art. Amid the madness, it’s always worth pausing for a moment to ask what it’s really all about. Before you head to an after-party, you could duck into the vernissage of Decolonial Desire, by Portuguese artist Vasco Araújo, at Autograph ABP (a non-profit who promotes and advocates for historically marginalised photographic practices through exhibitions, events and various programmes). Through deceptively attractive two and three-dimensional photoworks, the artist explores how the trauma of colonialism affects global conscience today.
Friday 7 October
Bazaart, Collections section, Frieze Masters 2015. Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy of Mark Blower/Frieze.
The Fair: Frieze Masters
Frieze Masters is Frieze’s younger sibling, but is more of an elder. Fifteen minutes walk from Frieze across the park, Frieze Masters is where you’ll find art and antiquities from the ancient era, right up to the late 20th century. For the first time this year, the fair has an independent art advisory service. Other new editions include Spotlights, curated by the Menil Collection’s Toby Kamps, focusing on art that never received the recognition it deserved; it’s good to see a concerted effort being made to reinvent history in retrospect. Female modern masters also have a prominent presence at Alan Cristea Gallery’s booth, presenting Anni Albers; Marlborough Fine Art, presenting Paula Rego; and Sperone Westwater, with Susan Rothenberg.
The Exhibitor: Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac
Parisian dealer Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac is at Frieze Masters for the first time, with a presentation of 20th century photography, proving that the medium now has a firm place in the realm of the greats.
The Project: Tate Exchange at Tate Modern: Guerrilla Girls
There was no concept of institutional critique, it can be argued, when the Guerrilla Girls formed in New York in 1985. Since then, they’ve named and shamed discriminators and called out corruption in the art world. Coinciding with a new exhibition—revealing the results of their latest survey on European museums—at the Whitechapel gallery, the Guerrilla Girls are setting up a complaints desk at the Tate, where visitors can come to have a moan about the art, and any other issues that they need to get off their chest.
Panel on Writing, Frieze Masters Talks 2015. Photo: Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze.
The Talk: 'Upstarts / New '90s Art'
At Frieze, at 5pm, Julia Peyton-Jones, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Jane & Louise Wilson will be in conversation with Guardian critic Adrian Searle to talk about how contemporary art has changed in London in the last 25 years—also the subject of a new Frieze publication bringing together 25 years of writing about art from their magazine, and serving to elucidate Frieze’s new gallery section, The Nineties.
The Walk: Frieze Sculpture Park
Frieze Sculpture Park in Regent’s Park has become one of the most popular public attractions of Frieze Week and as such it will enjoy an extended run this year, until January 2017. Visitors can see 19 monumental sculptures, for free, for the next three months. Take an hour—weather permitting—to explore works by Conrad Shawcross, Claes Oldenburg, Goshka Macuga, and Lynn Chadwick. Personally, we can’t wait to see them with a touch of winter frost come December.
Gerhard Richter, Garten (left), 1982, oil on canvas, in 2 parts, 260 x 200 cm. Estimate: ￡3-4m; David Hockney, Guest House Wall (right), 2000, oil on canvas 92.4 s 121.7 cm. Estimate: ￡1.8-2.5m / €2.1-2.9m / US$2.4-3.3m.
The Auction: Contemporary Art Evening Auction, Sotheby’s
Expect big sales at this auction of contemporary art at Sotheby’s organized to coincide with Frieze Week. Exceptional lots by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Peter Doig, and David Hockney will be going under the hammer.
The Screening: Ming Wong
Singapore-born, Berlin-based filmmaker Ming Wong premieres a new film commissioned by Frieze Film. Wong’s film work reinvents world arthouse cinema (scenes from the classics of Fassbinder, Pasolini, Polanski, and Wong Kar-wai have found their way into the work) in which Wong plays various characters, in order to question our relationship to gender, heritage, ethnicity, history, and language. The film will be broadcast later in the year on Channel 4’s Random Acts, if you miss it.
Saturday 8 October
The Fair: 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair
1:54 has quickly become one of the calendar’s most enjoyable events, taking place during Frieze Week in both London and New York, and the fair has notably increased the presence of African artists and galleries on the international scene, both commercially and at an institutional level. This year’s iteration returns to Somerset House with more than 120 artists at booths from some of the top galleries for contemporary art from across the continent. A series of special projects—including the launch of the first exhibition of work by Malick Sidibe—is also not to be missed.
Serge Attukwei Clottey, 'Packed Community', 2016, Plastics, wire and oil paint, 152.4 x 198.12 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Gallery 1957.
The Exhibitor: Gallery 1957
Head to Gallery 1957’s booth at 1:54 where the Accra-based gallery will host an encounter with Serge Attukwei Clottey, whose socially-engaged practice includes radical street performance and art made out of pollution.
The Project: Bandjoun Station
Drink coffee from the high plains of Cameroon in signed and editioned coffee cups, at a mobile coffee shop inspired by the region’s “tournedos cafes.” It’s all courtesy of Bandjoun Station—a coffee plantation, gallery and residency programme, founded by Cameroonian artist Barthélémy Toguo.
In the collection Revue Noire Rare Book box, Anthology of African Photography with an original print of a Couple of Saint-Louis, ca. 1915-1930, 40 x 30 cm, Courtesy of Revue Noire publisher.
The Publisher: Revue Noire
Paris-based publisher and magazine Revue Noire have curated a selection of gorgeous tomes on African photography at 1:54’s bookshop this year that consider not only the importance of the artists who appear on their pages but the interaction between the printed page, the art object and the photograph.
The Event: East End Night
Commercial dealers and non-profits open up until late for Frieze’s East End night. There’s now a West End night, too, but the original East End night still has it, despite a vastly different landscape in the boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, where post-Olympic gentrification has been a constant concern for the local arts scene, with more artists losing their studios in the area to property developers. This is a chance to see what keeps them in the East End.
Sunday 9 October
Chiara Camoni, Vasi, 2013- 2016, polychrome terracotta, dimensions variable. Courtesy SpazioA Gallery.
The Fair: Sunday Art Fair
Well, it is Sunday, but it’s not the only obvious reason to visit one of the staples of Frieze Week’s London offerings. Sunday is comprised of a more manageable 25 booths, tightly curated by galleries from across Europe, as well as New York and LA, dedicated to early and emerging level artists. It feels fresh after a week of heavy hitters.
The Exhibitor: Galleria Collicaligreggi
This Catania-based contemporary gallery brings art from their space in the Sicilian city to London. Founded in 2011 by art dealer Gianluca Collica and art aficionado Massimo Ligreggi, the space is dedicated to very young artists who don't yet have gallery representation elsewhere in Italy. Though their roster is international, the connection to their hometown is “fundamental” the directors say, and they often invite foreign artists to the Mediterranean island for residencies.
The Screening: Nana Oforiatta Ayim: Agbako: Untold
Head back over to 1:54 at 3pm, where Ghanaian curator, critic and filmmaker Nana Oforiatta Ayim—who helped launch Accra’s Gallery 1957—will premiere her new film and book on new museum and architectural models for Ghana and other African countries. For this edition of a major ongoing activity, Ayim collaborated with young artist and architect Latifah Idriss.
Lee Scratch Perry. ? 2013 Fufoo Film GmbH. Photo: Volker Schaner.
The Talk: Introducing: Lee “Scratch” Perry
The auctions are over and the fairs will be starting to shut down. By Sunday afternoon you’ll have had enough art, and sitting down, at Frieze at 4pm, to hear the legendary dub producer Lee “Scratch” Perry talk about 50 years in music is sure to bring magic and inspiration to end the week.
—Charlotte Jansen
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