The inaugural Frieze New York fair will feature a program of projects and talks specially commissioned for the fair—and all housed in a distinct snake-shaped structure designed by SO – IL architects. Taking place May 4-7, the Fair will feature a carefully selected presentation of over 170 of the world’s leading contemporary art galleries.
Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu is an idea-based design studio of ten people, founded in 2008 by Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu and based in Brooklyn. Recent projects include the Province Hall in Antwerp, Belgium; offices for production company Logan in SoHo, New York and a public square in Manama, Bahrain. SO – IL’s design for a gallery building for Kukje in Seoul, South Korea is listed for completion in early April 2012. The practice has won numerous prizes such as the MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program as well as the AIA NY Young Practices Award, both in 2010.
"The first challenge was to establish the structure as an icon, beyond being a very large tent," said Idenburg and Liu. "With the ambition to relax and open up what would otherwise be a rigorous system, we devised a slightly mutated pie-shaped tent section, using 'wedges' which we inserted into the structure at five locations. From the outside, they allow us to bend the otherwise straight tent into a meandering, supple, shape."
"New York in May is one of the brightest cities we know of. We hope that the Frieze tent makes this island riverfront alive and vice versa in this luminous moment," Idenburg and Liu said about their intention to incorporate both the East River front setting of the fair and Randall’s Island.
Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover said, "SO – IL’s previous projects have shown an inventive approach that we instantly found appealing. Having worked with a series of architects in London we have a reputation for commissioning forward thinking design and we wanted to bring a similar approach to our first New York fair. SO – IL’s designs for Frieze New York are a solution that demonstrates a thorough understanding of how the fair works at the same time as being a structure that promises to genuinely excite."