5 Shows to See Around London During Frieze

ARTnews

The circus has rolled into town. Frieze London and Frieze Masters open their doors to the VIPs today, but are London’s fairs fast becoming an amuse-bouche for the feast that will be Art Basel Paris next week? Many think so. The art market has been cooling for a while, and the temperature change is particularly acute in the UK with several galleries axing staff or folding. London’s grip on big ticket sales is also loosening. But the cultural institutions, houses, and Frieze remain defiant in the face of new competition across the channel. Talk of direct competition with Art Basel Paris is being played down. Eva Langret, Frieze London’s artists director, recently said she thinks “there’s space for the two cities to be great together.”

 

For anyone who wants a break from the drama, there are loads of impressive gallery and institutional exhibitions opening in London this week. Despite all the talk of London’s art market decline, the city remains a major player. Below a look at the best on offer around town.

 

 

Mire Lee at Tate Modern

Standing in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall when it’s empty is an experience, but entering the space after it’s been reimagined as an industrial womb, this long gallery is haunting, disturbing, and above all brilliant. Many artists would fold at the task of turning the massive space into something compelling, but Mire Lee, who showed at the 2022 Venice Biennale and had an acclaimed New Museum solo in 2023, has created a monster—and it’s excellent. 

 

Titled “Open Wound,” a huge, grinding turbine is suspended as the centerpiece of the installation, with pink fleshy hides drape along it. It’s gross, but I found it hard to stop staring. The machine is a reference to Tate Modern’s original use as a power station (it housed coal and oil-fired turbines). Other skeletal forms hang around it, also covered in the giant skins. Have they been peeled off humans, or do they represent something more disturbing? The work is open to interpretation, but it certainly feels like Lee is forecasting our impending extinction. 

 

 

—George Nelson

October 9, 2024
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