The Monocle Minute

It’s that time of year again when the UK capital’s best-dressed denizens flock to Regent’s Park for Frieze London. As well as shelter from the city’s interminable drizzle, there’s hope that this year’s white tents will provide some good news amid the doom and gloom forecasted for the art market. The industry is not immune to the turbulence of geopolitical events and cautious collectors, rising costs, thinner margins and persistent inflation mean that the sector is facing a slump.

On the preview day, I stopped by the Charles Ede booth at Frieze Masters. It’s an interesting time for a gallery that usually specialises in ancient artworks. This year, it has added some 19th- and 20th-century paintings and photographs to its roster. Though pleased by the initial sales, director James Richards was keen to stress that talking about the art market as a whole is a fool’s game. “There are lots of nuances and plenty of different fields,” he said. “So, we just try to find beautiful things and I think people appreciate that.”

Chatter about falling numbers and the possible emergence of a post-Brexit rivalry between Paris and London (Art Basel Paris begins next week) only tells part of the story. Walking around the fair, I overheard conversations in myriad languages – a testament to the fact that this city remains as buzzy as it is internationally attractive. It has been 21 years since the first edition of Frieze London and there’s still something special about all of these people meeting up to connect, gossip and occasionally turn their attention to the beautiful works on display. And that positivity is a difficult thing to put a price on.

Sophie Monaghan-Coombs is Monocle’s associate editor (culture). For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has announced that China will soon lift its ban on the country’s rock lobsters. The deal follows a meeting between Albanese and China’s premier, Li Qiang, on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Laos. China is Australia’s largest trading partner but the latter country’s exports have been hit hard by wide-ranging bans and tariffs that Beijing imposed in 2020 as a result of a political dispute between the two countries.

Australia’s annual export of rock lobsters to China was worth about AU$700m (€430m) before the ban. The pledge to resume imports is a significant coup for Albanese and a signal of warming relations between Australia and China. According to the prime minister, lobster sales will recommence by the end of the year – just in time for the Lunar New Year holidays, when the crustacean is an especially popular festive delicacy.

Two exhibitions of UK artist David Tremlett’s work have opened in the northern Italian city of Reggio Emilia. Another Step, which takes place inside the 16th-century San Pietro Cloisters, is a retrospective that features about 60 of his pieces from the late 1960s to 2023.

Perhaps more striking, however, is The Organ Pipes. One of the largest permanent works that Tremlett has ever undertaken, it radically reimagines the town’s abandoned Caffarri feed mill, transforming 13 silos and the façade of an adjacent building with acrylic paint. By giving the site a new lease on life, the project explores the area’s potential for rebirth. As for its colour palette? The greens represent the surrounding vegetation, while the browns and greys reflect the site’s industrial history.

Catalans gather in Tarragona every two years to compete in the unusual and unique sport of human-tower construction. It’s a tradition that goes back centuries and a source of regional pride that attracts thousands of visitors to the town’s arena. In this week’s photo, members of the Colla Jove de Tarragona team teeter while building their castell. It’s a spectacular competition that is also a wonderfully literal lesson in team building.

To mark Monocle’s visit to Istanbul for the annual Quality of Life Conference, we find out what makes the city tick with our local correspondent – Hannah Lucinda Smith. From an up-and-coming neighbourhood to a revitalised industrial district, and a revamped hammam too.