To create a path, a dialogue that involves different artists and to clarify the cultural peculiarities that characterize our country. Today, the Italian Pavilion’s exhibition project in the 55th International Exposition of Arts of the Venice Biennale has been presented. Curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, the project is titled Vice versa and is based on a specific subject – the double.
Fourteen artists are involved – Francesco Arena, Massimo Bartolini, Gianfranco Baruchello, Elisabetta Benassi, Flavio Favelli, Luigi Ghirri, Piero Golia, Francesca Grilli, Marcello Maloberti, Fabio Mauri, Giulio Paolini, Marco Tirelli, Luca Vitone, Sislej Xhafa. About 90% of the artworks will be expressly realized for the Biennale.
The show will be divided into seven rooms – six interior installations and an external installation in the garden – and each room will host two artists that are connected.
Vice versa quotes a Giorgio Agamben’s theory, written in the philosopher’s essay Categorie italiane. Studi di poetica (1996) – to understand the Italian culture it is necessary to identify “a series of particularly combined concepts”, that is able to describe its characteristics. Binomials such as tragedy/comedy, architecture/vagueness, velocity/lightness. “Our art is basically a dialect art, whereas the countries of Northern Europe have a more linear and scientific approach”, Bartolomeo Pietromarchi explained. About the thematic areas, Ghirri and Vitone will face the ambiguous landscape observation; Mauri and Arena will face the history; Golia and Xhafa, the relationship between autobiography and collective imagination; art as illusion will be shown by Paolini and Tirelli; sound and silence (interpreted as censorship) will be the Bartolini and Grilli’s binomial; and eventually, Baruchello and Benassi will examine the tension between the fragment and the system.
Then, a crowdfunding project to support the production of the artworks has been created, it will start February 12th and will be launched through several events in Rome, Milan, London and New York. The funding will let people play an active part in the Biennale, also through the official website of the Italian Pavilion (www.viceversa2013.org). At the end of the show, a final convention is planned, a meeting in which also foreigner critics and professors of other subjects will participate. The same interdisciplinary approach of the catalogue, that will include seven thematic essays written by as many Italian and foreigner intellectuals. A project that runs the risk of making people forget the bad impression of 2011.

Gabriele Girolamini
06.02.2013

The first edition of Frieze New York is taking place in Randall’s Island Park, Manhattan from 4–7 May 2012. Frieze New York is sponsored by Deutsche Bank.

Designed by New York-based SO – IL Architects, Frieze New York will be housed in a bespoke structure and located in a unique setting overlooking the East River.

World’s leading contemporary art galleries

Frieze New York features 180 of the most exciting contemporary galleries working today. A strong American and European contingent of galleries is joined by those from the rest of the world. Galleries that are regular exhibitors at Frieze London are accompanied by those new to Frieze, in particular the young galleries included in Frame, a section dedicated to those established less than six years ago. The New York fair introduces Focus, a section for galleries opened in or after 2001 showing a presentation of up to three gallery artists.

Frieze Projects New York

Frieze New York will also benefit from a program of specially commisioned Projects curated by Cecilia Alemani and produced under the auspices of a non-profit arm. Frieze Projects New York is sponsored by Mulberry with additional support from Outset.

The majority of the Projects are situated outdoors and are located across Randall’s Island. Artists have been invited to react to the exceptional environment of Frieze New York by creating special projects involving the island’s unique geography. The eight artists who will participate in Frieze Projects New York are: John Ahearn, Uri Aran, Latifa Echakhch, Joel Kyack, Rick Moody, Virginia Overton, Tim Rollins and K.O.S. and Ulla von Brandenburg.

