Ann Binlot is in LA for Frieze. Below, she explores Chris Burden’s powerful presentation, which was created to provide healing and comfort for its visitors.
Art has a redemptive power that heals and comforts, and weeks after wildfires burned roughly 40,000 throughout the Los Angeles area, displacing families, artists, and businesses, Gagosian selected work by a quintessentially Los Angeles artist — at the first to be represented by Larry Gagosian — to exhibit at Frieze Los Angeles 2025 to remedy the tragedy: “Nomadic Folly” by Chris Burden.
The Los Angeles artist, who passed away at 69 in 2015, originally constructed “Nomadic Folly” for the seventh Istanbul Biennial in 2001. Burden used local Turkish materials, like plush pillows, vibrant handcrafted carpets, embroidered wedding textiles, jewel-toned glass, and metal lamps, arranging them atop a platform made from Turkish cypress, covering it with four large umbrellas. It was unveiled as a symbol of beauty, juxtaposed against the ruins of the Imperial Mint Building at the 18th-century Topkapi Palace on September 21, 2001, just 10 days after the United States was attacked on September 11th. “This jewel-like pavilion was originally set within the decaying and crumbling Imperial Mint Building in Istanbul,” said Burden. “Visitors tend to linger and find respite in this oasis of beauty.”
“Debuting just after 9/11 at the Istanbul Biennale, ‘Nomadic Folly’ had healing powers at the time,” said Deborah McLeod, senior director at Gagosian. “Chris Burden said he hoped it was ‘an oasis at a time when the world had come undone.'”
That “oasis of beauty” was resurrected for Frieze Los Angeles 2025, the first time it has been exhibited in the United States, as a symbol of resilience during a difficult time as Los Angeles continues to rebuild in the aftermath of the tragic wildfires. The structure provided a beautiful way to contemplate the recent tragedy.
Burden, who had a way of communicating meaningful politically-fueled messages through conceptual art, like Urban Light, a Los Angeles icon composed of 202 vintage street lamps installed at LACMA in 2008 that serves as a symbol of the city’s diversity and sophistication, and The Other Vietnam Memorial (1991), which lists 58,220 names etched on copper plates, to represent the Vietnamese lives that were senselessly lost to the American-imposed violence during the war.
Fair visitors took off their shoes before entering the space to meditate, take a moment of respite, gather with friends and colleagues, or pause between taking in the art at Frieze Los Angeles. It doubled as a symbol of hope and a moment of beauty after the destruction from the fires ravaged the Los Angeles area.
“We know this to be a work that Chris felt showcased all the right things about humanity in a time of crisis,” said McLeod. “In this heartbreaking moment for the city, we thought it would be a beautiful gesture to provide a place for escape, for joy, and for community by one of LA’s greatest artists.”
Words by Ann Binlot
