Tony Chambers: My Frieze forecast

As London’s top contemporary art festival pitches up in Regent’s Park, our columnist, Wallpaper* editor-in-chief Tony Chambers, forecasts the week ahead
Tony Chambers6 October 2016

Regent’s Park is the centre of the art world these coming days, with Frieze and Frieze Masters drawing in crowds (105,000 last year) of collectors, curators and critics, practitioners and posers. It’s the place to see things and the place to be seen.

This year’s fair welcomes a new section called ‘The Nineties’, which recreates critical art moments from the decade — including Aperto ’93, the Venice Biennale show that propelled Carsten Höller and Maurizio Cattelan to global prominence, and the very first show of photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. I can’t wait to see Sylvie Fleury’s A Journey to Fitness or How to Lose 30 pounds in Under Three Weeks, presented by Sprüth Magers. The 12-screen installation incorporates vintage workout videos starring the likes of Cindy Crawford, Jane Fonda and Raquel Welch. ‘Go for the burn!’ as GI Jane would say.

Food, beverages and even loos are all important these days. One of the washroom complexes is playing host to Julie Verhoeven’s performance intervention The Toilet Attendant… Now Wash Your Hands, where fellow leading artists are slated to make guest appearances. In terms of dining options, Artusi, the Peckham restaurant known for its concise menu and minimal décor, is serving up Italian bites while Yalumba, Australia’s oldest family-owned winery, is operating Frieze’s first-ever wine bar.

Jean Debuffet's Tour aux Recits is at Frieze

Outside the tents is Frieze Sculpture Park: 19 works gathered by Clare Lilley, director of programme at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Look out for Conrad Shawcross’ Study for The Optic Cloak, a faceted tower developed from his Greenwich Peninsula commission. ‘The Sculpture Park acts as a signpost for the main fairs, and is not just for the international VIPs’, Lilley said. ‘It’s free and open to the casual Regent’s Park visitor — kids, joggers, even tourists looking at squirrels.’ It will also remain open until mid-January.

Design and art have never been closer buddies and this year sees the 10th iteration of PAD London, which presents antique and contemporary art and design side by side on Berkeley Square. It’s a unique concoction, and as founder Patrick Perrin acknowledges, its success is due to London itself. ‘It’s the special city right now — for culture, art, design and glamour. It’s the centre of the world.’

Frieze Art Fair 2016 - the highlights

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The Tech

New Deal Design, the studio behind Fitbit, is working on a copper gadget that combines the convenience of contactless payments with the tactility of coinage. Called Scrip, it relies on a grid of raised squares (and flashing LED digits) to denote payment amounts. As soon as it leaves the drawing board, this will be the best way to pay for your Monet.

The Building

For the third year in a row, Universal Design Studio has created the colossal tents in Regent’s Park that house Frieze and Frieze Masters. The London-based architecture practice, founded by Barber & Osgerby, also designed a 7.5m-high aluminium sculpture for the entryway.

The Artist

Ed Ruscha’s show, Extremes and In-Betweens at the Gagosian Mayfair, presents new paintings that explore the impact of text as it shifts in scale. While in London, the pop art patriarch will pop into Savile Row outfit Huntsman to check in on its collaboration — a limited-run tuxedo based on his 1986 work, Boy Meets Girl. One of the six editions will be auctioned at an Alzheimer’s charity gala in New York on 25 October.

Top brass: Vincenzo de Cotiis’ DC 1609 light

The Objects

Crafted from polished brass and curved glass, Vincenzo de Cotiis’ DC 1609 light is part of the Italian architect’s Progetto Domestico collection, which goes on show in Mayfair’s Carpenters Workshop Gallery from 3 October. Meanwhile, the nearby Galerie Kreo shows a new collection of hand-blown glass vases, created by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and Finnish manufacturer Iittala

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