Frieze visitors are prepared to suffer in the name of art, but asking them to part with their phones might just be a step too far… This is the high-risk enterprise being enacted by the artist Amalia Ulman at Arcadia Missa’s stand (FL, L3) where, in order to enter the elegantly draped, red-carpeted booth to view a video essay charting the feminine history of diary writing, visitors first have to hand over their phones to a pair of young, beautiful, but infinitely stern lady gatekeepers. This gentle enforcement maintains the intimate but ultimately coercive theme of the work. A sturdy lock traditionally enforced the secrecy of female diaries containing painful thoughts, and likewise, visitors’ phones—and all the secrets they hold—will be securely guarded until their owners, whether men or women, come to claim them.
A high-tech waterfall flows at Frieze
A special kind of waterfall will flow at Frieze London this week (rest assured, visitors will not get a dousing). This particular waterway comes courtesy of the Chinese artist Li Jinghu who asked residents living in tenements across Dongguan, in southern China, to film running water in their homes. This cascade of water was captured on a series of cheap mobile phones that have been joined together, forming a 21st-century deluge. Collectors keen on acquiring this cheeky hi-tech shower, Waterfall (2015), should head to Leo Xu Projects (FL, H20) at the fair.
When in doubt, hang from the ceiling One way to stand out during Frieze week is to dangle from the ceiling of a gallery. So all eyes will be on the UK performance artist Millie Brown, who will be suspended for four hours a day, starting tomorrow, at Gazelli Art House “during the busiest week in the art scene”, according to a press statement. Brown will hang within the cloud of crystal prisms of her Rainbow Body piece, which uses “performance and light as a non-traditional method of ‘painting’ the gallery space”. Brown is known for previously vomiting green paint over Lady Gaga live on stage, so let’s hope her stomach settles in time for her high-altitude feat.
The ICA embraces Japanese acid punk
This week the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) Theatre has been transformed into a glittering, mirrored extravaganza, courtesy of the Chinese artist Zhang Ding, who says he was inspired by the final scene from the seminal Bruce Lee film, Enter the Dragon, in which two combatants fight it out in a mirrored chamber. With support from the K11 Art Foundation, Zhang Ding has substituted physical violence for a changing programme of performers who will go head to head in an aural stand-off, in what he describes as a “mutating sound sculpture”. The project kicked off yesterday with a double-header from the Japanese acid punk band Bo Ningen and the dance musician Powell. “It looks like Studio 54 but it sure sounds different,” a mature collector was heard to comment.
Marmots are a video artist's best friend
The US video-art titan Bill Viola is making his presence felt in the UK, with a show of works at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (until 10 April 2016) and the launch yesterday of his 1979 sound installation, The Talking Drum, at the Vinyl Factory Space in Soho, London. Another monumental 1970s piece of his—comprising a body of water, film projections and sound elements—launches at the Blain Southern gallery in London today (until 21 November). Moving Stillness (Mt Rainier) (1979) is a sweeping panorama of this natural wonder, which is the highest peak in Washington state. “Bill spent a week camping out in Mount Rainier National Park to get the film he needed for this powerful meditative piece,” says a gallery spokesman. The illustrious artist also points out that he was at one with nature in so many ways. “I made friends with many marmots,” he says, striking a blow for giant ground squirrels the world over.
