Frieze Art Fair

Frieze is an annual international contemporary art fair held in October in London's Regent's Park. The fair is staged by Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, the publishers of "Frieze" magazine.

Background

Although staged for the purpose of selling work, the fair has become a cultural entertainment and out of its 47,000 visitors it has been suggested that 80% attend purely to spectate."With a View to Make More Profit", Financial Times, March 4, 2006] The fair also commissions artist projects and holds a programme of talks.

In 2003 Liam Gillick received a joint commission from the Fair and London Underground Platform for Art programme to create a set of posters to be put in unused spaces at Great Portland Street tube station. [http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/arts/platform-for-art/artists/gillick.asp "headache/phone card/soda/donuts/stereo"] tfl.gov.uk. Accessed April 16, 2006]

A three-year sponsorship has been arranged with Deutsche Bank.

"Frieze" magazine is published 8 times a year and covers contemporary art and culture.

Facts

1st Frieze art fair 2003

*Space hire was £180 per meter.
*The fair made £990,000 from 5,500 square meters (2,250 rentable).
*Sales were £20 million.
*There were 124 galleries.
*There were 27,700 visitors. [http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/reviews/laplaca/laplaca10-26-04.asp "Frieze Action" by Joe La Placa, artnet.com] Retrieved March 29, 2006]

2nd Frieze art fair 2004

*Space hire was £190 per meter.
*The fair made £1.5 million from 8,000 square meters (4,000 rentable).
*Sales were £26 million.
*There were 150 galleries.
*There were 42,000 visitors.
*Public admission price was £12.
*There were over 1,000 gallery applications for places.
*Booths were 24–120 square meters.
*The fair was sponsored by Deutsche Bank AG.
*US galleries included Gagosian, Zach Feuer Gallery Matthew Marks and Barbara Gladstone.
*British galleries included White Cube, Lisson Gallery and Victoria Miro Gallery.
*European galleries included Hauser and Wirth.
*Galleries came from Beijing, Melbourne, Moscow and Auckland.

3rd Frieze art fair 2005

*There were 160 galleries.
*There were 400 gallery applications.
*38 exhibitors were American and 35 British. [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/friezeartfair/story/0,,1598777,00.html "Frieze Show Puts the 'Art' into Party, The Guardian, October 23, 2005] Retrieved March 24, 2006]
*Celebrities at the opening included Claudia Schiffer, David Bowie and Alexander McQueen. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1835863,00.html "Time Really Is Money as Tate Coughs up £20,000 The Times, October 21, 2005] Retrieved March 24, 2006]
*Tracey Emin launched her book "Strangeland" to coincide with the 2005 fair.fact|date=September 2008

4th Frieze art fair 2006

*The fair was 12–15 October, 2006.
*There was a preview for invited guests on October 11, 2006.

5th Frieze art fair 2007

*The fair was 11–14 October, 2007.
*There was a preview for invited guests on October 10, 2007 where the likes of Tracey Emin, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Sam Taylor-Wood mingled with A list celebrities and collectors.

Outset Contemporary Art Fund

In 2003, in collaboration with the Tate and Frieze, the Outset Contemporary Art Fund was founded by Tate patrons Yana Peel and Candida Gertler to raise money for purchases from the fair for the Tate. That year £100,000 was spent on work by four artists. The fund has continued since.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.friezeartfair.com/ Frieze official site]
* [http://www.artvista.de ArtVista - The Art Fair Calendar]
* [http://www.tate.org.uk/home/press/2005/frieze_acquisitions_20-10-05.htm "Tate Acquires New Work at Frieze", Tate press release 2005]
* [http://artkrush.com/51769 Artkrush.com] - feature on Frieze Art Fair, October 2006
* [http://www.artfacts.net/index.php/pageType/newsInfo/newsID/3124 Interview with FRIEZE co-founder Amanda Sharp]