Frieze New York Highlights Innovative Performance Art This Year

Imagine listening to birdsong, engaging in spontaneous conversations with strangers, or strolling along the High Line while holding a small potted seedling—these are the immersive concepts behind the performance artworks presented at Frieze New York.

Since its inception in 2012, performance art has been an integral part of the fair, but this year boasts its most extensive and diverse lineup to date.

Christine Messineo, director of Frieze New York and Los Angeles, explained that the fair’s commitment to performance art stems from an understanding that some of the most compelling contemporary works unfold live, emphasizing process, participation, and temporality.

The current edition, running Thursday through Sunday at the Shed at Hudson Yards, features three distinct performance pieces: “Immortal Coil” by Berlin-based Asad Raza; “Freestyle Hard” by Carlos Reyes, who splits his time between Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Caguas, Puerto Rico; and “The Pin,” created by Berlin artist Pilvi Takala. Although all three have previously exhibited at Frieze London, this marks their debut at the New York fair.

Messineo noted that the emphasis on live performance is particularly fitting for New York, given the city’s vibrant legacy of dance, theater, and avant-garde artistic expression.

In 2022, Frieze New York initiated a collaboration with Artists Space, a nonprofit gallery based in TriBeCa, which began with a performance titled “Grandmother Cindy,” created by dancer and choreographer Devynn Emory.