Frieze London Adds New Galleries as Major Names Sit Out 2026 Edition
Frieze London will return to Regent’s Park from October 14 to 18 with 172 galleries, a modest increase from 166 last year, even as several established exhibitors step away. The 2026 edition of the London fair arrives with a noticeably altered roster: Almine Rech, James Cohan, Sean Kelly, Gathering, Kurimanzutto, and Tina Kim are among the galleries not participating this year.
The changes are not limited to the contemporary fair. Frieze Masters will include 140 participants, up from 120 in 2025, though Pace, Frith Street, and Mazzoleni are sitting out this edition. Now in its 14th year, the fair continues to position itself as a parallel stage for historical work, scholarship, and curatorial framing rather than a simple extension of the contemporary market.
Among the new names at Frieze London are Amanda Wilkinson, Sargent’s Daughters, and VeneKlasen, Gordon VeneKlasen’s latest venture after his split with Michael Werner. Night Gallery and Pilar Corrias are also returning after a hiatus. The fair will further expand its reach through Artist-to-Artist and Focus, where Bolanle Contemporary, Alice Amati, South Parade, and 243 Luz are among the galleries joining the mix.
A new themed section, “The Code Universe,” curated by Carol Yinghua Lu of Beijing’s Inside-Out Art Museum, will gather work that responds to the visual overload and information saturation of recent decades. Participating galleries include TINA gallery, founded in 2024 in Soho, as well as Nonfrasa, Voloshyn Gallery, and acb Gallery.
Frieze’s director, Eva Langret, said the fair is aiming for “greater equity” by giving “space, visibility, and serious attention to artists and galleries whose work is advancing contemporary practice, wherever they are based.” At Frieze Masters, David Zwirner and Victoria Miro will collaborate on a presentation of work by Alice Neel in response to the 2026 theme, “Queering Modernism.” Frieze Masters director Emanuela Tarizzo said the fair has “always resisted the idea of a single art history,” emphasizing “rigorous scholarship and the expansion of the canon” at its center.
The result is a Frieze season shaped as much by absence as by addition. With new sections, returning galleries, and a broader geographic spread, the fairs appear to be recalibrating how visibility is distributed across the market and the canon alike.
