Frieze Film 2018: artists announced

The Otolith Group, Paul Pfeiffer and Lucy Raven

Today Frieze announces the international artists participating in Frieze Film 2018, a series of new moving image commissions premiered at Frieze London and broadcast on national television. The Otolith Group, Paul Pfeiffer and Lucy Raven will create new works as part of Frieze Projects, overseen by Diana Campbell Betancourt (Samdani Art Foundation & Dhaka Art Summit). Taking place at Frieze London in Regent’s Park from October 5–7, 2018, with a two-day Preview October 3–4, Frieze Film is supported by Channel 4’s Random Acts. 

The 2018 Frieze Film programme will explore natural, technological and psychological means of mass communication and control. Inspired by the 1991 volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines and the subsequent evacuation of nearby US military stronghold Clark Air Base, Lucy Raven has created a short film focused on the material erupted by the volcano—a molten pyroclastic ash flow called lahars, also known as wet concrete, for its ability to bury and immobilize everything in its path. London-based collective the Otolith Group’s Message of the Forest can be heard as an ode to the Sal Forests of West Bengal, or a song for the weathering of parent rocks, or an incantation inspired by Rabindranath Tagore’s vision of a world campus that would become Visva-Bharati in Santineketan in West Bengal in 1921. Paul Pfeiffer takes the rise of mass religion as his starting point, using a combination of original and found video footage, to juxtapose recent appearances of Justin Bieber in global news and social media with megachurch gatherings around the world. 

Curator Diana Campbell Betancourt said, “Lucy Raven, Paul Pfeiffer, and the Otolith Group are artists who work to decipher systems that control and influence the dissemination of information. The opportunity to commission them to make new work along these lines, to be broadcast via mass media on Channel 4, is an exciting way to introduce their creative forms of questioning the world to new audiences.”

Each film will premiere in the Frieze London auditorium during the fair (October 5–7, 2018) and later show as part of Random Acts, Channel 4’s short-form strand dedicated to the arts. 

About Frieze Film 
Since its foundation in 2007, Frieze Film has seen the creation of more than 30 short artists’ films. Presenting the work of a diverse selection of international artists, both emerging and established, the programme provides a snapshot of current tendencies within the medium. Frieze Film is supported by Channel 4’s Random Acts. Established in 2011, Random Acts has also built an impressive history of supporting creative expression from a range of producers. This partnership allows artists the opportunity to bring their work to new audiences. 

Further information 
Frieze London and Frieze Masters run from 5–7 October 2018, with Preview Days on Wednesday, October 3 and Thursday, October 4. Frieze London is sponsored by global lead partner Deutsche Bank for the 15th consecutive year. Tickets will be released in July. 

Find out more at frieze.com.