Competition is always fierce at Frieze, but this year the art-world rat race begins before visitors even enter the tent. On the athletic field adjacent to the fair, the Los Angeles-based artist Sharif Farrag has created a literal Rat Race (2024), a racing competition featuring rodent sculptures constructed atop remote-control cars, which visitors are invited to race around a track; winners get a ceramic trophy made by the artist. Mid-race collisions are expected, Farrag says, but he doesn’t mind. “They’ll break during the race,” he says of his rats. “Some of the noses are already chipping.”
For his Art Production Fund commission, Farrag created what he calls a “joyous play on competition and survival”. He made a total of 15 rats with ceramic heads, hubcaps and vanity licence plates on stuffed-animal bodies covered with felt patches. Three rats are in display cases outside the Frieze tent; the rest are for racing. They all have different personalities: there is the stoner with bloodshot eyes, the Los Angeles stereotype covered in palm trees, the old rat with giant unkempt eyebrows and Bubblegum (Farrag’s favourite) with its pink face, matching butterfly patch and distinctive fangs.
During the first races on Thursday, rats flipped in turns, their tails waving as they sped down the track gathering bits of artificial grass. There were several pileups, and a contestant was heard complaining of a “bum wheel” on his remote-controlled rodent. The three-lap race ended in under five minutes. “Art won!” yelled an enthusiastic runner-up at the finish line. The final races take place on Saturday afternoon; visitors are encouraged to reserve a spot on Frieze’s website.