The Wick List

Viewing 1-54 Art Fair at Somerset House

Another must-see of Frieze week in London is 1-54 at Somerset House, the dedicated hub for contemporary art and galleries from across the African continent and diaspora. The 13th London edition of the fair include fifty galleries from thirteen countries, with a special curated section this year devoted to art from the Caribbean.

Special projects to hot foot it to this year include, ęmí: freedomsong, an audio-visual installation inspired by bell hooks’ All About Love and Camille Sapara Barton’s Tending Grief. Equally immersive is the salon installation by Le Tings, centred around the artistry of the hairdresser and the conversations that take place in the barbers chair. Meanwhile, The Inherited Counter-Archive presents a conceptual photo-studio and installation by Everyday Lusaka Gallery (Zambia), featuring work by veteran photographer Alick Phiri.

If you need another reason to visit: the iconic Neoclassical courtyard at Somerset House has been transformed by Mónica de Miranda into a social sculpture: Earthworks (2025). This site-specific project reimagines public space as “a living, collective, and sensory archive, an articulation of stage-sculptures and vertical gardens” that will be brought to life with performance, actions and conversations over the coming days. It’s inspired by Achille Mbembe’s idea of “terrestrial communities, where the human and non-human life are intertwined in care and shared survival, the project transcends soil and plant life into living archives of resistance.”

Share story
Dates
15 October 2025 — 19 October 2025
READ MORE
The Wick Culture - David Bowie, Debbie Doss, Hammersmith 1973. Courtesy of Lightroom
The Wick List

Viewing David Bowie: You're Not Alone

The Wick Culture - Viewing 1-54 Art Fair at Somerset House
The Wick List

Viewing Collect Art Fair

The Wick Culture - Credit: Musée de la Vie Romantique
The Wick List

Viewing Museum of Romantic Life

The Wick Culture - Emilija Škarnulytė, Hypoxia, 2023 (detail), For All At Last Return, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead. Photo: Colin Davison © 2025 Baltic
The Wick List

Viewing For All At Last Return

The Wick Culture - Wayne Thiebaud. Boston Cremes (1962) © Wayne Thiebaud. Courtesy of Crocker Art Museum
The Wick List

Viewing Wayne Thiebaud: American Still Life

The Wick Culture - Nan Goldin.
Mark in the red car, Lexington, Mass.
(1979) from “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency,” 
© Nan Goldin.
Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian
The Wick List

Viewing Richard Avedon: Facing West & Nan Goldin: The Ballad of Sexual Dependency