10 Reasons to Visit Moving Image London 2013
London’s Moving Image Fair 2013 offers an exciting fair presentation in an alternative format, with the best representation of contemporary video art you could hope to find. Here’s our guide to why Moving Image is not to be missed.
1. It’s free and open to the public!
While Moving Image London runs concurrently with Frieze London and Frieze Masters (October 17-20), unlike Frieze, it’s free! The fair takes place at the Bargehouse, a short walk from the Tate Modern, located behind the Oxo Tower on the South Bank (Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, South Bank, London SE1 9PH, UK).
2. Video art needs its own space
Moving Image was created to address the challenges that the conventional fair environment poses to the proper video art viewing experience. As Moving Image states, the fair “was conceived to offer a unique viewing experience with the excitement and vitality of a fair, while allowing moving image-based artworks to be understood and appreciated on their own terms”. Moving Image’s environment, carefully spread across the four-story, industrial Bargehouse, aims to give visitors the freedom to view art at their own pace. Unlike the traditional fair, there are no booths and dealers won’t hover around their works. The fair is planned to appease the art and the viewer alike.
3. View video art in all its varieties
Moving Image brings together international commercial galleries with non-profit institutions to present single-channel videos, projections, video sculptures, and large-scale installations.
4. A world-class curatorial advisory committee
An international panel of curators, the Curatorial Committee, collaborated to put together Moving Image, approaching galleries and artists they most wanted to represent in the fair. Without the burdens of organizing and funding the fair, this panel was able to focus on the art and bring together a selective group of works. Instead of giving galleries the option of which artist they would represent, the Curatorial Committee requested specific artists, ensuring a diverse presentation.
The committee included: Sabin Bors, Founder, curator, and editor of Anti-Utopias Contemporary Art Platform, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Olesya Turkina, Senior Research Fellow at Contemporary Art Department, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia; Julia Draganovic, Director, Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany; Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Writer and Curator, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Alia Swastika, Curator and writer, Yogyarkarta, Indonesia.
5. See who wins the Moving Image Award
Moving Image awards a single prize to one artist, whose work will enter the collection of 53 Art Museum in Guangzhou, China. The award will be presented on the fair’s opening day, October 17. Last year’s winner was the pair, Alessandro Balteo Yazbeck & Media Farzin for their Chronoscope, 1951, 11pm.
6. Opening night event: Bring Your Own Beamer
For its opening night, on Thursday, October 17th from 6 to 8PM, Moving Image has organized Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB), hosted by Clare Holden and João Laia. The event will bring together some two dozen emerging artists to exhibit their works simultaneously, alongside the fair participants. Bring Your Own Beamer is a recurring event that happens worldwide. Find out more here.
7. The National #Selfie Portrait Gallery
Kyle Chayka and Marina Galperina present a special project, their National #Selfie Portrait Gallery, a streaming loop of short, 30-second selfie videos created by 13 American and European artists. The selfies will be on sale for $500 each and visitors can get involved with the project via an onsite app next to the installation.
8. Visit the Moving Image A\V Bar
Audio-video experts will be on hand during the fair at the A/V Bar, to answer questions regarding collecting, presenting, and maintaining video art. Samples of new video technology and authenticity documents will be on hand for educational purposes. You can make an appointment in-person at the fair and visit the A/V Bar each day of the fair from 12-4pm. Find out more here.
9. See new works premiering at Moving Image
Four new works have their premieres at Moving Image London 2013. They include:
- Janet Biggs’ Point of No Return at Winkleman Gallery
- Sheila Gallagher’s Rasa at DODGEgallery
- Rollin Leonard’s 360° / 18 Lilia at TRANSFER
- Jonathan Monaghan’s Mothership at Curator’s Office
10. If you can’t make it to London and you can make it to Brooklyn...
Three videos from Moving Image will be screened at Williamsburg, Brooklyn’s Nitehawk Cinema this fall. Nitehawk programmer Caryn Coleman said the videos will be shown as part of Nitehawk’s Art Seen program, a monthly screening meant to engage artists and cinema communities. Find out more here.
