1-54

1:54 is an annual contemporary African art fair held in London during the October Frieze Week since 2013.

Critics have described 1:54 as a highlight of the Frieze event, and wrote that the show's publicity for contemporary African art outweighs the issues of lumping disparate geographic traditions together.

[6] In starting the fair, its founder was supported and advised by the British Council, the Francophonie, and partners ArtReview, Beaux Art magazine, and Art.sy.

[6] By the next year, held at the same time and venue,[7] the event had doubled in size,[1] with 10,000 visitors and a greater variety of curators from outside African-specific specialties.

[6] After two years in London, 1:54 held a pop-up show, 1:54 NY, at the Red Hook art venue Pioneer Works during the May 2015 Frieze New York.

[6] They included William Kentridge, Malick Sidibé, Seydou Keïta, Peter Clarke, Lavar Munroe, Billie Zangewa, and Omar Victor Diop.

[13] The fourth London show in October 2016 was three times the size of the original exhibition, and had expanded from a wing of the Somerset House to the rest of the building and its courtyard, where Zak Ové installed a site-specific work[14] that was purchased for a sculpture park in Berkshire.

[20] When 1-54's 2021 Marrakech fair was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a pop-up show in Paris was organized in its place in 18 of Christie's galleries.

[14] In New York, Ben Davis of Artnet wrote that 1:54 NY was a highlight of the city's art fair week.

[3] Critics had typically questioned whether art fairs with narrow geographic scope like 1:54 highlight or ostracize minority artists.

[3] Critics initially noted the fair's lack of African gallery representation,[3][10] but cited justification including the African art scene's nascent state[3] and the continent's history of political instability, which affects both overseas trade and gallery security.