Moniker Art Fair
Truman Brewery, London, 5–8 October
For the eighth year running, the Moniker Art Fair brings a heretical edge to Frieze week with its offering of urban and street art, housed at the Old Truman Brewery in east London. This year’s theme is ‘Transient Tales’ and visitors are invited to trace the origins of urban contemporary art all the way back to the 1920s in the wake of the Great Depression. This year, the fair plays host to an industry conference, a local print giveaway and site-specific installations by Bill Daniel, Ian Kuali’i and Laurence Vallières.
Cardboard Sculpture by Laurence Vallières, at Moniker Art Fair
The Other Art Fair
Truman Brewery, London, 5–8 October
Sharing the Truman Brewery space with Moniker is The Other Art Fair, another stalwart of Frieze week. It defines itself among the glut of fairs by promoting the practices of individual artists rather than galleries. One-hundred-and-thirty artists from around the world have been selected this year by a panel of industry experts: watch out for the mixed-media works of Armenian-born Nairi Afrikyan, who explores how visual images can bear witness to absence and loss; as well as Alice Watt’s paintings, which are inspired by landscapes in New Zealand.
The Other Art Fair. Photo: Reed Photographic
1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair
Somerset House, London, 5–8 October
As the name suggests, 1:54 champions the emerging artistic talent from the 54 countries on the African continent. For its fifth London edition, the fair boasts a guest-curated film programme entitled History is Not Mine by the South African Goodman Gallery, which promises to delve into contested and forgotten historical narratives from around Africa. Films to watch out for include Angolan artist Kiluanji Kia Henda’s Havemos de Voltar (We Shall Return), a rallying call for Africans to reclaim their heritage. If you’re dropping by Somerset House on Sunday, you can catch Hans Ulrich Obrist in conversation with Emmanuel Iduma, co-curator of the Nigerian Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale.
Michael Garnette Sittin’ © Hassan Hajjaj. Special Projects, 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair
The Serpentine Marathon
City Hall, London, 7 October
Conceived of by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the Serpentine Marathon is an intense cultural tour de force that invites audiences to join in over 12 hours of talks and discussions on topics pertinent to contemporary society. This year, the theme of the marathon is GUEST, GHOST, HOST: MACHINE! and will see a convention of artists, scientists, AI developers, anthropologists, filmmakers and musicians probe the impact of artificial intelligence and its relationship to human development. Topics under discussion include drone warfare and the biopolitical economies of automation. Should you fail to make your way to City Hall to watch the debates in action, there’s always the option of viewing the live stream online at radio.serpentinegalleries.org.
Amnesia Scanner, 2017, part of the Serpentine Marathon 2017. Photo: Alba Ruperez
Sunday Art Fair
Ambika P3, London, 5–8 October
The sprawling underground space at Ambika P3 will be transformed into an exhibition area for the Sunday Art Fair (which, contrary to what the name suggests, isn’t open only on Sunday). Somewhat the opposite of The Other Art Fair, Sunday is a gallery-led affair that allows new and emerging galleries to present themselves to the public. Vigo’s PM 8 and Madrid-based The Goma are two interesting international ventures to watch out for this year.
Artists’ films at the BFI London Film Festival
4–15 October
The Experimenta artists’ film presentation forms part of the annual BFI London Film Festival, and coincides happily with Frieze and the Tate’s artist/filmmaker crossover autumn programme. It includes a host of cinematic gems. Several premieres have already received significant hype – these include Redoubtable, Michel Hazanavicius’s biopic of Jean-Luc Godard; Looking for Oum Kulthum, a film by Iranian artist Shirin Neshat about a woman making a film about the eponymous Egyptian vocalist; and a remastered version of Isaac Julien’s famed Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask.
Looking for Oum Kalthum, by Shirin Neshat, part of the BFI London Film Festival 2017