Frieze New York Projects 2017

The non-profit program of new artist commissions is curated by Cecilia Alemani (High Line Art, New York & Italian Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia 2017). Inside the fair and around Randall’s Island Park, Dora Budor, Elaine Cameron-Weir and Jon Rafman will create ambitious, interactive and site-specific artworks that question the act of watching and being watched.

This year’s tribute to a groundbreaking arts space is dedicated to Galleria La Tartaruga in Rome and its experimental exhibition “Il Teatro delle Mostre” (1968). The tribute space will change daily, with restagings of two pioneering projects by Giosetta Fioroni and Fabio Mauri, alternated with new commissions by Ryan McNamara and Adam Pendleton.

On the green lawn outside the North entrance, Elaine Cameron-Weir has built a rudimentary structure based on plans for a backyard air-raid shelter, the inside lit by two neon sculptures – glimpses of which are only possible through a discrete door. Inside the fair, Jon Rafman will transform a booth into a secret movie theater, where visitors can watch – and be watched while watching -  a new video series fusing amateur 3D animation and niche genres of computer-generated erotica. Dora Budor will supplement the art fair's usual routine by using cinematic doubling to question perception and reality.

2017 Tribute: Il Teatro Delle Mostre (1968/2017)
Each year, Frieze Projects at Frieze New York features a creative tribute to an artist-run project or a gallery that has radically transformed the experience of contemporary art, including Fashion Moda (2012), FOOD (2013), Al’s Grand Hotel (2014), Flux-Labyrinth (2015), and Daniel Newburg Gallery (2016). This year’s tribute will be dedicated to the Galleria La Tartaruga, an experimental gallery active from the 1950s in Rome, and its influential show, “Il Teatro delle Mostre” (Theater of Exhibitions, May 6–31, 1968).

Organized by the gallery’s founder, Plinio de Martiis, “Teatro delle Mostre” emphasized emerging forms of performance, process and installation art, showing a sequence of works by 20 young Italian artists, writers and poets – including Franco Angeli, Alighiero Boetti, Enrico Castellani, Giosetta Fioroni, Fabio Mauri and Giulio Paolini. With each installation lasting a single day, many of the artists physically transformed the gallery, thereby challenging conventions of the space, as well as the roles of owner, artist and spectator. “Teatro delle Mostre” also opened up the field of contemporary art to other forms of creative practice and exhibition making. The show’s final day marked the closing of Galleria La Tartaruga’s historic headquarters at the Piazza del Popolo.

For Frieze New York, two of the original projects from the 1968 exhibition – Giosetta Fioroni’s La Spia Ottica and Fabio Mauri’s Luna – will be restaged, alternated with new commissions by two leading contemporary artists, Ryan McNamara and Adam Pendleton – transforming the Tribute space for each day of the fair. 

Tribute Schedule:
Thursday: Giosetta Fioroni
Friday: Ryan McNamara 
Saturday: Adam Pendleton
Sunday: Fabio Mauri

Tickets for Frieze New York 2017 are available here.