Next week sees the return of Frieze London and Frieze Masters to London’s Regent’s Park. Taking place between 13 and 17 October, organisers promise that the fairs will reunite the world’s major galleries in “a celebration of the creative spirit of the city”, following a hiatus last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bringing together major galleries from 39 countries, the fairs will also feature a programme of talks and special projects addressing some of the most relevant conversations in art today.
And once again Frieze Week will take place across the Capital, featuring an extensive schedule of museum, gallery and partner initiatives as well as the London launch of membership events across the city.
Complementing the in-person event, Frieze Viewing Room will run in parallel with both fairs, with expanded online programming and connecting galleries with audiences across the globe.
Eva Langret, Artistic Director, Frieze London, said: ‘We are hugely looking forward to this year’s Frieze London, my first as Artistic Director, and to reunite with colleagues in person. The list of galleries participating confirms London as one of the world’s most exciting art capitals, which has come through the pandemic with huge resilience. This year’s fair also sees a new generation of curators whose programming will prompt important conversations that not only reflect this moment of change and transformation but also look forward to what the future of the art world can be.’
Nathan Clements-Gillespie, Artistic Director, Frieze Masters, added: ‘The return of Frieze Masters is so special as it is a fair unlike any other, combining a contemporary sensibility with a historical consciousness. This year we will introduce Stand Out, a new section curated by Luke Syson that promises to bring a more complex, inclusive history of art to the fore – a history of objects. Expanding the canon has always been central to the fair’s purpose and Spotlight will once again highlight artists whose work truly deserves greater attention and we look forward to the opportunity to rediscover art in person once again.’
Frieze London and Frieze Masters have been supported by Deutsche Bank, as Global Lead Partner, for 18 years, continuing a shared commitment to artistic excellence and support of emerging artists. 2021 sees the extension of the partnership, with key initiatives in London this autumn to include the launch of the third Frieze x Deutsche Bank Emerging Curator’s Fellowship, and the next instalment of Art:LIVE, a new broadcast and video programme of accessible expert insights about contemporary art and culture. Furthermore, a new site specific installation of work by artist Idris Khan will feature in the Bank’s lounges at the fairs, including hand-picked works from the Deutsche Bank Collection selected by Khan to complement his work.
FRIEZE LONDON
A strong line up of galleries from across the globe will participate in the return of Frieze London, offering the opportunity to discover up-and-coming talent as well as engage with the work of the most important artists working today. The 2021 edition includes: Sadie Coles HQ, Hauser & Wirth, Xavier Hufkens, Taka Ishii Gallery, Karma, Kukje Gallery, Matthew Marks Gallery and David Zwirner.
Alongside the main section of the fair, Focus is devoted to galleries established in the last 12 years and provides a platform for today’s most exciting emerging artists. Participants include Arcadia Missa, Emalin, Empty Gallery, Instituto de Visión, Hot Wheels Athens, Edouard Malingue Gallery, Proyectos Ultravioleta and Temnikova & Kasela.
Frieze London will once again foreground discovery, engaging with the next generation of European curators who are reshaping the discourse around contemporary art today. Unworlding, curated by Cédric Fauq (Curator, Palais de Tokyo, and incoming Chief Curator, CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux) will feature a selection of international artists whose practices are centred around the idea of the undoing of the world as we know it. Unworlding will extend across the fair and include a major work by Nora Turato (Galerie Gregor Staiger), a video installation by Ndayé Kouagou (Nir Altman) and a monumental piece by Natacha Donzé (Parliament), amongst others.
This year’s fair also sees the addition of Editions, a new section showcasing the world’s leading publishers of editioned works and multiples by today’s most renowned contemporary artists including Paula Rego (Cristea Roberts Gallery), Yinka Shonibare (Cristea Roberts Gallery), Georg Baselitz (Knust Kunz Gallery Editions), Do Ho Suh (STPI), Julie Mehretu (Borch Editions), Frank Bowling (Paragon) and more.
FRIEZE MASTERS
Across the park, Frieze Masters will bring together six millennia of art – from rare antiquities, to Old Master paintings, to luminaries of the 20th century – creating an unmissable destination where visitors can discover or acquire a piece of art history.
The fair features major galleries including Acquavella Galleries, Colnaghi, Marian Goodman Gallery, Johnny Van Haeften, Lévy Gorvy, Nahmad Contemporary and Thaddaeus Ropac, alongside specialists in their field, such as Art Ancient, Gisèle Croës – Arts d’Extrême Orient s.a, Peter Finer, Sam Fogg and Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books.
In a major development, Frieze Masters will also introduce a new section called Stand Out, curated by Luke Syson (Director of Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), which will bring together art objects from across the ages that are great works of design, of sculptural and conceptual brilliance. Stand Out looks beyond hierarchical distinctions between works of art in different media, and in doing so reconsiders art objects often termed ‘decorative’ or ‘functional.’ Participating galleries include Prahlad Bubbar, Alessandra Di Castro Antichità, Oscar Graf, Stuart Lochhead Sculpture, Raccanello & Leprince and Tomasso.
The celebrated Spotlight section is dedicated to pioneers of avant-garde art from across the world, overseen by Laura Hoptman (Executive Director of The Drawing Center, New York) for the third year. Featuring solo presentations of work by overlooked figures and rarely seen practices by modern masters, Spotlight champions a diverse group of artists including: Feliciano Centurión (Cecilia Brunson Projects / Galeria Millan), Beauford Delaney (Michael Rosenfeld Gallery) and Alice Rahon (Gallery Wendi Norris).
FURTHER PROGRAMMING
This year’s Live programme is curated by Languid Hands, a London-based artistic and curatorial collaboration between Rabz Lansiquot, filmmaker, programmer and DJ, and Imani Robinson, interdisciplinary writer, editor and live artist. The duo have been curatorial fellows at Cubitt Artists since 2020, presenting ‘No Real Closure’, a platform for experimentation and development of Black artistic practice across exhibitions, moving image, text, performance and public programming. Their Live programme extends this method of inquiry with performances exploring liminal space, embodiment, transformation and grief. The line-up is set to include work by Rebecca Bellantoni, Ebun Sodipo and Ashley Holmes and will be hosted online at Frieze.com from 13 October.
Overseen by independent curator Jeppe Ugelvig, the Frieze London Talks programme focuses on artistic collaboration and economies of exchange. The programme taps into new and long-time relationships between artists and creatives to reflect on art within and across disciplines. Talks will take place both online and in-person at Frieze’s new space in London for pop-up exhibitions, No. 9 Cork Street, with highlights including ruangrupa, the artist collective in charge of the documenta 15 next year, in conversation with Frieze founder Matthew Slotover, and artist Jes Fanin in conversation with artist Rindon Johnson.
At Frieze Masters, Dr Nicholas Cullinan (Director, National Portrait Gallery) returns to curate the Frieze Masters Talks programme that brings together contemporary artists, writers and curators to explore the connections between historical art and contemporary practice. This year the schedule will feature world-renowned participants including: Kaye Donachie, Erdem Moralioglu, Amie Siegel, Michaël Borremansan and Dries van Noten.
For further information and to book tickets, frieze.com
Image: Alexander Calder, Two Moons (1969), Ben Brown Fine Arts
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