Participating Galleries

303 Gallery, New York Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York Air de Paris, Paris The Approach, London art:concept, Paris Alfonso Artiaco, Naples Laura Bartlett Gallery, London Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Berlin Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York Bortolami, New York The Breeder, Athens Broadway 1602, New York Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York Galerie Buchholz, Cologne Cabinet, London Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne carlier |gebauer, Berlin Cheim & Read, New York Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin James Cohan Gallery, New York Sadie Coles HQ, London Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin Galleria Continua, San Gimignano Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan Corvi-Mora, London Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris Massimo De Carlo, Milan Elizabeth Dee, New York Galerie Eigen + Art, Berlin galerie frank elbaz, Paris Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw Galeria Fortes Vilaça, Sao Paulo Marc Foxx, Los Angeles Carl Freedman Gallery, London Stephen Friedman Gallery, London Frith Street Gallery, London Gagosian Gallery, New York Annet Gelink, Amsterdam A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro Greene Naftali, New York greengrassi, London Jack Hanley Gallery, New York Harris Lieberman, New York Hauser & Wirth, New York Herald St, London Xavier Huf kens, Brussels Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo Alison Jacques Gallery, London Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver Casey Kaplan, New York kaufmann repetto, Milan Sean Kelly Gallery, New York Kerlin Gallery, Dublin Anton Kern Gallery, New York Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich Tina Kim Gallery, New York Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York Johann König, Berlin David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna Kukje Gallery, Seoul kurimanzutto, Mexico City Yvon Lambert, Paris Simon Lee Gallery, London Lehmann Maupin, New York Galerie Lelong, New York Lisson Gallery, London Long March Space, Beijing Maccarone, New York Giò Marconi, Milan Metro Pictures, New York Galerie Meyer Kainer, Vienna Meyer Riegger, Karlsruhe Massimo Minini, Brescia Victoria Miro, London Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London The Modern Institute, Glasgow Taro Nasu, Tokyo Galerie Neu, Berlin Galleria Franco Noero, Turin David Nolan Gallery, New York Maureen Paley, London Galerie Perrotin, Paris Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich Galerija Gregor Podnar, Berlin Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich Rampa, Istanbul Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels Regen Projects, Los AngelesRegina Gallery, Moscow Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York Salon 94, New York Esther Schipper, Berlin Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich Sfeir-Semler, Beirut Sies + Höke, Dusseldorf Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv Sprüth Magers Berlin London, Berlin Standard (Oslo), Oslo Stevenson, Cape Town Timothy Taylor Gallery, London Team Gallery, New York Richard Telles, Los Angeles The Third Line, Dubai Triple Canopy, New York Vermelho, Sao Paulo Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles Vilma Gold, London Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen Wallspace, New York Galerie Barbara Weiss, Berlin Michael Werner, New York White Columns, New York White Cube, London Wilkinson, London Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp David Zwirner, New York

Focus

Altman Siegel, San Francisco Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmo Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin Canada, New York Experimenter, Kolkata James Fuentes, New York gb agency, Paris François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles Alexander Gray Associates, New York Galerie Karin Guenther, Hamburg Hollybush Gardens, London Hotel, London, Karma International, Zurich Kimmerich, New York Tanya Leighton, Berlin Leto Gallery, Warsaw Limoncello, London, Kate MacGarry, London Mary Mary, Glasgow Galerie Mezzanin, Vienna Andreiana Mihail Gallery, Bucharest NoguerasBlanchard, Barcelona Overduin and Kite, Los Angeles Galeria Plan B, Cluj, Simon Preston, New York Rodeo, Istanbul Micky Schubert, Berlin Seventeen, London Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York Diana Stigter, Amsterdam, T293, Naples Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris Alex Zachary Peter Currie, New York

Frame

47 Canal, Michele Abeles Ambach & Rice, Ellen Lesperance BaliceHertling, Greg Parma Smith BolteLang, Vanessa Billy Bureau, Justin Matherly Shane Campbell Gallery, Lisa Williamson Crystal, Goldin+Senneby Figge von Rosen Galerie, Jose Dávila Galerie Cinzia Friedlaender, Vincent Vulsma Lüttgenmeijer, Ryan McLaughlin Marcelle Alix, Charlotte Moth Meessen De Clercq, Jorge Méndez Blake Misako & Rosen, Shimon Minamikawa mother’s tankstation, Matt Sheridan Smith Night Gallery, Samara Golden Take Ninagawa, Shinro Ohtake Redling Fine Art, Liz Glynn Renwick Gallery, Talia Chetrit Tang Contemporary Art, He An Steve Turner Contemporary, Antonio Vega Macotela

New York, however, is already home to a thriving contemporary art scene and also has a long-established annual art fair, the Armory Show, held in March. So is there room for another fair? “I’m giving it a big thumbs-up,”?said the art adviser Lisa Schiff. “I came with clients from Boston and we had a great experience.”

