When exhibiting at one of the largest art fairs in the world, it pays to be prepared. That’s why we spoke to our Storage Facility Manager, Mark Woodsell, to see if he had any top tips that he could share with clients. Mark has extensive experience installing at an impressive 14 consecutive Frieze fairs globally so, when it comes to Frieze Art Fair, who better to share their three top tips for exhibitors to ensure everything runs smoothly.
This is what he had to say;
For clients exhibiting heavy works, it’s important to pre-alert fair organisers and your shipping agent so that the ground covering the route to your booth from the entrance can be reinforced for the forklifts moving the work. Every year, I see exhibitors that haven’t considered how heavy the works that they are installing are and this naturally causes problems on the day of installation. This is particularly important to consider for large sculptures with a small surface area since the weight won’t be distributed as widely. Of course, if you’re in any doubt, please reach out to your Queen’s contact and they’d be happy to advise whether this is necessary on a case-by-case basis.
In addition, for many heavy works, it’s also key to ensure that you arrange for the standard stud walls to be reinforced. If you’re able to alert organisers of this ahead of time, it is possible for the fair installation team to do this when erecting the wall in the first instance. This makes for a much quicker installation on the day, keeping costs down and minimising resources required upon installation day.
Not everyone realises that the ceiling height of the Frieze tent changes before installation. This means that larger works need to be brought into the tent before smaller works. Two key dates to keep in mind are the Monday and Tuesday of installation. For Frieze London, the ceiling height is usually reduced on the Monday, the same is true for Frieze Masters on the Tuesday.
It’s also always best to alert fair organisers and your logistics teams, ahead of time, that large works are going to be brought into the tent as in some circumstances a side section of the tent near your booth will also need to be removed to allow entry.
There’s no doubt about it, Frieze Art Fair can be a busy few days so it’s always helpful to know how to get a free coffee. If you’re exhibiting at the fair, it is possible to go to the exhibitor café (usually by Door 4) for a free coffee. All you need to do is show your exhibitor pass and you’ll usually be given a coffee free of charge.
Require shipping, storage or installation services for Frieze? You can find further details on how we can assist in your Frieze manual or by emailing [email protected] and our expert team would be delighted to assist.
