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Friday, 20 May 2011 03:39

Frieze art fair founders aim to heat up New York scene

Wolfgang Ganter and Kaj Aune's Trash on display at the Frieze art fair in London's Regents Park in 2010. Wolfgang Ganter and Kaj Aune's Trash on display at the Frieze art fair in London's Regents Park in 2010. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

The founders of the Frieze art fair have announced a new Frieze for New York, an attempt to transport the success of the contemporary art fair in a tent, which in 10 years has become a major fixture in the London art calender, into the heart of one of the richest art markets in the world.

The New York fair, launching next year, will pack 170 American and overseas dealers on to Randall's Island, a park overlooking the East river, with visitors travelling by ferry. The temporary home will be designed by the awardwinning Brooklyn architects SO-IL.

The fair regularly sells out more than 60,000 visitors' tickets each October. In 2004, art worth more than £20m was sold but the level of sales has not been disclosed in recent years – the organisers insist the figures are misleading as thousands of collectors come for the fun of the fair and the deals are actually done afterwards.

The fair has become famous for spectacular annual installations: last year Simon Fujiwara burrowed into the ground to create a fake archaeological excavation partly revealing a Roman city lavishly supplied with art dealers and brothels, apparently newly discovered in the heart of Regents Park. This year, 171 exhibitors from 33 countries have applied for space.

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