The Art World Descends: What to See and Where to Be at Frieze London 2025

It’s that time of year again. The leaves are turning, the air is cooling, and the cream of international curators, critics and collectors are set to descend upon Regent’s Park for the British capital’s most anticipated annual art fair, Frieze London.

Marking its 23rd edition, Frieze London is the global market’s defining showcase of contemporary art, focusing exclusively on works made by living artists. This year, the fair unites 168 galleries from 43 countries, foregrounding ambitious solo projects and a new curated section.

So, what can you expect from the work on view? Art advisor Arianne Piper notes the fair’s direction is one of recalibration: “There remains a strong overarching focus on overlooked female artists, alongside a growing emphasis on African, Latin American and Indigenous artists and diasporas.”

Running concurrently is Frieze Masters. This distinct fair shifts the focus to historical art, defined as art made before the millenium. This year, Frieze Masters fair takes rediscovery as its central lens, spanning works from rare Ptolemaic reliefs to a Peter Paul Rubens panel. Piper adds, “Overall, there’s a sense of rebalancing; institutions, galleries, and collectors are collectively reassessing whose stories are being told and celebrated.”

Beyond the frames, Frieze London is hailed as the social pinnacle of the art calendar where just as many people go to be seen as they do to acquire. With a buzzing Ruinart bar, culinary pop-ups, countless interesting outfits and even more interesting artworks, the fair is an unparalleled production. We’ve cut through the noise to bring you a curated edit of this year’s best booths and sections, so you know exactly where to be and what to see this October.

Frieze London

Do Ho Suh at Lehmann Maupin

Best known for his psychologically-charged, ‘translucent architecture,’ Korean artist Do Ho Suh presents three major bodies of work: his meticulous Specimens series – fabric replicas of domestic objects and architectural fixtures – will sit beside Scaled Behaviour and Spectators series, abstract works made using architectural scripting software, and a collection of delicate thread drawings.The centerpiece will be a new, large-scale fabric installation, immersing viewers in an intimate meditation of memory, displacement and the meaning of home.

Artist-to-Artist

Now in its third edition, the Artist-to-Artist section is all about peer-to-peer recognition. Six established artists each select an emerging talent to present a solo show. This year, we’ll see powerful pairings like Nicole Eisenman’s nominee, the US artist Katherine Hubbard, whose photo series created with her mother turns their family home into a stage; and Abraham Cruzvillegas whose selected artist, Mexican painter Ana Segovia, will reinterpret Spain’s golden age of cinema through paintings and scenography.

Lisson Gallery 

While other galleries are focused on market dynamics, Lisson Gallery is set squarely on planet Earth. Its multidisciplinary presentation reflects on the fragile state of our environment and creates a visual conversation across sculpture, film, painting, installation and photography. Don’t miss Otobong Nkanga’s monumental tapestry tracing the entangled histories of land, resources and exploitation, or Laure Prouvost’s humorous chandelier which will hang above it all. 

Focus

For a glimpse of the future, visit Focus, the fair’s discovery engine championing young galleries established within the last 12 years. Here, you can expect 35 tightly curated presentations from emerging global players like Montreal’s Eli Kerr and Tokyo’s Kayokoyuki, alongside hot new London spaces like Bloomsbury’s a. Squire. It’s the perfect spot to nab a piece of art history before it hits the museums.

Lauren Halsey at Gagosian

It may be sweater season in London, but Gagosian is bringing the heat as Lauren Halsey transforms its booth into a slice of South Central LA. Inspired by the colorful, creative wordplay found on ethnic minority business signage in working-class LA neighborhoods, Halsey has designed an immersive environment complete with a six-ft ‘plaza sign,’ bright collage wallpaper and protruded engravings that act as a graphic record of these communities. 

Echoes in the Present

Curated by Jareh Das, this new themed section explores intergenerational connections between contemporary artists from Brazil, Africa and their diasporas. Shot in Dakar, the accompanying video presents Das’s selection of ten international artists – including Bunmi Agusto, Aline Motta and Sandra Poulson – whose diverse practices weave themes of land, memory and material, prompting viewers to reconsider how entangled histories reverberate in the present and signal toward possible futures.

Hauser & Wirth

Hauser & Wirth’s characteristically ambitious booth spotlights rising British star George Rouy, whose energetic figurative paintings cleverly flirt with abstraction. Rouy is joined by Christina Kimeze, Anj Smith, Allison Katz and major figures like Henry Taylor, Avery Singer, Takesada Matsutani and Lee Bul. Though, given the gallery’s history of daring acts (like spontaneously mounting a $33m Malevich at Art Basel Paris last year) visitors should expect the unexpected.

Frieze Masters 

The Studio Section

Back in its third edition, the Studio Selection will present six major monographic shows that frame the artist’s studio as a time machine and pose the question: ‘how does historical memory fuel contemporary creation?’ Prepare to see the past collide with the present in works by RH Quaytman, Glenn Brown, Samia Halaby, Dorothy Cross, Anju Dodiya and Anne Rothenstein, complemented by a small display of personal objects from their studio.

Ida Barbarigo at Axel Vervoordt

Venetian painter Ida Barbargio remains relatively unknown to broad international audiences, though that may be about to change. Belgium-based gallery Axel Vervoordt will present a collection of rarely seen works from the artist spanning three decades, illustrating the evolution in her visual language from very formal and geometric to lyrical and atmospheric.

Reflections

A new section for 2025, Reflections gives decorative arts and objects their main stage moment, inspired by two of Britain’s most delightfully eccentric, object-packed house museums: Sir John Soane’s Museum in London and Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge. This dual presentation aims to capture the spirit of those wildly personal collections, showcasing everything from antique marble to contemporary Venetian glass and rare ceramics.

Eleonore Koch at Almeida & Dale

Eleonore Koch’s work offers a moment of calm amid the chaos. Trained under Modernist painter Alfredo Volpi, the German-born Brazilian artist sidestepped the dominant Brazilian art movements of her era, turning instead to London where she developed her distinct style of introspective landscapes full of sparse backgrounds and shapes. This selection focuses on works that capture this connection to the British capital, featuring nods to her explorations of Regent’s Park and the UK coastline.