Frieze London enters its final weekend, with free sculpture and Polish artists to discover

London’s Frieze week reaches its final weekend, with Frieze London and Frieze Masters continuing in The Regent’s Park until Sunday 18 October. Alongside the ticketed fairs, the free Frieze Sculpture exhibition offers a separate way to encounter contemporary art outdoors.

For anyone deciding what to do this weekend, the distinction matters. A fair visit needs a ticket and a chosen entry arrangement, while the sculpture exhibition can form part of a park outing. The outdoor works also remain in place beyond the fairs, until 1 November.

Two fairs, different perspectives

The Royal Parks’ event listing confirms the 14–18 October dates and identifies the fairs as paid events. Frieze London concentrates on contemporary practice, while Frieze Masters places work from different periods of art history alongside one another.

The organiser’s 2026 programme announcement highlights presentations including Dalton Paula with Lisson Gallery, Albert Oehlen with Gagosian and Marina Perez Simão with Pace. At Masters, examples include a Van Dyck portrait presented by Colnaghi and an ancient Egyptian figure of Ptah with Rupert Wace Ancient Art.

That range creates several possible routes through a visit. You could follow a particular medium, compare portraits across periods, or choose a small number of artists to look at carefully. Trying to absorb every stand in equal detail can make a large fair harder to enjoy.

What tickets cover

The official ticket page says tickets are available online only. Weekend full-price categories include general admission at £48 and first-access admission before 3pm at £59. A combined weekend ticket covering both fairs is listed at £92, with booking fees applying.

Check the exact date, entry time and fair included before paying. Early-bird prices appear in a separate column and should not be assumed to remain available. The booking page is the place to confirm the current offer and any remaining capacity.

A combined ticket makes sense only if you want time in both fairs. For a shorter outing, deciding which programme interests you most can be more useful than choosing the broadest possible access.

Free sculpture in the English Gardens

Frieze’s sculpture announcement describes a free exhibition in the park’s English Gardens, curated by Fatoş Üstek and featuring eleven international artists. This is the fourteenth edition, running from 16 September to 1 November.

Works include Angel Otero’s doorway descending beneath the grass, Tarini Sethi’s stainless-steel screens and a dual-faced figure by Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran. The exhibition explores how materials, cultural references and the natural setting interact, giving a walk through the park several different visual interruptions.

A digital guide on Bloomberg Connects includes an audio tour and, this year, a dedicated family guide. The official Frieze Sculpture page links visitors to those resources and introduces the participating works.

Polish connections in the programme

The announced gallery presentations also include a Polish thread. Edel Assanti presents Marcin Dudek’s reconstruction of the Soviet-era apartment in which he grew up in Kraków, housing works by several artists. Esther Schipper includes paintings by Karolina Jabłońska in a presentation with Camille Henrot and Sun Yitian, while Galerie Nordenhake’s anniversary show includes Mirosław Bałka.

These are useful names to mark on a personal route through the fair, especially for visitors interested in how artists connected with Poland appear within a wider international programme.

Look closely, without rushing

Outdoor sculpture allows a different pace from a busy indoor fair. Start by noticing a work’s outline from a distance, then consider how it changes as you approach. The trees, sky and surrounding paths become part of what you see, even when the object itself stays still.

With children, one simple approach is to ask what a sculpture reminds them of before reading its description. Different answers can open a conversation about scale, texture or materials without turning the outing into a test of art knowledge.

Follow any barriers and instructions around the works, and avoid assuming that a sculpture is intended to be touched or climbed. Allow space for other visitors to look and take photographs.

Choose the outing that fits your weekend

The fairs finish on Sunday, so anyone interested in the gallery presentations has a short window left. The sculpture programme offers more flexibility into the beginning of November. Check the park’s visitor information and the weather before setting out, particularly if most of your visit will be outside.

Whether you book a fair or choose a free sculpture walk, a little focus helps: pick a starting point, leave time to pause and follow the works that hold your attention. Regent’s Park has room for both a concentrated art visit and a slower autumn afternoon.