Frieze New York 2012. Photo: Graham Carlow. Courtesy Graham Carlow/ Frieze
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Frieze New York 2012. The tent on Randall’s Island. Photo: Iwan Baan. Courtesy of Iwan Baan/ Frieze
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Hauser & Wirth
Phyllida Barlow, upturnedhouse, 2012. Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth
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Liz Glynn, BLACKBOX, (Bar), 2012. Photo: Calvin Lee. Courtesy of LAXART and the Getty Research Institute
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Andra Ursuta, Conversion Tables (detail), 2012. Courtesy the artist and Ramiken Crucible
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Sarnath Banerjee, Temporary Autonomous Zones, 2012. Courtesy Project 88
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Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. © Art Basel 2012
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Liam Gillick, Complete Bin Development, 2013. ©Liam Gillick and Kerlin Gallery
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Avish Khebrehzadeh, Untitled 1, 2013. Courtesy Galleria S.A.L.E.S. - Roma
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Jitish Kallat, Allegory of the Unfolding Sky, 2012. Courtesy ARNDT Berlin and the artist
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Stelios Faitakis, Imposition Symphony, 2011, (detail). Commissioned for the Danish Pavilion at the 54th Biennale di Venezia. Courtesy the artist and The Breeder, Athens
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Laurent Grasso, Visibility is a Trap, 2012. Courtesy of Edouard Malingue Gallery, HK
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The premiere was a smashing success. “The
Freeze Art Fair is electrifying New York,” wrote the Wall Street
Journal, concisely summing up the mood. The prerequisites for this
year’s Frieze New York give
reason for optimism. There will be a record number of participants, and
the show will again be very international, with galleries from 32
countries showing art on Randall’s Island. Newcomers such as the Goodman Gallery from Johannesburg and Project 88
from Mumbai attest to the expansion of the art map in the last few
years. “Frame,” the section for young galleries presenting selected
individual artists, is also showing interesting newcomers: Hopkinson Cundy from Auckland, New Zealand, is represented, as is Leo Xu Projects from Shanghai and Mendes Wood from São Paulo. And in the “Focus” section, Ivan Gallery
from Bucharest proves that exciting artists can be discovered off the
beaten track. It is presenting three “modern classics” of contemporary
Romanian art: the concept artist Geta Brătescu, the painter Horia Bernea, and the sculptor Paul Neagu, who studied with Anish Kapoor.
Fifty-four galleries from the host city will be present. Two of New York’s most important galleries, Marian Goodman and Luhring Augustine,
are taking part in the art show for the first time. Goodman again
completely lives up to her reputation as “the gallery owner among
curators.” She is showing a solo project by Tino Seghal, whose performative works are virtually the opposite of what is normally presented to visitors at art fairs.
But
the Frieze, whether in New York or in London, is not an ordinary art
show. From the very beginning, it provided an ambitious supporting
program consisting of talks, music, film, and above all Frieze Projects. This curated series of commissioned works of such diverse artists as Thomas Bayrle, Richard Prince, Tue Greenfort, and Simon Fujiwara
always manages to challenge the conventions of art shows in a
surprising way. In addition, the Frieze focuses on current artistic
perspectives, which convinced Deutsche Bank.
Since the second Frieze in London, Deutsche Bank is a partner of the
art fair. So it was only natural that the bank decided to cooperate
with the new show in New York as well.
This year’s project,
again curated by Cecilia Alemani. She is also the director of the High
Line Art Program, where Alemani 's ensured that the landscaped former
elevated rail line on the west side of Manhattan has not only become an
incredibly beautiful park, but also, thanks to its numerous
commissioned works, one of the city's new cultural highlights. The
Frieze Projects once again takes a poke at the art show industry. The
starting point for Andra Ursuta’s work is the notion that art shows
today are temporary places of pilgrimage for the international art
crowd. The young Romanian artist imagines the Frieze as an art village,
but without a cemetery. Ursuta marks the places where artworks can be
laid to rest with marble plates that she installs in the idyllic
countryside of Randall’s Island. Mateo Tannatt’s sculptures are
situated in the tent. His colored objects serve as seating for
visitors. But when they sit down, they become players in a performance
taking place around them based on a fixed script. Liz Glynn’s speakeasy
harks back to the period of Prohibition in 1920s New York. Her bar,
which is designed like an old vault, can only be entered through a back
door. Cocktails are served there, and the bartenders entertain guests
by performing magic tricks.
