The annual Frieze New York art fair took place last weekend, and as usual, conditions inside the quarter-mile-long tent that houses the event felt a bit overstimulating. Inside the brightly lit belly of the temporary structure, a snaking white form designed by Brooklyn firm SO–IL, visitors bounced among 190 booths where dealers presented work in eye-catching installations arranged to command maximum attention from collectors. In general, the experience imparted a manic energy. But outside, Czech artist Eva Kotátková offered a more soporific example of the environment acting on the body.
Alongside the tent, three metal objects rose from platforms set on a lawn by the bank of the East River. Wiry abstractions, two hung with fraying rope, they looked like a cross between generic public sculpture and playground equipment. Perched on each of them, a performer, propped up by the shape of the installation, appeared to doze—occasionally tossing and turning like a somnambulant gymnast or swinging languidly, all in a precarious dance.
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