NEW YORK, NY.- The Frieze Projects program at Frieze New York 2016 will feature six new artworks, both inside the fair and around Randall’s Island Park, Manhattan. Curated by Cecilia Alemani (High Line Art, New York), Frieze Projects is the celebrated non-profit program of artist commissions realized annually at Frieze New York. This year’s program explores the magical possibilities of artistic intervention, with performances, sculptures and clandestine actions, which respond to the fair environment in unexpected and often humorous ways. Taking place May 5-8, 2016, Frieze New York is sponsored by Deutsche Bank for the fifth consecutive year, continuing a shared commitment to discovery and artistic excellence.

The artists participating in Frieze Projects at Frieze New York 2016 are: Alex Da Corte, Anthea Hamilton, David Horvitz, Eduardo Navarro, Heather Phillipson, and a tribute to the Daniel Newburg Gallery with a special project by Maurizio Cattelan.

Six projects will be scattered both inside and outside Frieze New York, to be encountered by visitors in common areas, hidden in booths, and even floating above the fair. Curator Cecilia Alemani said: ‘For the fifth edition of Frieze Projects in New York, I have invited a group of international artists to subvert the rhythm of the fair with new projects spanning sculpture, installation and performance. When experienced together, these works are embedded with an enchanted atmosphere: a highly realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe.’

Outside the North Entrance, Alex Da Corte will interrupt the flat landscape of the Randall’s Island Park with a giant inflatable balloon-work floating above the fair. Also outside, Eduardo Navarro’s ‘clouds followers’ – a group of performers wearing circular mirror disks that reflect the sky – will animate the park in new ways, by capturing the unpredictable passing of clouds above Randall’s Island.

Inside the fair, British artist Anthea Hamilton reinterprets an iconic project by Italian architect Mario Bellini by paying tribute to his Kar-A-Sutra, a futuristic inhabitable car conceived in 1972; London-based artist Heather Phillipson’s multi-sensory objects, which punctuate the fair, will reimagine the sinuous, serpentine shape of the fair structure as a giant spinal chord; and David Horvitz has hired a professional pickpocket, who will secretly drop miniature sculptures into visitors’ pockets and bags. Together, these projects share an irreverent humour, evoking fairy tales and magical mise-en-scènes.

Each year, Frieze Projects at Frieze New York features a creative tribute to an artist-run project or a gallery that has radically transformed the way we experience contemporary art. Following homages to Fashion Moda (2012), FOOD (2013), the Al’s Grand Hotel (2014) and the Flux-Labyrinth (2015), this year’s program will celebrate the Daniel Newburg Gallery which was active in New York from 1984 to 1994, with a special project by Maurizio Cattelan.