The Alternative Guide to London’s Frieze Week

[image: Risager/flickr]  

It’s that time of the year again: London is preparing for a flood of thousands of art lovers, collectors, gallery owners, artists, experts and critics, pouring into London from all over the world for this week’s Frieze Art Fair.

Naturally, many galleries and curators all across town are putting on their Sunday suit, having prepared exciting shows to attract curious visitors away from Frieze Art Fair and get a share of the pie.

Whilst you’re here (be it as a visitor or as a Londoner) it’s worth having a look around the city and taking the time to explore other options – so Arts Hub has prepared an overview of other more exciting/cheaper/more alternative art events for you!

(If visual art is not your cup of tea, please scroll down for some more tips for those who prefer to escape London’s art-madness.)

Alternative Art Fairs:

1) The Free Art Fair – Central London

The Free Art Fair is an event at which all the work is given away at the end. Instead of art going to the highest bidder or simply to those who can afford it, someone who really loves an artwork will get the chance to have it for free.

This is how it works: You come to the Free Art Fair, look around and decide which piece you would like. Then on Sunday 19 October at 6pm, you come back and decide on one artwork.

The organisers are employing clever and strict rules to prevent unfair techniques and to avoid people taking anything they can get; so if you’re early and have a bit of luck by choosing a work that’s less popular, you might get your draw.

Participating artists are chosen on the strength of their work and are likely to include some of Britain’s best-known and most promising artists.

13-19 Oct
14, 19, 21 New Quebec Street and 5, 8, 16 Seymour Place, Portman Village, London W1H
www.freeartfair.com

2) Kounter Kulture – Old Truman Brewery

Kounter Kulture offers a launch pad for new and established international talent. The free art fair, spread across 11,500 sq ft of the Truman Brewery, offers a variety of artists to fit all tastes, with areas dedicated to Urban Art, Contemporary, Recent Graduates, Chinese Contemporary and the very best from the print world.

Artists include Stuart Semple, Ju$t Another Rich Kid, Miss Bugs, Pure Evil, Hush,Wang Jie, Rob Carter, Josie McCoy, Justine Smith, Will Tuck and Dave White.

15-19 Oct
Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL
www.opus-art.com

Exhibitions:

If you’re not after buying a piece of art but would just like to stroll around and enjoy good art, the following shows are for you:

1) The Future Can Wait – Old Truman Brewery

With 22,000 sq ft of space and installations by 48 artists, The Future Can Wait is London’s largest curated exhibition. Called into life last year to both complement and contrast with Frieze, it is an overview of London’s most promising artists working with painting, video, performance, sculpture and installation.

15-19 Oct
Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL
www.thefuturecanwait.com

2) James Cauty & Son, Splatter – The Aquarium L-13

Imagine Bugs Bunny and a lot of blood; expect popular cartoon characters engaging in shocking cartoon violence: James Cauty (founder member of the revolutionary pop groups The Orb, The JAMMS, KLF and art organisations KFoundation and Blacksmoke, amongst others) has worked alongside his 15-year-old son on this new project, employing hijacked popular cartoon characters and liberated animations to violent, shocking and entertaining ends, all of which will be part of their own specialist cartoon art gift shop.

10 Oct – 8 Nov,
The Aquarium L-13, 63 Farringdon Road, London EC1M 3JB
www.theaquariumonline.co.uk

3) Stuart Semple, Cult of Denim - Selfridges

One of Britain’s hottest talents, Pop Artist Stuart Semple, has entered a creative collaboration with 8 of the leading denim brands.

A collection of his new works, painted on vintage denim and stretched like canvas, will be exhibited at Selfridges in order to pay tribute to the iconic fabric.

17 Oct – 15 Nov
Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street, London W1A 1AB
www.stuartsemple.com

4) Hamra Abbas, The Adventure of the Woman in Black - Green Cardamom

Pakistani sculptural artist Hamra Abbas is known for discussing issues of cultural property and stereotypes. The highlight of this exhibition of her new work is Woman in Black, a 7-foot sculpture of an Islamic woman transformed into superhero status, thus representing an exaggerated character that is a hybrid of a Western conventional female superhero (emphasising her voluptuous sexuality) and Islamic iconography.

14 Oct – 28 Nov
Green Cardamom , 5a Porchester Place, London W2 2BS
www.greencardamom.net

Non-Visual Art Tips:

1) Dance: MOMIX Lunar Sea – Peacock Theatre

Groundbreaking American dance theatre company MOMIX is returning to the UK with their show Lunar Sea, which had captivated the imagination of UK audiences during its 2006 run.

Lunar Sea uses black light theatre techniques to create an entrancing, ethereal world in which 10 dancer-illusionists in fluorescent costumes seem to be exempt from the laws of gravity.

Experience the astonishing inventiveness, playful humour and physical beauty that are the hallmarks of MOMIX.

7-25 Oct
Peacock Theatre, Portugal Street, London WC2A 2HT
www.sadlerswells.com

2) Film: The Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival – BFI Southbank and Central London Cinemas

The Times BFI London Film Festival showcases the best new films from around the world. You can choose from an overwhelming variety of films and events being shown and taking place all around Central London. Enjoy fresh, alternative and thought-provoking cinema and take part in celebrating film as a powerful art form.

15-30 Oct
BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, London SE1
www.bfi.org.uk

3) Music: F-ire Collective’s Jazz-Festival – Kings Place

This free-thinking jazz mini-festival, organised by the F-ire Collective, features jazz collectives from all over the world ranging from one-time Mercury nominees through to emerging talents from Denmark, Paris, Brussels and Berlin. There will also be CD launches, talks, films and workshops for young and old.

15-18 Oct
Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG
www.f-ire.com