Art world report·London
Champagne, New Money and Scented Urinal Cakes: A First-Hand Walk Through Frieze London's Second Day
Hyperallergic's day-two review of Frieze London captures the fair on its first day of general admission, from Anish Kapoor's mirrored selfie spot to Frieze Artist Award winner Theo Triantafyllidis' giant spider — and a novel commission scenting the public toilets with the smells of Gray Wielebinski's studio.
On Wednesday, 14 October, the international art world descended on Regent's Park for the VIP opening of Frieze London, and on Thursday the fair opened to general admission for the first time, with entry from 1pm. A first-person review published by Hyperallergic on 15 October captures the second day's atmosphere: Ruinart champagne, large sums changing hands, and a crowd for whom seeing art matters almost as much as being seen.
In many respects this year's edition is a typical Frieze, the reviewer found. There is the obligatory mirrored selfie spot — this year Anish Kapoor's stainless-steel 'Green and Brandy' at Kukje Gallery. There are indeterminate objects strewn across the carpeted aisles that might be works of searing socio-political commentary or merely discarded sandwich wrappers. And there are, as ever, lots of paintings.
The fair's most original feature this year is one visitors will literally smell. Frieze commissioned artist Gray Wielebinski to reimagine its public bathrooms as 'a site of refuge and exposure'. The result, 'Production' (2026), made with creative studio Dean's Bottom, consists of urinal cakes and toilet-rim blocks diffusing a custom scent evoking the smells of Wielebinski's studio. The reviewer, possibly nursing a fair-week cold, could not detect the advertised notes of pencil shavings, paint, dust and sweat — but awarded the concept full marks for originality.
Elsewhere on the aisles: Theo Triantafyllidis's Frieze Artist Award commission 'Feral Metaverse (Spider)', a giant climbable arachnid doubling as an entry point into a shared multiplayer game, photographed with delighted visitors; and a chance encounter — a visitor dressed, coincidentally, to match an orange-and-black sculpture by Teresa Solar Abboud.
Less a market report than a portrait of the fair as social ritual in its 24th edition — part trade fair, part theatre of wealth, part playground. Champagne and new money aside, it is the small oddities — a scented loo, a matching outfit, a climbable spider — that give this year's opening days their flavour.
