LONDON.- John Baldessari, Hella Jongerius, Sylvère Lotringer, Agnès Varda and Yu Yeon Kim all form part of the international line-up of highly respected artists, filmmakers, designers, curators and cultural commentators making up Frieze Talks 2009.

Frieze Talks is a daily programme of keynote lectures, panel debates and discussions that take place in the auditorium at Frieze Art Fair. It is presented by Frieze Foundation and programmed by the editors of frieze magazine, Jennifer Higgie, Jörg Heiser and Dan Fox.

Conversations between John Baldessari and Matthew Higgs, Marie Darrieussecq and Brian Dillon, and Hella Jongerius with Eugenia Bell will be accompanied by a series of keynote lectures from art historian and cultural critic James Elkins, critic and theorist Sylvère Lotringer (also General Editor of Semiotext(e)), and the renowned French ‘nouvelle vague’ filmmaker and artist Agnès Varda.

Panel discussions led by Tom Morton, Jenni Lomax, Jörg Heiser, Dan Fox and Simon Rees will focus on some of the current debates surrounding contemporary art and theory. Featuring artists Roger Hiorns, Barbara Bloom, Matthew Brannon and Marko Luliç, and curators Kathrin Rhomberg, Robert Storr, Mark Godfrey and Edit András (among others), topics including the validity of some of the main criticisms leveled at contemporary art, the relationship between art and philosophy, and the legacy and potential of monuments and public sculpture will be discussed and explored.

A further keynote lecture will be given by motivational speaker Alex MacPhail, speaking as part of Mike Bouchet’s Frieze Projects commission Sell and Destroy: Redrawing the Bottom Line. MacPhail will talk to both the exhibitors and public at Frieze Art Fair and is an expert at empowering and energising large audiences to master their motivation and achieve their full potential.

Jennifer Higgie, co-editor of frieze magazine commented: “Frieze Talks provides a great opportunity to engage with some of the most exciting artists, writers, filmmakers and designers working today. We look forward to welcoming our esteemed guests to the fair this October for four days of discussion, conversation, argument and illumination.”