surface/support
‘An enterprise on the scale of the art fair, in operation for a short while in a public park, requires a great effort of production, construction, support and maintenance. Martha Rosler provides a look at some of the processes and services – whether celebrated, taken for granted or ignored – that all would acknowledge are critical to the successful execution of the fair and the comfort and happiness of exhibitors, guests and attendees.’
Martha Rosler, New York, June 2005
Martha Rosler works in video, photo-text, installation and performance, and writes criticism. Her work addresses the mythologies of everyday life and the public sphere, as well as the construction of space. Major projects have centred on war; cooking, housing and domesticity; and airports, roads and subways.
Rosler was invited to make a project at the fair responding to the idea of the tour format. She chose to focus on the support structures that make the site workable, behind the scenes and in plain view – the cafés, toilets and cloakrooms, and the site construction, security system and park maintenance … as well as the people who work there.
Martha Rosler’s tour was accessible to art fair visitors and took place on Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 October at 12.30pm. Access to the tours was included in the Frieze Art Fair admission ticket.
Martha Rosler is an American artist based in New York. Rosler has a prolific history of international exhibitions. Her work has been included in the Venice Biennale (2003), Liverpool Biennial (2004), Taipei Biennial (2004), several Whitney Biennials, and Documenta in Kassel, Germany (1981), as well as numerous major survey shows, including ‘Open Systems’ at Tate Modern (2004). The first major retrospective of her work was shown in five European cities and two museums in New York (1998-2000). In 2005 Rosler presented a reworking of her iconic installation and performance work Garage Sale at the ICA, London.
