Warming Up for Frieze

London’s Frieze Art Fair may last only four days in October, but as with many fairs, the activities spill over into more than a week. Here, a lineup of exhibits to catch and things to do in London from Tuesday, October 14, to Thursday, October 23.On October 14, two major exhibitions open at the Tate Modern. The first is an installation by the French artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. Part of the Unilever Series, which commissions artists to create installations in Turbine Hall — previous artists have included Rachel Whiteread, Anish Kapoor, and Olafur Eliasson — the work is Ms. Gonzalez-Foerster’s first British commission. Details are being closely held, but Ms. Gonzales-Foerster is known for creating immersive environments, including one work that simulated the sounds of a tropical rainstorm.The second exhibition opening at the Tate Modern on October 14 is a retrospective of the Brazilian sculptor and installation artist Cildo Meireles. Mr. Meireles had an exhibition at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in 1999; this is his first major exhibition in Britain. In the 1960s and ’70s, Mr. Meireles criticized Brazil’s repressive military regime with conceptual, and often participatory, art. In 1970, for example, he stamped money with politically charged slogans, then put the money back into circulation by using it to pay his rent or buy groceries.You could spend all day October 15 checking out other shows in town: Josiah McElheny at White Cube in Hoxton Square; Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at Haunch of Venison; Michael Landy at Thomas Dane Gallery; Philip Pearlstein at Victoria Miro Gallery; Rodney Graham at Whitechapel, and Guillermo Kuitca at Hauser & Wirth.That evening is the private viewing of Frieze, which opens to the public the next morning. In addition to the approximately 150 international galleries exhibiting at the fair, there is a program of site-specific commissions, curated by Neville Wakefield, and an exhibition in an adjacent sculpture park, curated by David Thorp. The artists commissioned to create pieces for this year’s fair are Cory Arcangel, Pavel Büchler, Ceal Floyer, Tue Greenfort, Sharon Hayes, Jeppe Hein, Norma Jeane, Agnieszka Kurant, Bert Rodriguez, Allen Ruppersberg, and Andreas Slominski. The winner of the 2008 Cartier Award — a particularly prestigious commission — is the young Cuban artist Wilfredo Prieto.When your pocketbook gets tired, head to Tate Britain for the retrospective of Francis Bacon, which will include some of his most famous paintings from different periods of his career, including his portrait of Pope Innocent X and triptychs such as “Three Studies for a Crucifixion.” Also worth visiting: Somerset House’s “Wouldn’t it be nice: Wishful thinking in art and design.”For Warhol fans, the Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre has a show of Warhol films, screen tests, videos, and television programs. The Serpentine Gallery is showing a new major work by Gerhard Richter, “4900 Colours,” which is composed of small monochrome squares that can be rearranged to form different kaleidoscopic patterns. Until October 19, you can also explore the Serpentine Gallery’s 2008 Summer Pavilion: an eccentric steel, timber, and wood structure designed by Frank Gehry. On October 18, Serpentine hosts the last of its annual series of outdoor concerts and programs, Park Nights.With any luck, your purse will have recovered by the weekend, when Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Phillips de Pury, and Bonham’s all hold auctions of postwar and Contemporary art. The economic news in recent months has led many to wonder if the art market has peaked, but the market hasn’t showed many signs of slowing yet. It will be interesting to see what the houses can drum up for their October sales, and what bidding is like.London certainly goes all out for Frieze, coordinating important openings at venues around the city in a way that New York has never managed to do for the Armory Show. If you can stomach the exchange rate, there’s lots to do, and buy.The Frieze Art Fair runs October 16 to October 19.

Warming Up for Frieze

Warming Up for Frieze

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