LONDON.- London Art Fair has announced highlights of the most international Art Projects to date, including;

· A curated showcase of the freshest contemporary art from across the world

· Dialogues’, a series of five collaborations between UK and international galleries guest curated by Miguel Amado

· Over 40% non-UK exhibitors (inc. USA, Zimbabwe, South Korea)

· Focussed solo presentations from artists including Chris Agnew (Kristin Hjellegjerde, London), Victoria Lucas (Chiara Williams Contemporary Art, London) and Yong Il Shin (Do Gallery, South Korea)

· The De’Longhi Art Projects Artist Award will award one artist with £2,500

Dedicated to cultivating a community of emerging international galleries and artists, Art Projects has established itself as an important platform for galleries to showcase the most stimulating contemporary practice. Highlights for 2017 include large-scale installations, solo shows and thematic group displays; alongside an accompanying programme of collaborative film and new media initiatives.

A major feature of the section is ‘Dialogues’; five pairs of collaborations between galleries intended to encourage and foster relationships on a global scale. Now in its fourth year, the 2017 edition has been curated by Miguel Amado, Senior Curator at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, UK.

The five ‘Dialogues’ collaborations for 2017 are:

· Maus Contemporary (Birmingham, USA) / Golden Thread Gallery (Belfast, UK)

· Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporânea (Lisbon, Portugal) / Kalfayan Galleries (Athens and Thessaloniki, Greece)

· First Floor Gallery (Harare, Zimbabwe) / LLE (Cardiff, UK)

· Gibbons and Nicholas (Dublin, Ireland) / Jack House Gallery (Portsmouth, UK)

· IMT GALLERY (London, UK) / Division of Labour (London, UK)

Miguel Amado comments: “I was looking for innovative work that addresses the issues of our times, and I believe that all artists featured in ‘Dialogues’ match this brief. The selected galleries represent some of the best art being made both in the UK and across the world, and I am thrilled that we were able to bring them together on this occasion.”

With galleries from outside the UK making up two fifths of exhibitors, the 13th edition of Art Projects is the most international Art Projects to date. Artists represented also come from a diverse selection of countries including Greece, Germany, Japan, France, South Korea and Zimbabwe.

International galleries participating in Art Projects for the first time include CRAG – CHIONO REISOVA ART GALLERY (Italy), Do Gallery (South Korea) and RED CORRIDOR Gallery (Germany). New UK galleries include London-based Joanna Bryant & Julian Page and Ed Cross Fine Art, as well as Manchester-based OBJECT / A.

Solo presentations include ‘Lay of the Land (and other such Myths)’, an exhibition by SOLO Award 2016 winner Victoria Lucas from Chiara Williams Contemporary Art, Chris Agnew’s fantastical architectural drawings from Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery and paintings by Yong Il Shin from Do Gallery. Perve Galeria (Portugal) is bringing creative collaborations between the South African artist Beezy Bailey and Brian Eno, the well-known music composer and artist featuring a wide range of works of paintings accompanied by original sound pieces.

International photography is also prevalent. MATÈRIA (Italy) will be bringing a solo presentation of work by Chinese photographer Xiaoyi Chen, focussing on her ‘Koan’ series and a large scale artwork from her recent body of work ‘An Infinitesimal Wink’. Galerie Rothamel (Germany) is presenting a Hiroyuki Masuyama solo show: ‘Turners Journey from London to Rome’, made up of Turner inspired photographic composites. Galerija Fotografija (Slovenia) and Noorforart Contemporary (France) will also feature solo shows of contemporary photography.

Group exhibitions include Iniva’s show of six women artists, including Sutapa Biswas, Mary Evans and Joy Gregory, creating an intergenerational dialogue by asking these three established artists to choose three early-career artists to offer overlapping perspectives at the intersection of race, gender and politics.

London Art Fair’s Lee Cavaliere comments: “Art Projects is incredibly strong this year. It’s particularly pertinent that the section presents a hugely international offering, reflecting an atmosphere of borderlessness within the global arts community. The galleries demonstrate excellent quality and academic rigour, born from a prevailing attitude of creative collaboration.”

For the second year De’Longhi, manufacturers of premium Bean to Cup coffee machines, return to London Art Fair 2017 as sponsor of the Art Projects Artist Award. One artist exhibiting in Art Projects will receive a cash prize of £2,500, assessed on the merit of their practice and work displayed at the Fair. The winner will be chosen by a judging panel including key art world figures from the areas of collecting, journalism, curating and education. The judging panel will include Adrian George, Deputy Director & Senior Curator at Government Art Collection; Rebecca Morrill, Senior Editor at Phaidon; JJ Charlesworth, publisher and editor at ArtReview; and Fabienne Nicholas, Head of Consultancy at Contemporary Art Society.

Art Projects’ insightful programme of talks, tours and performance can be enjoyed after hours on 19 January as part of Thursday Late with complimentary drinks provided by Peroni Nastro Azzurro.

There will be daily tours of Art Projects given by art journalist, curator and academic Pryle Behrman. Pryle has worked as the curator of the Art Projects section of London Art Fair in previous years and is course manager of the Art & Design programme at Writtle University College. He will be offering insights into the practices of the artists in Art Projects and the concepts behind their works.