Frieze London 2016 takes a nostalgic turn, as galleries look back to the Nineties
‘Contemporary art is struggling to address real events in the art world right now,’ claimed Gregor Muir, executive director of the ICA, two weeks before Frieze opened. As co-curator of the fair’s talks programme, he chose the theme ‘Borderlands’ in a bid to galvanise this year’s speakers into exploring mental, physical and political boundaries.
Witnessing oversized mens’ trousers, pink plastic, Barbie-style detritus and sculptures made of scaffolding tubes, Muir’s words resonate. There are always lots of gimmicks at Frieze, but there’s good stuff too and Universal Design Studio – the fair’s architects – and the galleries, have gone to great lengths to make this year’s fair navigable and exciting. At the Modern Institute, recycled corrugated panels from Glasgow’s Tramshed are used by artist Martin Boyce as effective backdrops, while Hauser & Wirth tapped into the vogue for recreating the artist’s studio with a chaotic, fictional space filled with works by 46 practitioners.
Applied arts headlined at Gagosian in the form of black and white ceramics by Edmund De Waal and at the Viennese Galerie Meyer Kainer artist Lucy McKenzie created furniture wrapped in oil canvases inspired by Ettore Sottsass and Memphis, and Adolf Loos. At Mother’s Tankstation, this year’s Frieze Artist Award winner, Yuri Pattison, evoked 1970s California with an installation that explores the workspace and communal campuses.
For the first time, Frieze looks back this year, to the 1990s. Fourteen galleries revisit seminal shows from what was an impactful decade. Galerie Buchholz has recreated the bookshop in Cologne where Wolfgang Tillmans first showed photographs pinned to the walls, while Thomas Dane’s focus is on Michael Landy’s exhibitions in warehouse spaces
German gallery Rüdiger Schöttle also looks back, to 1926 and the International Institute on Intellectual Cooperation, an advisory body that acted to unite a fragmented Europe (and of which Albert Einstein and Marie Curie were members). Visitors are encouraged to take a seat at a concrete table and discuss the pressing issues of the day. The first session was full – Muir might just be proved wrong.
INFORMATION
Frieze London runs from 6 until 9 October. For more information, visit the Frieze website
ADDRESS
Regent's Park
London NW1 4NR
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Emma O'Kelly is a contributing editor at Wallpaper*. She joined the magazine on issue 4 as news editor and since since then has worked in full and part time roles across many editorial departments. She is a freelance journalist based in London and works for a range of titles from Condé Nast Traveller to The Telegraph. She is currently working on a book about Scandinavian sauna culture and is renovating a mid century house in the Italian Lakes.
-
‘LA Gun Club’: artist Jane Hilton on who’s shooting who
‘LA Gun Club’, an exhibition by Jane Hilton at New York’s Palo Gallery, explores American gun culture through a study of targets and shooters
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Kim Jones’ Dior Men accessories channel the rebellious spirit of the Buffalo Collective
Agitator and establishment meet in Kim Jones’ S/S 2024 Dior Men accessories, inspired at once by the house’s history of haute couture and Ray Petri’s 1980s Buffalo Collective
By Jack Moss Published
-
Hotel Rakuragu is a tiny but mighty modern escape in Tokyo
Hotel Rakuragu, brought to life by Kooo Architects, lies within an 80 sq m plot in the area of Chuo-ku
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
Fetishism, violence and desire: Alexis Hunter in London
‘Alexis Hunter: 10 Seconds’ at London's Richard Saltoun Gallery focuses on the artist’s work from the 1970s, disrupting sexual stereotypes
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Wayne McGregor’s new work merges genetic code, AI and choreography
Company Wayne McGregor has collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a series of works, ‘Autobiography (v95 and v96)’, at Sadler’s Wells (12 – 13 March 2024)
By Rachael Moloney Published
-
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley confronts gaming, VR and rebirth at Studio Voltaire
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley has opened her first institutional solo exhibition, ‘THE REBIRTHING ROOM’, at Studio Voltaire, London
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Frieze LA 2024 guide: the art, gossip and buzz
Our Frieze LA 2024 guide includes everything you need to know and see in and around the fair
By Renée Reizman Published
-
At Sadie Coles HQ, artists bring a playful sensuality to lamps
Sadie Coles HQ’s ‘Shine On’ exhibition in London features sculptural lighting by Sarah Lucas, Urs Fischer, and more (until 27 April 2024)
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Peter Blake’s sculptures spark joy at Waddington Custot in London
‘Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters’, at London's Waddington Custot, spans six decades of the artist's career
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Andrea Bowers’ sculptural chandelier for Ruinart reflects a shared commitment to environmental conservation
Andrea Bowers has partnered with Ruinart to create a work to be unveiled at Frieze LA, before it finds a permanent home at Maison Ruinart’s HQ in Reims
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Step into Yoko Ono’s immersive world at Tate Modern
‘Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind’ spans the artist and activist's work from the 1950s to the present day
By Hannah Silver Published