The fair’s organisers have decided to move Frieze London and Frieze Masters earlier in the month next year, to avoid a clash with the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur (which falls on 11 October). Both fairs’ VIP openings will be on Tuesday 4 October, with the events running until the weekend of 8 and 9 October.
The difference of only one week could prove surprisingly disruptive in the tightly packed art-world calendar. Some dealers welcome the break before the Fiac Modern and contemporary fair in Paris (20-23 October 2016), but others may be forced to choose between the two events.
“It won’t help the Americans, but it will help the Europeans,” says Rachel Lehmann, the co-founder of Lehmann Maupin gallery (FL, A19), which is based in New York. The change will also affect the coinciding “Frieze week” auctions, commercial gallery shows and museums that build programmes around the fair.
