Frieze London: Reflecting on Two Decades of Contemporary Art

“We were too young and stupid to anticipate what was coming,” recalls Frieze cofounder Amanda Sharp. Together with Matthew Slotover, Sharp created what would become the art fair to which all those who animate the world of contemporary art would flock. Frieze London, the first of four international fairs held by the art platform, just celebrated its 20th anniversary in October.

The story of Frieze begins June of 1991, when Slotover teamed up with artist and writer Tom Gidley to found Frieze magazine, with Sharp joining a month later. Their inaugural issue published Damien Hirst’s first interview. In the 1990s, we were always very excited about the prospect of going to Art Basel to discover artists and make friends,” says Sharp. “London was beginning to change a lot—there were galleries opening and art schools producing exciting artists. It was an essential moment for culture in London; the city had much to offer as a prospect for a fair. Apart from the magazines, there was no place to learn about the evolution of art and its trends, unless you were traveling all the time to the Venice Biennale or to Documenta [in Germany]. But there was no meeting point for curators, galleries, artists, and journalists. There was a real need for an international fair to meet these expectations. No one had thought of it, so we took the plunge.” Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries in London, confirms: “In London, since the 1960s, there was a multidisciplinary structure, where the worlds of art, design, and multimedia were intertwined.” The success of the Frieze Art Fair was immediate, with 124 galleries participating in the first edition, and 140 in the second.

Prior to opening Frieze, Sharp and Slotover had no existing relationship with the art market. “We were guided by the playful ambition to create a community of artists, and to offer them a platform,” says Sharp. “We had never met collectors!” Eighteen months before opening, the duo tapped curator Polly Staple to assist with programming.

Though Sharp and Slotover had their initial vision, finding a large and flexible enough space proved challenging. “We did not want to invest in a conference center. We looked at a map of London to see where the green space was....[the fair] needed a central location that was easy to access. Regent’s Park refused at first. Then, strangely enough, they came back to us and agreed,” says Sharp. The team opted to house the fair in an enormous white tent, which has remained in various iterations. “If we had known about the work required, we would have been intimidated... but this choice allowed us to establish our identity and to choose every detail, rather than being dependent on the providers of an already existing space. From an architectural point of view, we were able to be more ambitious.” According to Obrist, the whole city is energized when Frieze Week begins. “This goes far beyond the borders of the big tent where it stands,” he explains.

These days, the art world is less compartmentalized—and also much more stimulating. “I am very curious; research is part of my work,” says Obrist. “Fairs, as a curator, are an aspect of my research, in parallel with studio visits and visits to galleries and museums. They are a bit like encyclopedias. We see emerging artists; they take into consideration that the future is also sold with fragments of the past. Many artists have not had the visibility they deserve. In this age of permanent information, there are forms of amnesia. Frieze Masters focuses on artists who were not exhibited in their time, for example, and that’s very important. [Frieze London and Frieze Masters are sister fairs, with the former presenting primarily work created after the year 2000 and the latter presenting work created pre-2000.] Frieze Masters is where Judy Chicago was brought back to light, in the Riflemaker [gallery booth] in 2013.

Angelina Volk, director of London’s Emalin gallery, points out that Frieze, beyond its global identity, has also kept its promises in terms of highlighting new talent. "The week after we opened in 2016, we participated in Frieze. There are aids for young galleries, offering them a visibility essential to their growth. Frieze also enables institutional initiatives, such as Art Enterprise, the Frieze Tate Fund, and the Contemporary Art Society Fund.”

This benevolent spirit drives Eva Langret, Frieze London’s current Artistic Director: “I want to perpetuate this unique legacy, this work of support for artists and galleries...I want to remember where Frieze came from and adapt this original DNA to the contemporary world.” To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fair, Langret set up a new program, Artist-to-Artist, in which eight established artists—including Tracey Emin, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Olafur Eliasson—chose a young artist to receive a solo exhibition at Frieze London.

"The art world works as an ecosystem,” explains Langret. “It is made up of several parts: art schools, studios, fairs, NGOs, foundations. What interests me is to make sure that all this data contributes to the success of Frieze, and to highlight the community that this fair has represented since its beginning, with partnerships with institutions such as the Tate Modern, the Camden Art Centre, and the Contemporary Art Society, to ensure that the whole world of art benefits from Frieze’s approach.”