We are living in an ugly time. The pandemic, war and extreme politics take control of global population. The wealthiest human beings, like Elon Musk, are experimenting on our civilisation with new ideas and new technologies, stirring social media, inciting huge number of followers and causing chaos. Science is enslaving minds with algorithms – you are what you read, and you only read what you want to read. It is the first time post WWII generations may realistically face a huge man-made disaster coming, and we have to protest.

 

 

我们生活在一个丑陋的时代。流行病、战争和极端政治控制着全球人口。最富有的人，如埃隆马斯克，正在用新思想和新技术对我们的文明进行试验，在社交媒体上引起轰动，煽动大量追随者并造成混乱。科学正在用算法奴役思想——你就是你所读的，你只读你想读的。这是二战后的几代人第一次可能现实地面对即将到来的巨大人为灾难，我们不得不抗议。

 

 

So we hold signs, take the streets and demand “Just Stop Oil”. What a great cause but, we vandalise paintings, buildings and memorials, block traffic and delay travels, proclaiming by damaging. Is that the right thing to do? In the wave of movement, art becomes smaller, and beauty more fragile. A world famous masterpiece can be destroyed in a blink of time by just two ordinary college students, who may think they are special enough to be our saviours.

 

 

所以我们举着标语，走上街头，要求“停止石油”。多么伟大的事业，我们却破坏画作、建筑物和纪念碑，阻塞交通和延误旅行，以破坏来宣扬。这是正确的做法吗？在运动的浪潮中，艺术变得渺小，美更脆弱。一个世界名著，可以被两个普通的大学生瞬间毁掉，他们可能认为自己很特别，可以成为我们的救世主。

 

 

Giving this background, an art show as good as Frieze 2022 is more precious than ever. We are able to see beautiful things again, rediscover different cultures from art, look for funny works which will make us smile, appreciate life and its many forms.

It is the perfect escape we all need in this ugly time, and the beautiful protest to the ugliness we shall never get used to…

 

 

在这样的背景下，像 Frieze 2022 这样的艺术展比以往任何时候都更加珍贵。我们能够再次看到美丽的事物，从艺术中重新发现不同的文化，寻找能让我们微笑的有趣作品，欣赏生活及其多种形式。

这是我们在这个丑陋的时代所需要的完美逃避，也是对我们永远不会习惯的丑陋的美丽抗议……

 

 

The Frieze fair and its sibling, Frieze Masters attract over 60,000 people each year, and this year there were more than 200 galleries exhibiting. Frieze Masters, which is located 15 minutes’ walk away in the same Regent’s Park, combines both contemporary and historical art, along with rare objects which this year included a 154-million-year-old Camptosaurus skeleton and a meteorite rock. Sadie Coles HQ, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, Maureen Paley, White Cube were among the major galleries represented in the 2022 edition of Frieze and Frieze Masters.