SEATTLE ART FAIR ANNOUNCES OPENING EVENTS, PROJECTS AND TALKS, CULTURAL PARTNERS, AND SPONSORS
August 4-7, 2016 | CenturyLink Field Event Center
Brendan Fowler at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Courtesy of the artist.
Seattle Art Fair, presented by AIG, announces its opening events, Projects and Talks program, and cultural partners for its second edition, running August 4-7 at CenturyLink Field Event Center. The Seattle Art Fair, co-produced by Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc. and Art Market Productions, will feature over 80 exhibitors.
Tickets to the fair are now available online. The fair will kick off with the Beneficiary Preview, proceeds benefitting the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), on Thursday, August 4 at 5:30pm, followed by the official Opening Night Preview starting at 8:30pm. The fair continues August 5-7, with a diverse schedule of projects, talks and events happening both on and off site.
Projects
The Seattle Art Fair Projects will debut a new series of special activities, performances, and installations to engage the fair’s public spaces, organized by Artistic Director Laura Fried. Spanning sculpture, performance, and installation, the Projects will take place both at the fair and in adjacent neighborhoods, reaching a wide and diverse audience, and spotlighting Seattle's position as a vital cultural capital.
Explains Laura Fried, Artistic Director of the Seattle Art Fair, “This year’s Projects and Talks spotlight the incredible artist production that is emerging from the West Coast and beyond. Immersive installations and artist driven projects will contribute to a rich audience experience inside the fair itself, while performance and sculpture extend into adjacent neighborhoods. Our goal with the program is to connect with a broad audience at a time when locals and tourists alike alight this beautiful city, and to offer encounters with contemporary art in meaningful and surprising ways.”
On-site at the fair:
An ambitious lineup of solo projects by an intergenerational group of emerging and established artists will be on view at the CenturyLink Field Event Center during fair hours. Timothy “Speed” Levitch will lead uncanny fair tours conceived by Glenn Kaino, while Dawn Kasper will present a sculptural performance environment and improvised sound composition, including motionactivated motors attached directly to a field of cymbals on their stands. The exhibition platform Public Fiction will trace the roots of artists who used new technologies—like early video art and public access television—at their inception. The Projects will also spotlight large-scale sculpture by artists who examine the relationship between materiality, craft, and technology—such as Roxy Paine’s ominous diorama of a CIA observation room and Adam McEwen’s full-scale sculptures of supercomputers made of graphite—and will explore the simple but powerful way a line can take shape in space, from Claire Falkenstein’s nested orbs to Kishio Suga’s singular, large-scale sculpture. Projects include:
- Adam McEwen, Blue Gene 1 and Blue Gene 2, 2016
- Brenna Murphy, SequenceSource_Array, 2016
- Claire Falkenstein, Never a Full Circle: Selection of Works
- Dawn Kasper, Star Formation, 2016
- Glenn Kaino, Aspiration, 2016; Twice daily tours August 5-7, 2016 during fair hours
- Selection of new works by Jeffry Mitchell
- Kishio Suga, Correspondence, 2006
- Public Fiction, A Witness and a Weapon: Middle grays, Color Bars and the comma in between* In two venues: The Seattle Art Fair and the Henry Art Gallery
- Roxy Paine, Experiment, 2015
- teamLab, Sketch Aquarium; As part of its youth program, the fair presents a kid-friendly space in collaboration with the collective teamLab
Off-site in adjacent neighborhoods:
Site-responsive projects in Pioneer Square and the International District/Chinatown will celebrate the many facets of performance, highlighting interdisciplinary work and a collaborative spirit. Projects will include special choreographic works by Bebe Miller + Darrell Jones and Flora Wiegmann at the historic Union Station; a sound installation and performance with local artists/musicians staged by Brendan Fowler; Wynne Greenwood’s hometown homage rendered as soft seats for a public park; and a tourist experience conceived by Glenn Kaino and led by Timothy “Speed” Levitch in Kaino’s invented dialect, Martian English. Projects include:
- Brendan Fowler, Seattle, 2016 | Good Arts Building (110 Cherry St, Seattle, WA 98104); On view August 4-7, 2016 during fair hours; Performances scheduled on Saturday, August 6 at 6:00 pm and Sunday, August 7 at 5:00 pm
- Flora Wiegmann, Halo of Consciousness, 2016 | Union Station (401 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98104); Performances scheduled for Friday, August 5 at 1 pm & Sunday, August 7 at 1 pm and 3 pm
- Glenn Kaino, Aspiration, 2016 | Beginning at CenturyLink Field Event Center & Hing Hay Park (423 Maynard Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104); Twice daily tours August 5-7 during fair hours; Tours conducted in Martian English and led by Timothy “Speed” Levitch. Register online at seattleartfair.eventbrite.com
