ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

11 years, 9 months ago - janus avivson

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FRIEZE ART FAIR
This year’s Frieze Art Fair took place, as usual, in Regent’s Park, 17-20 October. Founded in 2003 by Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, it quickly became a most important contemporary art event in London, and second, after Basel Art Fair, in Europe, if not the world.

Over the past 10 years the fair grew enormously and at present its program includes about 160 commercial galleries’ stands in the main pavilion, Frieze Masters, Sculpture Park and various Frieze Projects, especially commissioned programs presented annually. There are Frieze Talks and even a Frieze London Mobile App.
There are also Frieze Films, this time co-commissioned with Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. The filmmakers are: Petra Cortright and Erika Vogt, Americans from Los Angeles, London based Peter Gidal and Patricia Lennox-Boys, and Oraib Toukan, according to the cataloque, currently living in Rammallah.

It seems to me that this is a perfect time for short art- and experimental films, and many art galleries strive to include them in their program. The quality of films generally is not very good, as many visual artists are not well trained to make films, nevertheless they choose this medium in order to express themselves, knowing that their work has a high chance to be screened in prestigious galleries and museums all over the word. I witnessed the same phenomenon repeating itself over the last ten years or more at Dokumenta Kassel and Venice Biennale, to mention only the two most important venues.

I remember that I had voiced my call already here, and the call is:
I suggest that filmmakers, who think that their short films would fall into experimental category, submit their films to leading contemporary art galleries in London and elsewhere. I am sure that this is an excellent way to get an exposure and use it as a fundraiser for further work, and to establish a track record in order break into film festivals. And why not?

Janus Avivson