Minor Attractions has revealed details of its first edition taking place during Frieze Week.
A non-fair that brings together art, performance, music, and nightlife, this experimental project will operate a week-long exhibition across two different sites in London.
Minor Attractions aims to address the need amongst small galleries for increased visibility during the busiest week of London’s art calendar and provide much-needed alternative social spaces for the international and local arts community. Free and accessible to all, Minor Attractions aims to establish a new social and artistic context for Frieze Week. The non-fair is composed of a selling exhibition spread across two spaces in central London: the eponymous Minor Attractions in Soho, and Cornershop in London Bridge.
With a focus on international galleries, Minor Attractions on Soho’s Manette Street is a response to the lack of spaces in London which open past 11pm, as well as the exclusionary nature of invite-only art world events during Frieze.
The space will open daily from 4pm to 1am, Tuesday 10–Sunday 15 October, and will provide a place for all to meet and exchange ideas during the busy week, allowing international visitors to the city to mingle with the art workers and artists that make the London art world tick. Global commercial galleries and not-for-profit art spaces will exhibit, with participants including King’s Leap and Management in New York; Robert’s and Kendall Koppe in Glasgow; and Vilma Gold, who return with their first public showing since 2017. Exceptionally, the infamous record label Death Row Records will also participate in the exhibition. Visitors will be welcomed by a bar curated by 3AM Brewery and inspired by bar-cum-gallery and New York nightlife stalwart, Beverly’s, who are also exhibiting. As the nights wind down—or to some, get started— Minor Attractions will host late-night DJ sets for the art world’s most committed deal-makers and socialisers.
Cornershop, located in London Bridge, will play host to some of the most exciting emerging galleries in the city. Featuring galleries including Niru Ratnam, The Artist Room, and Sherbet Green, the space will be open to visitors from 11am to 7pm daily, with the evenings punctuated by a performance schedule featuring artists including Emmanuel Awuni, Minh Lan Tran, and Bones Tan Jones.
Jonny Tanna and Jacob Barnes, co-founders of Minor Attractions, say:
Minor Attractions is our way of creating something new and exciting for our gallery community – our friends – that we hope will exceed the sum of its parts. At every juncture of art fair history, from Art Cologne to Colin De Land and The Armory, to Basel Social Club, there’s had to be some break with the establishment when people feel that that establishment is no longer working for them. This, in many ways, is us throwing our hats into the ring – trying to make something that serves our community in the way we feel it needs to be served. Everyone involved – directors, administrators – is invested in alternative modes of exhibition and operation. GROVE and Harlesden High Street run unique galleries, guaranteeing income for artists and providing arts access to ungentrified communities, respectively, while Liza-Rose Burton runs the London Art Board initiative, forgoing a brick-and-mortar space while exhibiting outsider and underrepresented artists. Minor Attractions became a really natural point of coalescence for people that were excited by doing something different.
Minor Attractions draws inspiration from international events such as Basel Social Club, Paramount Ranch, and the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA).
Cornershop, 10th October– 15th October 11am–7pm, Unit 199, Borough Yards, Stoney Street
Minor Attractions, 10th October – 15th October 4pm–1am, 14-15 Manette Street, minorattractions.com
Register here to attend the Minor Attractions x Cornershop launch party on Stoney Street, London Bridge, from 6pm–12pm on Monday 9th October. Registration is required, entry is free.
Minor Attractions is a not-for-profit association founded in 2023 by Jonny Tanna, founder & director of Harlesden High Street, and Jacob Barnes, founder and director of GROVE, and developed alongside a board of London-based arts professionals, including Maureen Paley, Tom Hunt of Thaddeus Ropac, Maximillian William, Darren Flook, and Will Lunn of Copperfield.
PARTICIPATING GALLERIES
Cornershop
The Artist Room, Cob., Collective Ending, Des Bains, Tabula Rasa, Indigo + Madder, Darren Flook, Sim Smith, ZÉRUÌ, Cøpperfield, Harlesden High Street, Niru Ratnam, GROVE Sherbet Green, Studio/Chapple,
Final Hot Desert, TJ Boulting, Sid Motion Gallery & WORKPLACE
Minor Attractions
King’s Leap (New York) Beverly’s (New York) Robert’s + Kendall Koppe (Glasgow) Good Weather (Various) Management (New York) GALLERY (Albany),Death Row Records (LA), Vilma Gold (2000-2017) Cordova (Barcelona)