FOOD 1971/2013 pays homage to the
mood of departure and communal spirit of the early 1970s. The legendary
restaurant FOOD, founded by Gordon Matta-Clark and other artists in
October 1971, will be resurrected at the Frieze – as a communicative
meeting point where each day a different artist will cook. Last year,
projects such as Tim Rollins’ and Kids of Survival’s (KOS) drawing
action and John Ahearn’s reconstruction of his exhibition South Bronx
Hall of Fame from 1979 had already demonstrated the importance of
alternative perspectives for the vitality of New York’s art scene.
For a long time, New York’s position as perhaps the most
important place of production for contemporary art was attested to only
in museums, galleries, and studios. New York’s art shows did not really
reflect the city’s significance for the international art scene. That
has changed. The significantly streamlined Armory Show, the Art Show of
the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA), the Independent
established in 2010, and of course the Frieze ensure that New York’s
art shows are in keeping with the city’s role as a cultural capital of
the world.
While New York is indisputably a major art center,
Hong Kong is primarily anchored in the collective consciousness as a
booming economic zone. But the city on the Pearl River has developed
into one of Asia’s most important art hubs at an astonishing speed.
Today, based on auction proceeds, Hong Kong is the world’s
third-largest art market. Important galleries such as Gagosian, White
Cube, and Perrotin have opened branches here in the last few years. And
Pearl Lam, who has championed Chinese art outside of the political pop
cliché for around 20 years, has returned with her gallery to her home
city. In addition to her spaces in Shanghai and her foundation in New
York, she has resided in the Pedder Building since last year. The
neoclassical building, one of the few historic edifices remaining in
the center of the city, also houses Gagosian, Ben Brown, and, since
March of this year, Lehmann Maupin. The gallery opened its new premises
with an exhibition devoted to the Korean artist Lee Bul.
Aside
from the flourishing economy, there are two main reasons why the
contemporary art scene is booming in Hong Kong. The museum project M+
which will open in the West Kowloon Cultural District in 2017 is
arousing residents’ interest in contemporary art thanks to is founding
director Lars Nittve. With Nittve, who directed the Louisiana Museum
and the Tate Modern, among others, the M+ has one of Europe’s most
important museum people on board. Furthermore, ART HK, founded in 2008,
has become the region’s most important art show. Deutsche Bank was
convinced of the potential of ART HK at a very early stage. The mood at
the first two shows was so positive that the bank opted to support the
event. Since 2010, Deutsche Bank has been the main sponsor of the show,
which this year is under the aegis of Art Basel.
Although ART HK
has become Art Basel Hong Kong, the name of the director has remained
the same: Magnus Renfrew directed the show from the very beginning and
has made a considerable contribution to its profile and success with a
clever selection of galleries and sections such “Encounter,” in which
expansive sculptures and installations are shown. For the debut of Art
Basel Hong Kong, Art Basel director Marc Spiegler confidently promises
“the strongest combination of galleries from the East and the West that
the world has ever seen.”
The offer is indeed
impressive. Around 250 galleries from 35 countries are presenting works
by more than 3,000 artists. Names such as Gladstone, Hauser &
Wirth, Lisson, Nature Morte, Vitamin Creative Space, and White Cube
speak for themselves. The Asia-Pacific region as well as the USA and
Europe are both strongly represented in the centrally located Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre. Forty-eight galleries will be present
for the first time – for example, Tina Keng from Taiwan, presenting
modern classics from Asia, and the Delhi Art Gallery with classic
Indian modern artworks. Other newcomers in the section galleries
include Peter Blum from New York and Johnen from Berlin.
The
“Insights” section gives visitors the opportunity to become acquainted
with the entire spectrum of art in the Asia-Pacific region. Forty-seven
galleries are showing curated presentations focusing entirely on one
artist or one theme. For instance, the Blindspot Gallery, which
specializes in photography, is presenting Stanley Wong, aka
anothermountainman – an artist who is also represented in the Deutsche
Bank Collection in Hong Kong. “Discoveries” is devoted to the young
international art scene. Either an individual artist or two artists in
dialogue are presented in this section.
The “Encounters”
section is definitely one of the highlights of the show. Yuko Hasegawa,
Chief Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and curator of
this year’s Sharjah Biennial, chose 17 large works, which are being
placed in the halls. They range from bronzes to installations that
invite visitors to participate. Haegue Yang will realize one of her
venetian blind sculptures, with which she was also represented at the
last documenta, while Liam Gillick’s brightly colored tower
constructions exude the elegance of a luxury car showroom. But be
careful – Laurent Grasso’s seven-meter-long neon sign says that
“Visibility is a Trap.” Perhaps one should always have this quote from
Foucault in mind at an art show with so much surface attraction.
May 10–13, 2013 / Frieze New York
May 23–26, 2013 / Art Basel Hong Kong
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