First New York Fair housed in ground breaking avant garde structure
The Frieze Art Fair, which makes it debut in New York, on 4 May, has announced details of the architecture that will house its first New York fair. Employing a distinct snake-shaped structure, Frieze New York will be designed by New York-based SO – IL architects. Frieze New York is sponsored by Deutsche Bank. Frieze will benefit from the same architectural approach that has made Frieze Art Fair, London one of the world’s leading art fairs. Since the founding of Frieze Art Fair in 2003, the design of the bespoke temporary space has been an important feature. At its London fair Frieze has employed a series of internationally recognized architectural firms: Carmody Groarke (2011), Caruso St John (2008-2010), Jamie Fobert (2006–2007) and David Adjaye (2003-2005).
Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu is an idea-based design studio of ten people, founded in 2008 by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu and based in Brooklyn. Recent projects include the Province Hall in Antwerp, Belgium; offices for production company Logan in SoHo, New York and a public square in Manama, Bahrain. SO – IL’s design for a gallery building for Kukje in Seoul, South Korea is listed for completion in early April 2012. The practice has won numerous prizes such as the MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program as well as the AIA NY Young Practices Award, both in 2010.
Idenburg and Liu observed of the design process: ‘A first challenge was to establish the structure as an icon, beyond being a very large tent. With the ambition to relax and open up what would otherwise be a rigorous system, we devised a slightly mutated pie-shaped tent section, using “wedges” which we inserted into the structure at five locations. From the outside, they allow us to bend the otherwise straight tent into a meandering, supple, shape.’
SO – IL’s design for Frieze New York takes into account the environment in which the fair is situated. Commenting on their intention to incorporate both the East River front setting of the fair and Randall’s Island itself, Idenburg and Liu said: ‘New York in May is one of the brightest cities we know of. We hope that the Frieze tent makes this island riverfront alive and vice versa in this luminous moment.’
Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover said of their choice to work with SO – IL architects: ‘SO–IL’s previous projects have shown an inventive approach that we instantly found appealing. Having worked with a series of architects in London we have a reputation for commissioning forward-thinking design and we wanted to bring a similar approach to our first New York fair. SO- IL’s designs for Frieze New York are a solution that demonstrates a thorough understanding of how the fair works at the same time as being a structure that promises to genuinely excite.’
Frieze New York is a carefully selected presentation of over 170 of the world’s leading contemporary art galleries and will take place 4–7 May 2012. This is the most exciting contemporary art fair to launch in years. To be part of this event: Visit Frieze New York Here
Find out about Frieze Art Fair in London here