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The Big Frieze for Summit
Summit Steel installed over 5,000 metres of 4mm steel wire cable at the Frieze Art Fare in Regents Park to support muslin ceilings in four Owen Brown clearspan structures, with interiors designed specially for the event by architect Davis Adjaye.
The 4-day Frieze 2004 was the largest ever contemporary art exhibition and events programme staged in the UK, and was enjoyed by over 40,000 visitors and art lovers.
The look and feel of the exhibition space was airy, open and predominantly white. Following the phenomenal success of last year’s inaugural event, this year the area Summit was dealing with increased to total 15,720 sq. metres. (The largest of the structures measured a massive 200m x 40m with a capacity of 8,000 square metres).
The steel cable was secured to the structures using Summit’s custom designed rafter clamps – a two-part metal clamp that fixes into the lower grooves in the roof rafter beams. Additionally, Summit also installed various elements of flown signage and other pieces including 10 cubic cardboard signs throughout the gallery spaces, and hanging points for four suspended pieces of art in the VIP area.
Specific challenges included the rigging crew of up to five people working alongside numerous other contractors - lighting, carpet layers, stand fitters, carpenters, etc., to complete the install in the very short timeframe. The load-in window was over a 12-day period between the structure being erected and the individual stands being built. The park is only available for a total period of 28 days, which has to encompass build, show and break down, thus making the global schedule incredibly tight. There was also extraneous chaos factors to deal with like the weather – which caused delays to the construction schedule when erratic!
Planning all the rigging parameters for the signage, etc. before the ceiling is installed is also tricky to predict. Once the ceiling is in, there’s no access to the roof beams, so all rigging taking place ‘through’ the roof has to be pre-planned.
In addition to the 5km of catenaries, Summit also provided a 12 x 11 metre ground supported trussing grid in the main auditorium, supporting a thicker cloth ceiling to deaden sound between the auditorium and the surrounding exhibition spaces. Summit also rigged a special scaffold frame to support a large 12 x 2 metre sign at the site entrance.
The Fair showed the work of over 1000 artists, with over 140 leading international galleries participating, including several cutting-edge new galleries showcasing the work of up-and-coming artists. The 2004 Fair was expected build on the phenomenal commercial success of the 2003 event, generating over £20 million.
3rd November 2004
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