London.- The annual Frieze Art Fair will take place between October 13th and October 16th in Regent’s Park, London. The fair showcases new and established artists to an international audience. Frieze features over 170 of the most exciting contemporary art galleries in the world. The fair also includes specially commissioned artists’ projects, a prestigious talks programme and an artist-led education schedule. Each year, for the last four years, there have been over 60,000 visitors to Frieze Art Fair. These visitors included those with an interest in the art world, such as curators, artists, collectors, gallerists and critics, as well as the general public. Some visit as first-time collectors of art whilst others view the fair more as an exhibition, enjoying the experience as a cultural day out.
Frieze Art Fair is one of the few fairs to focus only on contemporary art and living artists. The exhibiting galleries represent the most exciting contemporary galleries working today. The focus on living artists is also evident in the critically acclaimed Frieze Projects’ programme. The fair presents a curated programme of talks, artists’ commissions and film projects, many of which are interactive or performative and encourage visitors to engage with art and artists directly. Unlike most other fairs, Frieze Art Fair is housed in a bespoke temporary structure, which is located in Regent’s Park and benefits from having a natural light source, avoiding the atmosphere of a trade show, thus making the fair both lively and energetic.
Since its first year Frieze Art Fair has also been fortunate enough to work with a series of talented architects: David Adjaye, Jamie Fobert and Caruso St John, who are well known for their work on museums and art galleries. The architects’ brief is to make the fair an inviting and unique experience. Each year there are eye-catching changes to the design, décor, entrance and spaces such as restaurants and cafes. The architects have the opportunity to experiment and this adds to the experience of the fair. Frame, a section of the fair introduced in 2009, is dedicated to solo artist presentations. Frame is open to galleries who have been in existence for less than six years and present a regular programme of exhibitions.
A keynote lecture will be given by London-based artist Wolfgang Tillmans. For 20 years Tillmans′’ photography has been a sustained meditation on observation and perception, politics and abstraction. Winner of the Turner Prize in 2000, recent exhibitions include the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin in 2008 and London′s Serpentine Gallery this year. In 2009 his work was included in ′‘Making Worlds′’ at the 53rd Venice Biennale.
The Sculpture Park at Frieze Art Fair is located in the beautiful surroundings of the English Garden. It is within a three-minute walk of the main fair site and exhibits new works by both established and emerging artists represented by Frieze Art Fair exhibitors. This year, curator David Thorp once again selected the Sculpture Park. Entry to the Sculpture Park is free to the public.
The fair and the magazine are both wholly owned by Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp. The magazine was founded, in 1991, by Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover with the artist Tom Gidley. When the magazine began both Amanda and Matthew served as editors, but ceased direct involvement in editorial decisions in 2001. In 2003, the first year of Frieze Art Fair, they assumed the roles of Publishing Directors of the magazine, and Directors of the fair. Amanda and Matthew maintain the overall direction of both the art fair and the magazine, but editorial decisions are made by the Co-Editors Jörg Heiser and Jennifer Higgie, as well as Senior Editor Dan Fox. The fair and the magazine share offices, administration, communications and accounts personnel. In 2008 and 2009 the talks programme at the fair was organised by the magazine editors. In 2010 Frieze appointed Robert Devereux to its board as Chairman. Frieze Foundation is a non-profit organisation, which was established the same year as the fair (2003). The foundation oversees: Frieze Talks, a programme of panel discussions and lectures printed annually during the four days of the fair; Frieze Projects, a curated programme of site-specific projects by artists in and around the fair. Each year Frieze publishes the Frieze Art Fair Yearbook, a guide to what is current in the world of contemporary art. The Yearbook introduces over 300 artists from around the globe, with a critical text and colour illustration of their work. It also features interviews with Frieze Projects’ artists; provides details of all the galleries participating in Frieze Art Fair and has an index listing over 2000 artists. Visit the fair’s website at … http://www.friezeartfair.com