Moniker’s eighth edition, three times bigger than last year’s fair, will bring the globe’s most influential new-contemporary art galleries together with established names of the urban art scene. The fair will abandon the traditional art fair model as we know it with visitors entering through a 30,000 square feet installation hall.
In collaboration with Bill Daniel, visitors will be transported back to the beginnings of ‘Moniker Culture’, stepping inside the world of Who is Bozo Texino? – Daniel’s award-winning film that shone a light on hobo and rail worker boxcar graffiti. The installation showcases Daniel’s rarely-seen rail archives and historical material over the past thirty years and invites visitors to physically step onto the train tracks and into the fair.
This is one of many installations created under Moniker 2017’s theme ‘Transient Tales’, which will showcase not only the origins of street art but additionally highlight the importance and impact of migration and travel on the arts.
Daniel will be joined by graffiti photographer Alex Fakso (Italy) who will be building an installation comprising large photo prints, old shutters, window frames and found objects, in addition to a photography exhibition highlighting the fair’s theme of train graffiti and track-side graffiti culture. Alongside this, Laurence Vallieres (Canada) will be creating a large-scale traditional train handcar out of cardboard; hip-hop muralist Ian Kuali’i (Hawaii) will design a floor to ceiling paper installation inside the venue’s artist installation room and skate-and-freight painter Labrona (Canada) will be displaying a collection of original artworks alongside a photo history of his freight train artwork from the past twenty years.
This year will see important international galleries including Thinkspace Gallery (Los Angeles), Station 16 (Montreal) and u-k ART (Tokyo) make their Moniker debut.
Thinkspace – which describes itself as “committed to vision, risk, and the exceptional talents that wield it” – is synonymous with vital young and emerging talent. Thinkspace will be presenting the first ever UK solo exhibitions by renowned artists Audrey Kawasaki, Kevin Peterson, Telmo Miel, Cinta Vidal, Brian Viveros and Dulk.
Station 16 has built a strong reputation within Canada’s graffiti art scene, operating not only as the official gallery of MURAL festival in Montreal, but as a champion of emerging street-art talent. This year will see the gallery debut with the Moniker Print Programme – creating affordable pieces for young collectors – as well as presenting a group exhibition including Stikki Peaches, Laurence Vallières, Alan Ganev, Scott Listfield, Felipe Pantone and Marie-Claude Marquis.
u-k ART is part of Moniker’s young galleries programme – a new initiative for Moniker 2017 which gives galleries ‘younger’ than two years the chance to exhibit.Ryota Soejima created u-k ART to further the cause of numerous street and urban art luminaries. This year they are bringing Amsterdam-based award-winning IOROI and prolific exhibiting Tokyo artist Yuki Matsueda to Moniker.
Returning to Moniker, Galerie Itinerrance has long made a name for itself with the part-hanging, part-installation hybrids of its exhibitions, creating immersive experiences in past collaborations with numerous international artists including Bom.K, Borondo, Tristan Eaton and Ethos.
Fair Director of Moniker Art Fair, Tina Ziegler, comments, Traditional art fair models tend to focus on work that, for the most part, collectors already know – established galleries that are already getting attention and artists doing what they always do, just in a different location. Moniker has always tried to think differently, and this year it’s been important to make sure we’ve distanced ourselves from the same-old approach. You will still have the heavy-hitters of the scene exhibiting but that’ll be alongside ‘young’ galleries – those who have been operating for less than two years. Installation artists will also be creating new work specifically for the fair, and you’ll see hand-picked artists representing the best of countries that seldom get the chance to.
Dates
Thursday, 5th October
Press & Collectors Preview: 12pm – 5pm Private View: 5pm – 9:30pm
Friday, 6th October
Fair Open: 12pm – 5pm Public View: 5pm – 9:30pm
Saturday, 7th October
Fair Open: 11am – 8pm
Sunday, 8th October
Fair Open: 11am – 6pm
Location
The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL
