An interview with Frieze Director Victoria Siddall about this year's fairs

Date
16 October 2014

Victoria Siddall has worked at Frieze for just over a decade and two years ago was made Director of Frieze Masters. Excitingly, just a few weeks ago she was appointed Director of Frieze Masters, Frieze New York and Frieze London. As well as being one of the most powerful women in the art world, Victoria is also my sister, so I was curious to find out how she’s feeling on the dawn of her new career.

As you can imagine she’s pretty busy right now what with the London fairs being well under-way, but she kindly took some time out to answer some questions for us. I spoke to her about the history of the fairs, the process of choosing the right designers, architects and restauranteurs to work with and the difficult decision as to which galleries can exhibit in the now-infamous tents.

What part of running the fair do you get the most pleasure from?

The extraordinary people I meet in the course of organising the fair – from gallery owners and artists to curators and collectors.

When it started in 2012, what did Frieze Masters set out to do?

The aim was to give a unique, contemporary perspective on historical art, from ancient to modern, and to bring the sense of discovery and excitement that would usually be found at our contemporary fairs. Also to bring together the very best galleries showing historical art from around the world. 

Has it achieved that?

I hope so! The response has been amazing, and we have hundreds of galleries applying to take part each year.

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Frieze London 2014: Photograph by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze

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Frieze London 2014: Photograph by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze

What are you most proud of in terms of your involvement with the fair so far?

The quality of the gallery list. It is the galleries and the work they bring that make the fair great, ultimately.

How much input will you have in terms of the designs of the three tents and the identities of each fair? Can you tell us a little about the selection process of the tent designers and identities?

I will be responsible for all aspects of the three fairs so will be working closely with the architects and designers. I have really enjoyed working with Annabelle Selldorf, the architect for Frieze Masters, and I think the involvement of architects is one of the things that makes the fairs feel special. This year Universal Design Studio are designing Frieze London for the first time and it looks really fresh and different to previous years.

The design of the Frieze identity and campaigns is also something we invest a lot of thought in. GTF did the original identity and recently Studio Frith took over. We also have a great in-house design team as of the last year of so. We have worked with James Cropper from the beginning of Frieze Masters who supply the beautiful paper that the flyers and invitations are printed on. 

We have always selected architects and designers who understand the spirit of the fair and most of the campaigns have had an element of playfulness to them.

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Frieze London 2014: Photograph by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze

Tell us what you’re looking forward to at Frieze and Frieze Masters this year?

The Frieze Masters Talks are always a highlight for me. They bring together leading artists with curators of historical museums to talk about art of the past. The artists make you look at old masters that are so familiar in a fresh way, they bring them into the present. It also gives a fascinating insight into their own work and the influences on it. This year we have William Kentridge with the Courtauld Gallery, Phyllida Barlow with the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and Edmund de Waal with the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

"We have always selected architects and designers who understand the spirit of the fair and most of the campaigns have had an element of playfulness to them."

Victoria Siddall

What would you say to someone to persuade them to come to any of the Frieze art fairs?

Across the two fairs, you will see the best and most interesting work being made all over the world from today and back through 7000 years of history. All in amazing architect-designed tents in Regent’s Park with fantastic restaurants!

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Frieze London 2014: Photograph by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze

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Frieze London 2014: Photograph by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze

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Frieze London 2014: Photograph by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind/Frieze

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Frieze Masters 2014: Photograph by Stephen Wells. Courtesy of Stephen Wells/Frieze

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Frieze Masters 2014: Photograph by Stephen Wells. Courtesy of Stephen Wells/Frieze

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Frieze London 2014: Rodeo, Tamara Henderson. Photograph by Polly Braden. Courtesy of Polly Braden/Frieze

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Frieze Masters 2014: Photograph by Stephen Wells. Courtesy of Stephen Wells/Frieze

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About the Author

Liv Siddall

Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

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