Frieze, from front to back.

On the topic of what Frieze is:

Frieze discusses a number of aspects of contemporary art. It is published eight times a year and is formulated by artists, curators, and writers.

In Frieze Magazine, the viewer can look at current art, events, reports of art and speculations, and is not limited to visual art, but also music. This magazine is an all around art tool to the public. This is one of the reasons I picked this magazine; its direction seems to be various. It is looking at a number of different works, but is not limited to interviews or a set number of journalists and authors.

Unfortunately, some of the articles like, “The book of dreams” were not available to a non-subscribers, but I WILL NOT BE DISCOURAGED!!!!

The article in the October issue that caught my attention is by Jennifer Allen, “Unsung Heroes.” This article talked about a secret life, a secret life that I would love to live, that the Gallery Assistant undertakes while in that position. Secret life as in the sometimes-enormous undertaking they have to endure by themselves that will never be revealed to the public eye. Allen references something that you might have asked yourself in an exhibit, “How did they get this in here?” The answer lies in the Gallery assistant, Allen has been observing and prying at people in this position over years and has written about her findings.

Her findings were various and varied from “killing mosquitoes” to “trying to figure out if the ceiling will hold the weight of a sculpture.” Other aspects of the assistants can also lead to travel into other countries or accommodating artists or showings.

This article was chosen based on my interested but also stresses the variety of authors that are included in the magazine. Allen is critic living in Berlin. Her article is also part of the variety of articles included in the magazine. There is no reference to specific art, direction, or focus. The article consists of just a thought, a living, continuous dissection of “hero’s.” Of course we may not feel, as a viewer, that this job is heroic at all. But in the same way, that is our thought.

The next article caught my interest with having Cuba in its heading. I recently viewed, “I am Cuba” a film about the perceived utopia Cuba was made to be and the realities of its people. The article is “Tania Bruguera” and is written by Jonathan Griffin. He write about how Tania Bruguera, an installation artist was influenced from where she came from, Cuba. She created many dichotic installations over the years, some about Cuba specifically and others about similar subjects such as Auschwitz. These subjects include the dichotomy of good and evil, light and dark. Influences on crowds by people in power or other aspects that contribute to conformity in groups and how crowds respond to these aspects of pseudo-dictatorship.

Personally I find these installations very interesting because I am studying similar subjects in other classes here at UWM. Her goal is focused and is direct, to bring an understanding to the past in a living sort of way. The people in the installation are not shown the complete image until they have ventured through the work of art. And recently she is focusing on re-enactment of her own installations by other people. I see this as a hands on approach to show that a person can conform to environments they believe despicable. An example of this would be putting a member of the audience in the shoes of a Nazi German that is executing prisoners of war. Do you think you could do it, do you think you could justify your choice, and finally do you think you could understand far better the emotions that might have been involved in such a real life decision. As an artist she addresses these issues.

This article shows that there are also many serious parts of this magazine. The online magazine consists of a front, middle, and back section as in a tangible print. I would imagine that the middle consists of current issues and has a more serious tone, but I will discover this as my research continues within Frieze.