In the Shadows, We See: Fatoş Üstek’s Frieze Sculpture
Curator Fatoş Üstek leads the 13th edition of Frieze Sculpture, uniting 14 international artists—including David Altmejd, Reena Saini Kallat, and Elmgreen & Dragset—under the evocative theme “In the Shadows.”
Frieze Sculpture returns to Regent’s Park this autumn with a new curatorial focus on what lies unseen. Opening 17 September, the free public exhibition—now in its 13th edition—brings together 14 international artists under the theme “In the Shadows.” Curated for the third year by London-based writer and curator Fatoş Üstek, the show explores how memory, material, and myth can thrive in the darker corners of perception.
Üstek describes the theme as “a perspective that embraces the unknown, the concealed and the forgotten.”
Rather than treating shadows as voids, the exhibition considers them as “zones of potential,” where absence becomes a form of presence. It’s a fitting concept for a moment when many artists are confronting ecological fragility, historical erasure, and transformation.
Andy Holden,Auguries (Lament), 2025, presented by Seventeen and Hidde vanSeggelen. Frieze Sculpture 2025. Photo by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Frieze.
This year’s participating artists include Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Reena Saini Kallat, Elmgreen & Dragset, Assemble, Erwin Wurm, and David Altmejd, among others. Each artist engages with shadow as both metaphor and material. Altmejd’s Nymph 1 Nymph 2 Nymph 3 (2025) promises an uncanny exploration of metamorphosis, echoing his fascination with the body in flux—half-human, half-mythic. In contrast, Andy Holden’sAuguries (Lament) transforms birdcalls into bronze relics, while Burçak Bingöl’sUnit Terrenum Rosa uses clay soil from Regent’s Park to root her sculpture in the landscape itself.
The tone of the 2025 edition feels more contemplative than spectacular. Reena Saini Kallat’s monumental sound work Requiem (The Last Call) mourns the loss of species through a language of communication, and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’sKing of the Mountain honors Indigenous resilience. Erwin Wurm’s spectral garments and Henrique Oliveira’s organic wooden structures continue the dialogue between visibility and disappearance, while Grace Schwindt reflects on how memory leaves its traces in form and gesture.
David Altmejd,Nymph 1 Nymph 2 Nymph 3,2025,presented by White Cube. FriezeSculpture 2025. Photo by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Frieze
Performance also features prominently this year. Assemble’s Fibredog takes the form of a costumed procession through the park, while Lucía Pizzani, in collaboration with Lucia Pietroiusti, stages live performances inspired by myth and metamorphosis. Üstek will lead curator’s walks, linking the conceptual framework of the exhibition to the landscape of Regent’s Park itself.
Frieze Sculpture once again aligns with London Sculpture Week (20–28 September), a citywide initiative connecting five major programs, including The Line, the Fourth Plinth, East Bank, and Sculpture in the City. Highlights will include a conference at the Warburg Institute on 26 September and artist-led tours across venues. Visitors can also explore the exhibition through Bloomberg Connects, the official digital guide featuring audio commentary by Üstek.
As London prepares for Frieze Week in October, Frieze Sculpture offers its most reflective chapter yet. In the Shadows invites visitors to slow down, to look for what is not immediately visible, and to find meaning in the spaces where light gives way to depth.
Simon Hitchens,Bearing Witness to Things Unseen, 2025, presented by CLOSE Gallery.Frieze Sculpture 2025. Photo by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Frieze
The Athens Biennale has announced a major restructuring of its governance alongside the appointment of Thiago de Paula Souza as curator of its 8th edition in 2027. The new model introduces a formalised structure of trustees, advisors, and curatorial leadership, consolidating the Biennale within a tightly interlinked network of cultural patrons, collectors, and institutional stakeholders. While presented as an “evolving ecosystem,” the shift reflects a broader transformation in contemporary art governance, where cultural legitimacy is increasingly shaped through structures aligned with private capital and strategic institutional management. Against this backdrop, de Paula Souza’s curatorial practice—rooted in institutional critique and transnational experimentation—introduces a productive tension between radical discourse and formalised cultural power.
Giusy Amoroso, also known as Marigoldff, winner of the fifth Open Call, constructs speculative ecosystems where biology and industry converge. Working across digital and physical realms, her practice examines how organisms adapt within environments shaped by contamination, technological intervention, and ecological instability. Rooted in her upbringing in Southern Italy’s “Land of Fires,” Amoroso’s work moves beyond narratives of destruction to focus on transformation as a condition of survival. Through hybrid anatomies—where metal, synthetic matter, and organic tissue coexist—she proposes new models of life that are both resilient and dependent. This conversation traces the conceptual, technical, and experiential layers that define her evolving practice.
Danish artist Laust Højgaard explores the tension between strength, vulnerability, and identity through paintings and sculptures populated by symbolic characters and surreal situations. Drawing inspiration from classical mythology, architecture, and contemporary pop culture, his work investigates how individuals navigate societal structures while negotiating their own instincts and inner conflicts. Based on the small island of Thurø near Svendborg in southern Denmark, Højgaard works across painting and sculpture, often combining expressive figuration with raw, intuitive processes. His work frequently reflects on humanity’s relationship with nature, control, and the systems that shape modern life.
.jpgcom.jpg)
.jpg)
