Details of Frieze New York 2024’s Performance-Themed Program

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Frieze has revealed details of programming for the 12th edition of Frieze New York, taking place at The Shed from May 1–5. This year’s program centers New York’s rich heritage of performance, with collaborations with four defining arts organizations: Performance Space, Artists Space, Rockefeller Center and High Line Art. 

Christine Messineo, Director of Americas, Frieze, said: “I look forward to our new partnerships with the High Line, with whom we have co-commissioned a site-specific work by Matty Davis, and Performance Space New York, presenting a video work by Chella Man. We also continue long-standing relationships with Artists Space and Art Production Fund this year: instrument-builder and musician Ellen Fullman will perform on a string instrument that spans an entire gallery at Artists Space, and together with the Art Production Fund and Rockefeller Center, Frieze will mount interactive public art in the Rock’s famous rink.”

Matty Davis, Die No Die (The High Line)

Artist and choreographer Matty Davis is presenting Die No Die (The High Line), a site-responsive work co-commissioned by High Line Art and Frieze and undertaken by Davis and five collaborators on the evenings of April 30, May 1 and May 2 during Frieze Week. Davis’s works, characterized by their intense physicality and choreography, are often orchestrated to be directly responsive and engaged with his audience. Each performance of Die No Die will see the artists and audience traverse the High Line together, from the southern entrance, passing by The Shed, to the park’s end at the Spur. 

Throughout the High Line, April 30, May 1, May 2, 5pm

Chella Man, The Device That Turned Me into a Cyborg Was Born the Same Year I Was

Chella Man’s 2023 film will be presented on Level 4 of The Shed in a new collaboration with Performance Space New York. Originally commissioned by NOWNESS in an editorial collaboration with The Powerhouse Museum, the short considers Man’s relationship with their cochlear implant and the continuum of existence between the deaf and hearing worlds. The film is a bridge to Man’s performance Autonomy, coinciding with the fair on Thursday, May 2 at Performance Space New York. Autonomy is co-presented with the Jewish Museum, where Man’s work will be on view as part of Overflow, Afterglow: New Work in Chromatic Figuration, a group show opening on May 24, 2024.

Ellen Fullman, Long String Instrument

In collaboration with Frieze, Artists Space will present a performance by composer Ellen Fullman with the Long String Instrument: an installation comprising dozens of tuned strings 50 feet or longer, which effectively turn architectural spaces into one-off musical instruments. Fullman has been refining the Long String Instrument for more than four decades. Moving among its strings, she plays it by “bowing” with her rosin-coated fingertips. The performance will take place on the evening of Friday, May 3 at Artists Space in Tribeca.

Artists Space, May 3, 7pm (invitation only), 9pm

Sharif Farrag, Gotham Grinders: Hamster Wheel

Following its appearance in “Set Seen,” curated by Art Production Fund at Frieze Los Angeles 2024, Sharif Farrag’s playful, interactive project makes its East Coast debut. Free and open to the public, Gotham Grinders: Hamster Wheel invites participants to the Rink at Rockefeller Center to race R/C cars customized by Farrag with ceramic hamster heads, custom vanity plates and vintage patches. Aided by a pit crew sporting artist-designed suits, the work comments on the hamster wheel of hustle culture and the pursuit of success, work and wealth.

Rink at the Rockefeller Center, May 2, 7pm–9pm (invitation only); May 3, 5pm–7pm; May 4, 1pm–4pm

Vote.org

For the third consecutive year, Vote.org will be on-site at Frieze New York, registering voters and celebrating Plan Your Vote. This initiative, created in partnership with Christine Messineo, leverages the visual languages of artists to encourage Americans to register and vote, and it has generated more than 20 million media impressions and more than 10,000 voter verifications and registrations since its inception. Visitors to Frieze New York can engage with Vote.org’s “BANNED” activation, which distributes water bottles inscribed with the word to raise awareness about voter suppression tactics like the Georgia law forbidding the distribution of food and drink at polling stations. 

Printed Matter Inc.

Founded in 1976, Printed Matter, Inc. is the world’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to artists’ books and related publications. It returns to Frieze New York with a pop-up in the lobby bookshop area, showcasing contemporary artists’ books along with a curated selection of editions and rare and out-of-print publications.

Frieze Library

The annual initiative, organized with Gordon Robichaux for the sixth time, invites Frieze New York’s participating galleries to each donate a publication to the Thomas J. Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The submissions will be on display at the fair on Level 8, with a bibliography of contributions available on frieze.com, and subsequently donated to the Met.

Further Information

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^{Main image: Matty Davis, Die No Die (The High Line), 2024. A Co-Commission by High Line Art and Frieze. Photo by Jonah Rosenberg}

Frieze New York is presented with Global Lead Partner Deutsche Bank, reflecting a shared commitment to artistic excellence for over 20 years.