As New York begins to ease restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic, what has become known as “Frieze Week” remains a scaled-down affair, with fewer events and satellite fairs happening around the city. But the Cube Art Fair—an enterprise of the Belgian art dealer Gregoire Vogelsang—has managed to pivot their event accordingly to offer a hybrid physical and virtual experience throughout the streets of Manhattan. Vogelsang has dubbed the event the “world’s largest public art fair”.
Throughout the week, more than 100 artworks by 40 established and emerging artists will be displayed in more than 100 kiosks, news stands, bus stops and billboards across the city. The centrepiece of the event is a 12,000 sq ft billboard in the heart of Times Square that will rotate works by various artists, including the Toronto-based artist Laura Jane Petelko, whose explores themes around isolation and nature amid an increasingly digital world.
The event, which has been previously held in Brussels and Miami, aims to provide a respite from the typically lusterless online viewing room format. “We came up with the idea of taking art and displaying it to everyone in the hope to inspire people not only to stay safe but also to stay creative,” Vogelsang tells The Art Newspaper.
Other artists featured in the fair include the New York-based artist Sam Tufnell, the Danish fashion photographer Kenneth Willardt, and the French-Mexican photographer Patricia de Solages. Each work is accompanied with QR code that leads viewers to a website where artists can sell their works in NFT or physical formats. The artworks will be on view starting this evening until 9 May.