Frieze post from China

In this frieze blog post, Carol Yinghua Lu comments on the origin and development of participatory practices and social intervention in the field of contemporary art in China, and a more recent drift away from the political and social realm towards the market where new auction records get more WeChat time than the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Read more...
Image: pro-democracy protester in Hong Kong

Frieze founders appoint new director

In a surprise move, Frieze art fair has announced the appointment of Victoria Siddall as director of Frieze London and Frieze New York. The fair's co-founders and current directors, Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, say it will give them more time to focus on the future and explore new projects for Frieze.

In an interview with The Financial Times, Slotover said the new projects he and Sharp have in mind do not include opening another fair. "It's not clear there are obvious opportunties elsewhere," he said. But he added, "Never say never."
Image: Victoria Siddall

Frieze in pictures

This link takes you to ARTINFO's Frieze week in pictures.

Frieze adjusts the party/business mix

Frieze is cutting back this year. The number of galleries has been reduced from 175 last year to 152, tickets have been cut by 20%, including VIPS, and organisers are downplaying the fair's party scene rated as second only to Art Basel Miami Beach. The cutbacks are meant to "make the fair more luxurious," says Frieze co-founder and co-director Amanda Sharp responding to concerns that crowds of window shoppers and parties get in the way of sales.

Indonesia's Cemeti Art House celebrates 25 years of ground-breaking work

Twenty-five years ago a young artist started an independent art space in a modest house in a village in Yogyakarta. The arrival of the Cemeti Modern Art Gallery is one of the most important moments in the history of contemporary art in Indonesia but, as Alia Swastika notes, starting an independent art initiative was not easy during the authoritarian political regime of the late 1980s. Read more...
Image: Cemeti Art House, Indonesia

frieze postcard from Tehran

Daria Kirsanova reports on the emerging contemporary art scene in Iran, including a growing gallery system. Read more...

frieze on the Kathmandu International Art Festival

Nepal has just launched the second edition of its triennial Kathmandu International Art Festival, with climate change and its human impact as its curatorial agenda. Kurchi Dasgupta was there to cover it for frieze. Read more...
Image: Jyoti Duwadi's Shades of Seeds

frieze's postcard from the World Biennale Forum No.1

In October the World Biennale Forum No.1, titled Shifting Gravity and co directed by Hou Hanru and Ute Meta Bauer, took place in Gwangju. Initiated to provide a discursive platform for the international biennale community and a space for networking and exchanging common practices, the three-day conference explored biennale structures, developments and futures. Harriet Thorpe was there to cover it for frieze. Read more...
Image: The World Biennale Forum No. 1, Gwangju, South Korea

Seoul's high season of contemporary art

frieze's Cristina Ricupero reports on a high season in Seoul where the country hosted four biennales concurrently, including the Gwangju and Busan biennales, along with two exhibitions of artists prizes (the Hermes Foundation Missulsang Prize and the new Korea Artist Prize), and a major exhibition celebrating what would have been Nam June Paik's 80th birthday. Read more...
Image: Nam June Paik, One Candle (1989), installation view, Nam June Paik Centre, Seoul

Marketers of the brand-new add old to the mix with Frieze masters

Since its founding in 2003, Frieze has established itself as a leading fair for contemporary art, but this year the 10th Frieze will change the recipe. While 175 exhibitors will show fresh works, 101 galleries will sell ancient artefacts, Old Masters and art made up to 2000 in the inaugural edition of Frieze Masters. Read more...

The role of art criticism in mainstream media

Frieze has asked art critics and editors of cultural publications around the world to tell them how they see the role of art criticism in mainstream media today, and how they view the impact of their writing on their audience. This link takes you to the final installment of Who Do You Write For?

What is the role of art criticism in mainstream media today?

Frieze has asked art critics and editors of cultural publications around the world to tell them how they see the role of art criticism in mainstream media today, and how they view the impact of their writing on their audience. This link, takes you to the fourth installment of Who Do You Write For?, which includes a reply from Sydney Morning Herald art critic John McDonald. You will also find links to the first three installments at the bottom of the page.

frieze review of Alicia Frankovich's Bodies & Situations

The latest issue of frieze includes a review by Emily Cormack of Alicia Frankovich's Bodies & Situations exhibition at Starkwhite earlier this year.
Image: Alicia Frankovich, Bodies & Situations (2012), installation view, Starkwhite

Dane Mitchell's RADIANT MATTER exhibitions reviewed in the latest issue of frieze

The latest issue of frieze includes a review of Dane Mitchell's RADIANT MATTER, a series of three exhibitions presented at three public galleries across New Zealand. This follows last week's launch of the publication RADIANT MATTER I/II/III in Berlin by the artist and the Berliner Künstlerprogramm DAAD.

Images: frieze cover, issue 142 October 2011 and Dane Mitchell RADIANT MATTER PART 1 installation view, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, 2011

Frieze reviews

Reviews of Frieze 09 are published here and here.

Image: John Baldessari, Beethoven's Trumpet (with Ear) OPus #133. Photograph Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features

John Baldessari in conversation with Matthew Higgs

The subject of a major retrospective at the Tate Modern, London, John Baldessari answered questions put to him by Matthew Higgs at the recent Frieze art fair. You can access the Frieze podcast here.

Images: John Baldessari in conversation with Matthew Higgs at Frieze

Calm after the storm

Last year bad news stories circulated around Frieze as dealers faced an art market in free fall and commentators predicted even tougher times ahead for those in the art fair business. You can read a more upbeat account of the 09 edition of the fair here.

Looking before Leaping: Luc Tuymans, Wonderland, 2007, at Zwirner for E1.4m. Photograph: Katherine Hardy, The Art Newspaper