In this exclusive conversation, Culturalee speaks with Dr. Ferren Gipson, curator of London Art Fair’s Platform 2026, titled The Unexpected. Gipson discusses how surprise, material innovation, and process-driven practices shape this year’s section, revealing artists who challenge conventional ideas of craft, materiality, and art-making. From labour-intensive techniques to playful contradictions in form and texture, Platform 2026 offers a globally connected perspective on contemporary art at a pivotal cultural moment.
Platform 2026 is titled The Unexpected. What kinds of surprises were you most interested in cultivating through this section, and how do the selected artists challenge conventional ideas of materiality and process?
I think the element of “surprise” comes in exploring ways artists are working with materials in exciting and unconventional ways. In the case of someone like Alice Foxen, her work visually contrasts the expectations of her clay materials – the works looks pillowy and soft but are actually hard. There’s a playfulness to that contradiction, but such an elegance to how she executes her work. On the opposite side of that same spectrum, there’s Vanessa Barragão’s work, which is sculptural, but made of soft materials. Then, we have artists like Laetizia Campbell and Gleb Skubachevsky, who are using familiar methods and materials – embroidery for Campbell and paper for Skubachevsky – in fresh, innovative ways. These are just a few examples, but they speak to the breadth of practices within this year’s section.
As an art historian and curator, how does your research background inform the way you approach a fair-based exhibition like Platform, where discovery and market contexts intersect?
I’m driven, in a broad sense, by curiosity – I love to explore and to interrogate symbolism and meaning within works. This is important for my practice because I feel energised by learning and I think that aids me in producing more enthusiastic and authentic work. In approaching Platform, I focused on one of the bigger themes interesting me in recent years, which was a story of materiality. This felt more expansive than focusing on a particular medium and hopefully encourages viewers engaging with a wider diversity of mediums and methods beyond what they might typically encounter.
Many artists in The Unexpected push against traditional methods of art-making. Did you notice any shared themes or concerns emerging organically across the works, despite their differing materials and approaches?
For many artists in the section, process is an important element of their work, and that includes processes around thinking and making. For instance, Richard McVetis and Bay Tang Jiaxin engage in labour-intensive practices that connect to themes of time and provide a way for them to explore complex concepts through making. Others, like Emily Ponsonby and Bisila Noha, draw on historical methods of making, and that rediscovery adds further layers of meaning around memory, identity, and heritage. I hope that, in looking across the section, viewers will find points of connection that allow the works to be set in conversation with one another.
How do you see London Art Fair 2026 contributing to a more globally connected and culturally expansive art dialogue at this moment?
I think London Art Fair is seeing more and more international galleries, which is really exciting. Even in the Platform section, we have artists from all over the world represented. It’s important to have spaces like this where we can exchange ideas and see what artists and gallerists are exploring in different parts of the world. Since the modern era, cross-cultural exchange has often gone hand in hand with innovation.
I’m driven, in a broad sense, by curiosity – I love to explore and to interrogate symbolism and meaning within works. This is important for my practice because I feel energised by learning and I think that aids me in producing more enthusiastic and authentic work. In approaching Platform, I focused on one of the bigger themes interesting me in recent years, which was a story of materiality.”
Dr. Ferren Gipson
London Art Fair runs from 21st to 25th January at Business Design Centre, Islington, N1 0QH.
Find more information and tickets here.