The biggest success story of the fair is the vast tent made by SO-IL architects, which snakes along the East River and cleverly turns its back on the shabbier parts of the landscape. Rachel Lehmann of Lehmann Maupin gallery (C10) said: “My Billy Childish [painting] has never looked better; there is excellent light and no shadows.” The layout was just as popular. “It is very visitor-friendly, [and] the sightlines are better than in most events,” said Iwan Wirth of Hauser & Wirth (B6). 

And what of the location, much discussed before the fair opened? Many believed that Manhattanites would not make the journey to Randall’s Island, a place few had set foot on. “Everyone was very negative, but it’s only a $20 cab ride from the city centre,” said Alison Jacques of Alison Jacques Gallery (A25). What remains to be seen is how many people will make the trip twice.


For the most part, the art on offer provided no great surprises, and lacked the quirkiness of the London event and the bling of Art Basel Miami Beach. “I’m surprised some of the big New York galleries didn’t pull off larger-scale or more ambitious stands,” said Jack Hanley of Jack Hanley Gallery (A1).

With stand prices that could reach $65,000, it is unsurprising that dealers hesitated to take major risks. “The art’s quite predictable,” Schiff said, “but that is more the result of the art that’s being made at the moment.”

A fair, however beautiful, cannot survive on its great lighting alone, and dealers have to make sales or build excellent new contacts to want to return. By the middle of Friday, a picture of generally good sales emerged, with Cheim & Read (C36) among the knockout successes. “We sold two pieces in the first two minutes, and two-thirds of our stand before 3pm on the preview day,” said the gallery’s Adam Sheffer. Collectors pounced on Lynda Benglis’s 2,000lb lead sculpture (model from 1969, recast in 1975), two paintings by Chantal Joffe and a Ghada Amer work.

Gagosian Gallery (D4) immediately found buyers for six paintings by Rudolf Stingel, priced at $450,000 each. Xavier Hufkens (B23) reported selling all of his works by Sterling Ruby ($50,000-$200,000) on the first day, while David Zwirner (C46) reported sales totalling $2.13m for the minimalist work on offer.

Victoria Miro (C47) placed four “Infinity Net” works by Yayoi Kusama, including CEJ, 2011, priced at $535,000. On the preview day, Cologne’s Galerie Gisela Capitain (B19) sold an untitled 1996 work by Martin Kippenberger to a US collector for more than €1m. Shane Campbell Gallery (R17) had success with Lisa Williamson ($12,000- $16,000), while in the Focus section for younger galleries, Romania’s Galeria Plan B (F7) sold Adrian Ghenie’s Pie Fight Interior 3, 2012, for $110,000. 

At a more modest price level, the London-based artist Djordje Ozbolt was popular at the Japanese gallery Taro Nasu (C25), where six works sold, and more pieces priced at £9,000 found buyers with London’s Herald Street (A30). Fifteen paintings by Ivan Seal were sold by Carl Freedman Gallery (C35) for between $5,000 and $11,000. 

Despite these successes, a few galleries said they had made no sales by the end of the second day, while others said business was good but not “epic”. They are banking on the weekend crowd and, more importantly, visitors on Monday, before the contemporary art sales start.

What about the fair’s long-term success? “It is too early to tell,” said Andrew Marsh of Stephen Friedman Gallery (B10). Alison Jacques said: “A fair is only as good as its galleries, and here the quality is top-notch.”