Frieze Art Fair 2008
2008
Location: London, UK
Client: Frieze Art Fair
Project Status: Exhibition Design
The tent that houses the Frieze Art Fair is more or less fixed by the area available in Regents Park and by the layout and number of galleries. The task for the architect is to have ideas for the entrance and special areas within the Fair, so that each year has it own distinctive character. Whereas previous editions of the Fair have added elements to make the entrance, and at the same time as pushing the presence of the tents into the background. For the sixth edition, we thought that it would be possible to make something of the tents themselves.
For the entrance we completely opened up the gable end of the southern most tent. We made this end elevation transparent so that when you approach the Fair you can see deep into the tent, like cutting a section through the Fair. We have also extended the flooring of the tent outwards, to form a public space under the trees and between the entrance and the ticket booth. This will be a place to wait for friends and is the site for some of the Frieze Projects. We have also stripped back the interior, removing the scrim ceiling so that one can appreciate the repetitive structure of the huge tents. This gives more height and a sense of orientation to the interior.
To counter these acts of removing we dressed the special spaces, the restaurant, the cafes, and the VIP room with richly coloured felt curtains, these provide focussed moments of luxury. The VIP room is the richest of these areas, where the curtains come together to almost form rooms, producing a relaxed ‘club’ atmosphere. All of the colours of the Fair are present in this one space. Established and Sons provided the furniture for this area, including ‘Table 2750x900’ and ‘Spike Island’, designed by Caruso St John. The ‘Easy’ chairs and sofas have been upholstered in Star, a new fabric by Kvadrat.