Frieze Week is when London’s art, fashion and club worlds end up in the same rooms, and this year it has a headliner. Wyclef Jean plays the British Museum Ball in the museum’s Great Court on Saturday, Oct. 17, in an evening designed by Es Devlin, the artist who has built stages for Beyoncé, Adele and U2.
The fairs themselves, Frieze London and Frieze Masters, run Oct. 14 to 18 in The Regent’s Park, with 318 galleries between them: 176 at Frieze London and 142 at Frieze Masters. Here’s what’s worth your time, inside the tents and out.
Wyclef Jean at the British Museum
Jean, a founding member of the Fugees and the producer behind Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” and Santana’s “Maria Maria,” headlines the museum’s second ball, with Devlin back as artistic director. The night takes its cues from the museum’s 2026 program, including the Bayeux Tapestry’s loan from France and an exhibition on 2,000 years of Korean creativity, and its color is red.
“History and music both carry the stories of humanity,” Jean said in the announcement, via FAD Magazine. “To bring them together at the British Museum is something very special.”
Jonathan Anderson Curates ‘A Composition’
Barely two weeks after his Dior show in Paris, Anderson has a second act. He has curated A Composition, a group show at his JW Anderson flagship in Pimlico, timed to Frieze and open to the public from Oct. 15: 30 new wind chimes by Cerith Wyn Evans made for the space, ceramics by Akiko Hirai, paintings by Mary Stephenson and sculpture by Shawanda Corbett. As Highsnobiety points out, every artist is already in Anderson’s orbit. Stephenson has modeled for JW Anderson, and Wyn Evans made lights for Loewe Lamps in 2024. Wyn Evans also turns up across town in Tate Britain’s The 90s.
Es Devlin, Everywhere
The woman behind the ball also has a major retrospective running. Es Devlin: Other Worlds at the Design Museum is the first European retrospective of her 30-year practice: a rebuilt version of her London studio, illuminated drawings of 240 species found in London, a revolving “30-Year-Desk” that includes her work on the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show, and Infinite Library, a kinetic installation of more than 2,000 books. She is also among the speakers in Frieze Masters’ Breaking the Mould talks, alongside Grayson Perry and Danh Vo.
Devlin calls herself an “everythingist.” “And actually, maybe the thing is everything,” she told Wallpaper*. The Design Museum’s film about the show is below.
In the Tents
Frieze London is about new work. Gagosian brings six large new paintings by Albert Oehlen, Lisson shows Dalton Paula’s portraits of overlooked Black historical figures from the 16th to 19th centuries, and the Haitian artist Myrlande Constant gets her first European solo presentation with Fort Gansevoort. For scale, Sadie Coles HQ has commissioned Alex Da Corte’s Princess Daffodil, a sculpture more than 3.5 meters tall. Richard Saltoun pairs Helen Chadwick with Cathy de Monchaux, two more names from The 90s, and Theo Triantafyllidis’ Feral Metaverse (Spider) won this year’s Frieze London Artist Award.
The Focus section, for 35 galleries from 17 countries that are no more than 12 years old, is where to look for the next names. Laurie Smith’s presentation with Wschód is built on the story of Huddersfield’s Gemini Club, a gay nightclub whose closure after police harassment led the U.K.’s national Pride march to move to the town in solidarity. Marcus Jefferson turns Harlesden High Street’s booth into a life-size office with a sound work inspired by lovers rock. A new curated section, The Code Universe, from Carol Yinghua Lu, follows Pop and Conceptual art into the post-digital age.
Over at Frieze Masters, the best story belongs to a 26th-Dynasty Egyptian bronze of Ptah, brought by Rupert Wace. It once belonged to William Randolph Hearst, and its stacked silhouette is thought to have influenced MGM’s Cedric Gibbons when he sketched the original Oscar statuette in 1927.
After Dark
On Friday, Oct. 16, the cult queer party Anal House Meltdown, started in 2011 by the artists Prem Sahib, Eddie Peake and George Henry Longly, takes over Bolding Gallery in Mayfair for one night, with Barkley Bandon, Lali, Peake and Debonair playing. There’s no guest list. For something quieter, Yuko Mohri’s In Concert at the Barbican turns the building’s salvaged wires, scrap metal and street lamps into a wonky, self-playing concert of leaks and clangs, with cymbals that sound as water is pumped through dangling tubes.
Can’t get to Regent’s Park? The Breaking the Mould talks will be released as a podcast on frieze.com, dunhill.com, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
- Fair dates
- Oct. 14–18, 2026
- Where
- The Regent’s Park, London
- Galleries
- 318 (176 Frieze London, 142 Frieze Masters)
- British Museum Ball
- Oct. 17, with Wyclef Jean
