“I’ve always been drawn to natural elements and energetic forces,” he said. “My installations often feature wind, soil, rivers and light.” His work at the Whitney Biennial in 2017 reflected this interest: Titled “Root sequence. Mother tongue,” it encompassed 26 trees, growing in wooden boxes on wheels.
In “Immortal Coil,” Raza is potting the seedlings and will display them in the Shed’s lobby starting on the fair’s first day. On Saturday, he said, he will invite visitors to pick a seedling, walk the length of the approximately 1.45-mile-long park and take that seedling home. “My idea was that people would show their seedlings the grown-up plants around them,” Raza said. “They can experience the sprouting, growing plants on the High Line and bring a piece of it home with them.”
Reyes’s “Freestyle Hard” also incorporates nature, but instead of flora, he explores the sounds of birds. A multidisciplinary artist, Reyes said that he usually creates sculptures and installations. “This is the first time I’m doing a live performance for the public,” he said.
Presented on Thursday throughout the day, his piece will see between four and 10 performers mimic bird sounds such as calls and songs while they traverse the Shed’s various spaces, including the escalators, mezzanine and coat check. “The performance is a chance for people to see these areas as something other than functional,” Reyes said. “Escalators, for example, go up and down, but with the performers emulating bird noises, they become instruments.”
Takala comes to Frieze New York with “The Pin,” performed Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in both the Shed and the High Line for three hours daily.
While leaving room for surprise, the artist shared that her work is based on a script she wrote and touches on “social interactions, exclusion and inclusion.”
