As the London art world prepares for another frenzied October season, the Frieze London and Masters fairs, which open to invited guests on Tuesday, 13 October, are quietly building on the acclaimed additions and structural improvements introduced last year.
The biggest change is behind the scenes, in the management, rather than the content of the fairs. Victoria Siddall, the former head of Frieze Masters, is now running both fairs (as well as Frieze New York) with her colleagues Abby Bangser and Jo Stella-Sawicka, while the former directors Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharpe have stepped away from the organisation’s day-to-day duties.
Exhibitors and collectors reacted well to the Frieze London redesign last year, with its wider corridors and grey carpeting that gave the tent a more spacious feel. “We haven’t made any radical changes to this, but the Frieze Projects will be much more integrated into the fair structure,” Siddall says. Meanwhile, Frieze Live, the section dedicated to performance and participatory works, is returning after a successful 2014 debut. The seven participating galleries (of the six projects, one is shared) have been given free floor space to operate in. “Performance is not often seen in the context of the art fair, but we want to show that it is collectible,” Siddall says.
At Frieze Masters, the independent curator Norman Rosenthal is overseeing a new section called Collections, consisting of eight eclectic presentations “that feel like they could be the start of a museum exhibition” by galleries that are new to the fair, Siddall says. “The price range here is enormous because we want to show the very different kinds of collections that one can put together.” Rosenthal’s presentation of a fictional 1960s Parisian collector’s apartment at Helly Nahmad’s booth last year was the talk of the fair, so expectations for this project are high. There will also be more collaborations between galleries, such as Hauser & Wirth’s shared stand with Moretti Fine Art.
Accompanying the fairs will be the usual Frieze Sculpture, Frieze Talks and Frieze Projects, the not-for-profit programme supported for the first time by the Luma Foundation. The winner of this year’s Frieze Artist Award is the New York-based Rachel Rose, who is filling a scale model of the Frieze London tent with sights and sounds drawn from the animals that inhabit London Zoo, elsewh ere in Regent’s Park. Deutsche Bank is again the main sponsor for both fairs.
• Frieze London, 14-17 October, and Frieze Masters, 14-18 October, Regent’s Park, London
London’s other fairs during Frieze week 1:54
15-18 October
Somerset House, Strand
Genre: Contemporary African art
Who’s coming? 36 galleries, 14 from Africa
Moniker Art Fair
15-18 October
Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane
Genre: Contemporary urban art
Who’s coming? 19 galleries, 12 from the UK
Multiplied Art Fair
16-18 October
Christie’s, 85 Old Brompton Road
Genre: Contemporary editions and prints
Who’s coming? 40 exhibitors
The Other Art Fair
16-18 October
Old Truman Brewery,
Hanbury Street
Genre: Contemporary and decorative arts
Who’s coming? 130 artists
PAD London
14-18 October
Berkeley Square
Genre: Art and design
Who’s coming? 63 exhibitors
Sunday Art Fair
14-18 October
Ambika P3, University of
Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road
Genre: Contemporary art
Who’s coming? 25 galleries