Issue 240
January/February 2024

‘I love to work between the cracks and try to open things up and find new forms’ Meredith Monk

In the January/February issue of frieze, composer Marina Rosenfeld speaks to artist Meredith Monk as she celebrates six decades of creating art, and Edna Bonhomme visits artist Ellen Gallagher at her Rotterdam studio as her solo show opens at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum.

Conversation: Marina Rosenfeld and Meredith Monk

‘To me, what sound does in space is primary – how do you make a room sing?’ The artist and composer discuss the power of sound in space and the importance of taking risks.

Profile: Ellen Gallagher

‘Devotion is part of the constellation of Gallagher’s process, but so is exploration.’ Edna Bonhomme visits the aesthetically versatile artist at her Rotterdam studio.

Also featuring  

In ‘1,500 Words’, Goshka Macuga reflects on how Rose Finn-Kelcey remains a potent influence on her own work; John-Baptiste Oduor analyses the politics of producing and critiquing Black figurative art; and Kim Gordon, Chris Kraus, Erica Mahinay, Paul Sepuya Mpagi, Reynaldo Rivera and Jackie Wang pen love letters to Los Angeles.

Columns: Sleight of Hand   

Christina Catherine Martinez visits the renowned Magic Castle members club in Los Angeles; Franklin Melendez delves into the loving craftsmanship of Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron (2023); assistant editor Lisa Yin Zhang writes about Xiyadie’s enchanting paper cut-outs; and Juliana Halpert interviews artist Kate Mosher Hall. Plus, associate editor Marko Gluhaich speaks to Aparelhamento about Ocupação 9 de Julho, a São Paulo organisation aiming to guarantee the constitutional right to housing, political and social reform.

Finally, Stephanie Seidel responds to a single work by Betye Saar, Kim Gordon contributes to our new series of artist ‘to-do’ lists and the latest iteration of our Lonely Arts column.

From this issue

The Sunset Strip seduces Kim Gordon, while Chris Kraus prefers MacArthur Park

The greatest trick of the Los Angeles members club is making itself invisible

The artist’s paper cut-outs use subversive techniques to reveal utopian ideals

BY Lisa Yin Zhang |

The legendary artist in conversation about powerful sounds and taking creative risks

BY Marina Rosenfeld AND ​Meredith Monk |

For this network of artists and activists, art serves as a shield against looming evictions

BY Marko Gluhaich |

The artist’s paintings occupy the space between presenting and withholding

BY ​Juliana Halpert |

An analysis of the production, interpretation and critique of Black figuration

BY John-Baptiste Oduor |

A look back on the evolution of the artist’s shapeshifting Celestial Universe

BY Stephanie Seidel |

Edna Bonhomme visits the aesthetically versatile artist at her Rotterdam studio

BY Edna Bonhomme |

Touted as his final film, the animation indulges nostalgia to unravel the myths of making

BY Franklin Melendez |

Reflecting on the artist’s enduring influence as her flag flies over Tate Britain in London

BY Goshka Macuga |

At The Treehouse, Lagos, the artist evokes the Yoruba concept of àse into visions of men enacting rituals in dialogue with unseen gods

BY Emmanuel Balogun |

At Amant, New York, a survey of the artist's work commemorates the verse of poets censured by governments through sculpture and installations

BY Jasmine Liu |

At Anca Poterasu Gallery, Bucharest, an exhibition dedicated to a little-known Romanian artist uses re-creation to comprehend those whose life stories are lost to history

BY Louisa Elderton |

The artist’s retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey, Mexico, celebrates a three-decade career that mines the complexities of Mexican culture

BY Terence Trouillot |

At Museum Tinguely, Basel, the artist’s interactive exhibition highlights the importance of food as a carrier of cultural identity

BY Ann Mbuti |

The artist’s smoky painted world at Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris opens an a-historic space for female pleasure

BY Hettie Judah |

At Tai Kwun, Hong Kong, the artist presents ‘live commissions’ that posit a relational fix to our fragmented media environment

BY Harry Burke |

A show at Alison Jacques highlights the artist’s technical prowess and use of colour, but lacks critical discussion of her processes

BY Tom Jeffreys |

An exhibition at Gagosian in London unearths a deathly yet exultant quality in the artist’s early photographic works

BY Andrew Durbin |

At Moderna Museet, Malmo, a homecoming retrospective dedicated to the artist struggles to convey her relational approach to creating

BY Zoe Cooper |

At Museion, Bolzano, 'HOPE' aims to stimulate individual and collective imaginations

BY Giovanna Manzotti |

At Kunstverein in Hamburg, the artist uses the format of the contract for a series of sculptural provocations

BY Maximiliane Leuschner |

A new film at The Showroom in London unravels a complex and vital history, but covers too much ground

BY Crystal Bennes |

At Stevenson Amsterdam, it is impossible to overlook the humanity portrayed in the artist's imaginary figures

 

BY Andrew Pasquier |

At Eastside Projects, Birmingham, the artist and their collaborators create an intricate labyrinth of video games, alien pods and fungal species

BY Cathy Wade |

The 39 artists of the sixth edition both capture and prompt tender interactions that tease out overlooked histories across the city

BY Armando Pulido |

At Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, a retrospective dedicated to the eccentric artist showcases his all-consuming pursuit of perfection and beauty

BY Ana Vukadin |

At Canal Projects, New York, the artist’s site-specific multi-media installation argues for the unrelenting humanity of workers

BY Diana Seo Hyung Lee |

A group show at Stephen Friedman Gallery’s new spaces celebrates animalism, originality and freedom

BY Chloë Ashby |

By exploring moral ‘grey zones’, Graz’s annual festival dips into murky waters

BY Kathrin Heinrich |

At Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens, the artist’s multimedia works communicate the visual language where immigrant, queer and artist communities overlap

BY Xenia Benivolski |

A group exhibition at Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, reconfigures our engagement with the structures and systems that support and shelter us

BY Chris Murtha |

In a live commission and a new video work at CARA, New York, the artist complicates embodied histories of racialization, violence and resistance

BY Mariana Fernández |

At Chisenhale Gallery in London, the artist explores the disquieting potential of waiting rooms, doctors' offices and sickbeds

BY Dylan Huw |

Multi-media sculptures and a video work installed at the Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul, create a playfully immersive environment

BY Hayoung Chung |

At Green Art Gallery, Dubai, a group exhibition underscores the significance of textile art and its ability to weave together a narrative of meaning

BY Yalda Bidshahri |

At Regen Projects, Los Angeles, the artist’s multi-media works explore the similarities between entertainment and state oppression

BY Claudia Ross |

At Soft Opening, London, Hendrickje Schimmel challenges linear constructs of creation and usage by manipulating end-of-life materials

BY Kimi Zarate-Smith |

At Gagosian, New York, paintings that blend surrealism and social realism depict the disaffection of modern workers

BY Will Fenstermaker |

At David Zwirner, New York, plants drawn from Eastern Nigeria and Los Angeles coexist with figures and settings sourced from magazines, books and family photographs

BY Zoë Hopkins |