Frieze London and Frieze Masters are scheduled to run from October 13–17 in the British capital’s Regent’s Park. The organizers of the fair has announced that 276 galleries from 39 countries will be participating in its upcoming 2021 editions.
These art fairs will be the first in-person Frieze fairs held in London since 2019. Unlike Art Basel in Switzerland, these fair will host online viewing rooms tied to the fair and an expanded digital program instead of a hybrid fair. The fairs will also have timed-entry tickets and will require visitors to provide proof of vaccination or a recent negative Covid-19 test.
Frieze was still able to attract major galleries despite continued international travel restrictions and concerns about rising Covid variants. Among those taking part in Frieze London’s main section are mega-galleries like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, and David Zwirner, as well as other blue-chip enterprises like David Kordansky, Lehmann Maupin, Galerie Lelong & Co., Mendes Wood DM, Victoria Miro, Sprüth Magers, and White Cube.
“The list of galleries participating confirms London as one of the world’s most exciting art capitals, which has come through the pandemic with huge resilience,” Frieze London artistic director Eva Langret said in a statement. “This year’s fair also sees a new generation of curators whose programming will prompt important conversations that not only reflect this moment of change and transformation but also look forward to what the future of the artworld can be.”
Frieze London will also include three additional sections. One titled Focus will be for galleries under 12 years old, among them Arcadia Missa, Instituto de Visión, Edouard Malingue Gallery, Proyectos Ultravioleta, and Tiwani Contemporary. Another titled Editions will be for dealers specializing in multiples, including Cristea Roberts Gallery and Paragon. And a third, titled “Unworlding” and organized by Cédric Fauq, recently appointed chief curator of CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux in France, will highlight the work of “international artists whose practices are centered around the idea of the undoing of the world as we know it,” according to a press release. Participating galleries include Jhaveri Contemporary, Tanya Leighton, Galerie Gregor Staiger, and T293.
At Frieze Masters, among those lined up to show in the fair’s main sector are Acquavella Galleries, Cardi Gallery, Galleria Continua, Stephen Friedman, Garth Greenan Gallery, Kasmin, Kukje Gallery, Lévy Gorvy, Ortuzar Projects, and Thaddaeus Ropac. The Spotlight section, curated by Drawing Center executive director Laura Hoptman, focuses on solo presentations of under-recognized artists and will feature work by Huguette Caland (at Kayne Griffin), Beauford Delaney (Michael Rosenfeld Gallery), Agnes Denes (acb), Nancy Graves (Ceysson & Bénétière) Nicola L. (Alison Jacques), and Feliciano Centurión (Cecilia Brunson Projects and Galeria Millan).
The fair will also introduce a new section titled “Stand Out,” which will bring together works and objects from various time periods; it will be organized by Luke Syson, the director of Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.