How to Attend Frieze London?

Four stages, and routes that can be freely bought

Frieze London works in four stages. The preview on Wednesday 14 October, by invitation; the morning of Thursday 15, for VIP guests and Frieze members; the ticketed preview days, Thursday afternoon and Friday 16; then general admission, on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18. Frieze Masters follows the same calendar, on the other side of the park.

This guide reviews each of these routes, what it requires and what it allows. One point from the outset: TGZ Conciergerie is an independent house, with no affiliation with Frieze, the MARI network or the exhibiting galleries, and with no official status. We sell neither VIP cards nor resold tickets: we arrange the purchase of tickets in your name through Frieze's own ticket shop where possible, and we tell you when it is not possible.

The ticket: the route open to everyone

Frieze sells its tickets itself, online only. Each ticket is dated and timed: you choose your day and your entry slot, for a single fair or, with the combined ticket, for both on the same day, starting with the one chosen at purchase. Tickets are neither refundable nor exchangeable, and general admission tickets do not allow you to leave and come back.

It is the simple route, and it is enough for a very fine visit: the same galleries, the same works, in aisles busier at the weekend than on Thursday or Friday. We arrange the purchase of your tickets in your name where possible, then compose the day around it: a slot chosen to suit your pace, drop-off as close as possible to the entrance, lunch away from the fair, a visit to the other fair, a return at the time that suits you.

Frieze Insider and memberships: offers from Frieze

Frieze also sells a fuller package than the simple ticket, Frieze Insider: multi-day access to both fairs, for you and a guest, ahead of the general public from Thursday morning, a guided tour and a selection of events during the week, subject to availability. Its content is set and published by Frieze; it may change from one edition to the next.

Finally, Frieze offers annual memberships: Frieze Connect opens the fairs from Wednesday, with a guest and events throughout the year; Frieze In Person, from Thursday morning. They are a matter for Frieze and its own terms; we can point you in the right direction, but membership is taken out with Frieze. None of these offers should be confused with a VIP invitation.

The VIP invitation: what it is, who issues it

The VIP invitation opens the preview on Wednesday 14 October, the Thursday morning, then both fairs for their entire duration, with re-entry possible. It is issued by Frieze itself and by exhibiting galleries, which send them to their collectors. It admits its holder and one guest, and it is not transferable.

It must be said plainly: a VIP invitation cannot be bought. It comes from a relationship — with a gallery whose artists you follow, with Frieze for the collectors, curators and professionals it knows. No serious concierge can sell one, and any offer of a "VIP card" or "VIP access" for sale should raise suspicion: either a confusion with a paid package or, worse, an invitation in someone else's name, refused at the door.

If you are a collector and you acquire from exhibiting galleries, it is to them that you should turn: they know your collection and decide on their invitations alone. TGZ plays no part in that choice.

Preparing your fair days

A successful day at Regent's Park is prepared like an appointment. We help you choose the order of the fairs — Frieze Masters in the morning, when attention is fresh, Frieze London in the afternoon, or the reverse — to identify in advance the galleries that matter to you, and to plan breaks, with a walk through the English Gardens between the two.

Around the visit, we settle what depends on us alone: a chauffeur who drops you off and collects you as close as possible, lunch booked away from the bustle, a return to the hotel before dinner. Large bags are not admitted to the fairs and the cloakroom is limited: better to travel light. Frieze also offers guided tours, to add to the ticket.

What you can experience without a VIP card — and it is a great deal

The week is not just the preview. Frieze Sculpture can be explored freely, in the English Gardens; the galleries of Mayfair and St James's open their doors; the exhibitions that precede the evening sales are generally open to the public; the city's museums welcome everyone. Our guide What to Do During Frieze Week in London? maps it out.

In the evening, gallery dinners and collectors' receptions are held by invitation: we pass on requests where possible, after reviewing the client's profile, without guarantee. And when no invitation comes, we create the evening — a private salon, a townhouse rented in which to entertain, a table held for you. Many of our clients discover that a large part of the week never depended on a card.