Hauser & Wirth returns to Frieze London and Frieze Masters this year with A New Reality, a presentation which explores the blurred gap between how we experience the real and virtual worlds. Powered by HWVR, the presentation across both fairs calls into question where the real ends and the virtual begins. Visitors to the online fair will be able to journey into the iconic Frieze tents in Regent’s Park to explore exact replicas of last year’s booths that now exist in a virtual world. Artworks that are on show in physical locations at Hauser & Wirth’s global spaces, artists’ studios and current museum exhibitions are installed within the virtual replica therefore existing simultaneously. Composite images are spliced together to show the disjunction between the physical and the virtual.
Describing the concept, Neil Wenman, Partner, Hauser & Wirth, says: ‘We’re all leaping into a new reality that combines the real and virtual worlds. Our presentation this year embraces the gap between these two paradigms. We’re inviting people to explore our replica Frieze booths while simultaneously showing artworks in their real environment on the OVR platform. Since the virtual world no longer has to mirror the real world, this presentation aims to expand the limits of how we can experience an artwork today. Is the artist’s studio inherently stronger an experience than the virtual world? Where do the two experiences collide and compliment?’
At the Frieze London OVR, the virtual reality booth features exemplary contemporary works from the Hauser & Wirth family of artists, such as unseen works by Charles Gaines; a pigment painting by Roni Horn; and a new work by Mark Bradford—a continuation of his 'Quarantine Paintings' series made this year. Works that can be seen in exhibitions at the gallery’s spaces include a monumental new Anxious Red Painting by Rashid Johnson whose exhibition opens at Hauser & Wirth in London on 6 October, and a new painting by George Condo which will go on show from 5 November at Hauser & Wirth in New York. Alongside these contemporary master works visitors can also explore works of art of historical importance visualised in HWVR, this includes two works by Louise Bourgeois, a sculpture entitled Avenza Revisited II (1968–1969) and a suite of 21 vivid red works on paper entitled The Family (2007), as well as an outstanding abstract painting by Günther Förg.
Within the virtual Frieze Masters presentation this year, paintings and sculptures by leading artists of the 20th century are visualised in the booth from their various Hauser & Wirth locations around the world. Exemplary works include Arshile Gorky’s Blue Figure in Chair (c.1934–1935), a masterly composition fusing abstraction and figuration; a trio of visceral ‘body prints’ by David Hammons which combine graphic art and performance and Philip Guston’s landmark painting from 1975, Paw II. Influential works from the 60s and 70s include Ed Clark’s Untitled (1964), currently on show at Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles; a seminal masterpiece entitled Russian Speedway by Jack Whitten painted in 1971, a breakthrough moment of Whitten’s illustrious practice; and Lee Lozano’s No title (1963–1964) which belongs to the renowned body of tool paintings and drawings that the artist produced in the early 1960s. A grouping of European avant-garde artists presents Sophie Taeuber-Arp, whose estate joined Hauser & Wirth this year, with major sculptures by contemporaries Hans Arp and Max Bill.
Hauser & Wirth will also participate in the non-profit section of Frieze Viewing Room with a selection of 10 works from the major charitable initiative, 'Artists for New York’, which features works for sale by over 100 artists to raise funds for 14 key visual arts organisations in New York City impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and two charitable partners. The special selection for Frieze includes works by Wade Guyton, Peter Saul, Lorna Simpson, Ai Wei Wei, and Mary Weatherford amongst others. Institutions that will benefit from ‘Artists for New York’ include The Bronx Museum of the Arts, High Line Art, MoMA PS1, New Museum, Public Art Fund, and Queens Museum.