Ambika P3, University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London
14th October – 16th October
Entrance free, no need to book
October’s Art Week is an exciting time for London; you’d have to have your head in the clouds to miss the buzz around Frieze art fair. Amplifying this is the up-and-coming art fair Sunday, which takes place in a concrete hangar below the University of Westminster- just down the road from Frieze. This proximity benefits Sunday, as it enables a direct comparison, showing how fresh the newer fair is.
Descending into an industrial alley to find the concrete refuge feels raw and arguably more interesting than the more polished events. The expansive interior is an ideal backdrop for the diverse work, which is found inside.
Sunday features galleries from around the world, bringing innovative work from all the current art hubs. Berlin features heavily- as the city the fair was founded- and delivers the vibrancy of the city’s increasingly dominant art scene. The booth format of the typical art fair is discarded for a more open space so it works as an exhibition in its entirety. Traditional media is also rejected for more innovative methods and the show sees installations, video art and even performance art thanks to the New York gallery On Stellar Rays– refreshingly subverting the money-driven vibe of many art fairs. This is suggested in the art featured, in particular an installation comprising of two vast mounds of earth, presented by Limoncello, one of the fair’s organising galleries.
For me, a Kit Craig piece at Arcade sums up the premise of the show; a series of drawings prop up the fallen easels, which have pierced their canvas. This subverts traditional methods of display, as is done throughout the show. Another highlight of the fair is Ryan’s Bar, which provides refreshments and sees a different artist creating a cocktail each day; Fiona Banner’s challenge on the first day certainly got the crowds animated. Fifty pounds for a cocktail may seem exorbitant at first but the possibility of a prize from Banner definitely softens the blow. The cocktail hours over the rest of the week are no doubt going to be just as exciting when David Batchelor, Liam Gillick and Bob and Roberta Smith design their concoctions.
The many visitors that that the opening day saw seemed to appreciate the different style of fair as there was a constant buzz throughout the day, which will no doubt be kept up until its closing on Saturday. The fair is unquestionably worth seeing: the diverse art, unique format and energetic atmosphere make it a great accomplishment. SUNDAY suggests that the art fair format could do so much more than what we have come to expect (a proposition I hope many more will take up!)
http://sunday-fair.com/