- Wynne Greenwood, In Loving Memory, 2016 | Occidental Square (117 S Washington St, Seattle, WA 98104)
- Bebe Miller + Darrell Jones, Duet with Piece Of String, 2016 | Union Station (401 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98104); Performance scheduled for Friday, August 5 at 4pm
- luciana achugar, The Pleasure Project, 2016 | Occidental Square (117 S Washington St, Seattle, WA 98104); Performance scheduled for Friday, August 5 at 10am
Talks
Seattle Art Fair Talks will present a program of two-person dialogues by an array of artists and leaders in creative fields with deep connections to the West Coast and the Pacific Northwest. The Talks will take place throughout the run of the fair, in the Seattle Art Fair Theater within CenturyLink Field Event Center. Focusing on curiosity and the ways a distinct sense of place can create a powerful cultural context, the Talks lineup includes:
- Friday, August 5 at 12:00pm, Sharon Johnston + Rita McBride
- Friday, August 5 at 3:00pm, Lauren Mackler + Emily Zimmerman
- Saturday, August 6 at 2:00pm, Kim Gordon + Branden W. Joseph
- Saturday, August 6 at 4:00pm, Kyle MacLachlan + Carrie Brownstein
- Sunday, August 7 at 3:00pm, Anne Ellegood + Brian Junge
Official Chef Partner
Renowned chef and Seattle native Ethan Stowell will be the official chef partner of the 2016 fair. The executive chef and owner of Ethan Stowell Restaurants in Seattle, he was named one of the Best New Chefs in America in 2008 and a Best New Chef All-Star in 2013 by Food & Wine magazine. He and his wife and business partner Angela Stowell are the recipients of the 2016 Richard Melman Innovator of the Year Award. Stowell will infuse his locally inspired culinary style into the Seattle Art Fair’s experience by appearing daily at the fair in the Windermere VIP lounge designed by Olson Kundig, designing the Preview event’s menu, and consulting on the Delta Sky360 Club offerings.
Official Online Partner
Artsy, the leading resource for learning about and collecting art, is renewing its partnership with the Seattle Art Fair for 2016. Collectors and art enthusiasts can use Artsy to browse exhibitor booths, make sales inquires on available artworks, and access fair information online one week in advance of the fair.
The Seattle Art Fair microsite will be live on Artsy throughout the length of the event and will remain searchable on Artsy after the close of the fair. The Seattle Art Fair will also be available on the Artsy app for iPhone and iPad. A quick tap displays exhibitor booths and information about the works on display. Visitors can also use the Artsy app to inquire on works for sale, to save favorite artworks, and to follow galleries and artists for future updates.
To learn more about Artsy.
Cultural Partners
The fair is building on last year's success with a host of strategic partnerships with cultural organizations in the city and the region all dedicated to supporting the Seattle Art Fair’s mission to showcase the vibrant culture and diversity of the Pacific Northwest. They include:
Henry Art Gallery, Portland Art Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery, Frye Art Museum, Northwest African American Museum, DISJECTA, Seattle Symphony, Artist Trust, Tacoma Art Museum, Velocity Dance Center, Pilchuck Glass School, Wing Luke Museum, Pratt Fine Arts Center, Bellevue Arts Museum, ArtsFund, Photographic Center Northwest, EMP Museum, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Honolulu Biennial Foundation, TeenTix, and UW School of Art + Art History + Design, among numerous others.
Fair Sponsors
AIG is the presenting partner of the Seattle Art Fair and the fair’s VIP After Party. AIG will also be offering a collector-focused educational session on preserving and protecting new art acquisitions to VIPs on the morning of Friday, August 5.
Seattle Art Fair also welcomes back Olson Kundig as the fair's 2016 Design Partner for the second year. Olson Kundig will once again design the Seattle Art Fair's VIP Lounge, sponsored by Windermere. Associate sponsors include Delta Air Lines, J.P. Morgan Private Bank, and Windermere Real Estate. Official Sponsors are Sotheby’s, The Wall Street Journal, Thompson Seattle, Artech, Talking Rain, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and Travel and Transport. Event partners include mamnoon restaurants, Good Arts LLC and Sound Transit.
Seattle Art Fair
Seattle Art Fair was founded by Paul G. Allen as a unique and innovative art experience showcasing the vibrant culture and diversity of the Pacific Northwest. In addition to being a destination for new and established collectors and international art patrons, the fair shines a light on Seattle’s thriving art scene. Now in its second year, the fair features local, regional, and international art galleries presenting top-tier modern and contemporary art.
The Seattle Art Fair is produced by Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc. and Art Market Productions.
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