Frieze week gets two new challengers, from hotel rooms to direct sales
London's busiest art week is about to get busier. Two new fairs open on 15 October alongside Frieze, one inside a luxury hotel and one with no galleries at all.
They orbit Frieze London and Frieze Masters at The Regent's Park in London, which run from 14 to 18 October 2026, according to visitor information published by Frieze. Together the two main fairs present almost 300 galleries from 48 countries and regions.
The first newcomer is the London Invitational. It takes over the Chancery Rosewood hotel in Mayfair, London, with 15 galleries, Artnet News reported.
It is an offshoot of the Dallas Invitational in Texas, a boutique hotel fair started by dealer James Cope in 2023. A hotel fair means dealers show work in bedrooms and suites rather than white-walled booths. Buyers walk the corridors and knock on doors.
The London edition came about after the hotel approached Cope last year about staging a fair. Most of the exhibitors are based in the United States. They include François Ghebaly, Bel Ami and Marinaro.
There is also a stop along the way. Paraiso, a new fair for Latin American art, sits on the route from Frieze to the London Invitational.
The second newcomer is Fair Play. It opens the same day at One Marylebone in central London, a five-minute walk from Regent's Park Station, with around 70 artists.
Fair Play is artist-led. It was organised by Ryan Stanier, who founded the Other Art Fair in 2011. There are no galleries and no booth fees. Artists sell their own work directly and the fair takes a cut of sales. Every price is listed at the booths.
Named artists include Robert Montgomery and Tim Noble.
What makes this stand out is choice. Visitors can move from the big tents in the park to a hotel corridor and then to a room where the person who made the work is doing the selling. For fans, this means less gatekeeping and more conversation.
