Ahead of London Sculpture Week, which runs from September 21-29, Frieze Sculpture has decorated The Regent’s Park with a litany of formidable and experimental sculptures. It is the largest edition of the public art initiative yet, featuring work from 22 leading international artists hailing from five continents. Heavy hitters Leonora Carrington, Theaster Gates, Libby Heaney, and Yoshitomo Nara are among this edition’s standouts.
Libby Heaney Integrates Quantum Computing Into Hedonistic Art
Libby Heaney has garnered a cult following for her complicated, cerebral art projects, informed by her expertise in quantum computing. At Frieze Sculpture, she is showcasing Ent- (non-earthly delights) (2024), a sculpture inspired by Hieronymus Bosch’s oft-debated psychedelic, hedonistic oil painting The Garden of Earthly Delights (ca. 1500). Here, she manipulates her own watercolor paintings with self-written quantum computing code. Viewers can activate the sculpture via QR codes placed atop Bosch-inspired scenes and see landscapes that seem to shift and breathe. Though quantum computing is based on a non-binary, “queer” logic, promising unparalleled computing power, it also raises severe concerns about surveillance capitalism and the disruption of encryption practices. Continuing Heaney’s exploration of the overlap between human, animal, and machine, this sculptural work is not to be missed.
Leonora Carrington, The Dancer (El Bailarín), 2011, rossogranada. Courtesy of Frieze Sculpture.
Best of Frieze Sculpture 2024
The Dancer (2011) is a bronze sculpture created by Carrington in the year of her passing, displaying an anthropomorphic bird with three eyes and four arms, while Gates showcases The Duet (2023), a pair of elegant, imposing bronze sculptures that stand nearly ten feet tall. Nara’s Ennui Head (2020) is a stunning, ambiguous work, depicting an adolescent’s head enlarged in bronze, cast in urethane, and placed atop a perfect metal slab.
Céline Condorelli, After Work, 2024, Galeria Vera Cortês. Courtesy of Frieze Sculpture.
Curator Fatoş Üstek Encourages a Space for Play
Fatoş Üstek returns as curator, building on the alternately rigorous and sensitive vision she had for the last edition. There is a strong presence from women artists this time around, and Üstek’s emphasis on diversity extends to the sheer breadth of materials and concepts employed across the sculptures.
“This year’s selection pushes our ambition one step further, featuring daring and experimental artistic approaches,” Üstek shared. “It also carves a place for playful encounters, socially and environmentally conscious themes, as well as conceptual and spiritual practices that expand the notion of sculpture in the public realm.”
Fani Parali, AONYX and DREPAN, 2020, Cooke Latham Gallery, *Recipient of the Mtec Bursary. Courtesy of Frieze Sculpture.
The twelfth edition of Frieze Sculpture foregrounds international artistic practices that embrace an expanded notion of sculpture. Elements of sound, light, performance, painting, video, and augmented reality are integrated into the viewers’ experience. Notably, the 2024 edition features 18 new works; it also marks the debut of Bloomberg Connects, a free digital guide comprising exclusive content and an audio tour narrated by Üstek which is accessible throughout the exhibition’s run.
The twelfth edition of Frieze Sculpture is on view until October 27.
