Cambridge Frieze! The Art Fair of London is back.

As I stood before the giant spider sculpture that is this year’s commissioned Frieze London Artist Award, I was reminded of the integrality of art to humanity. As children and adults alike clambered Athens-based artist, Theo Triantafyllidis, strange, arachnid-like sculpture eager to play in its live multi-player video game; the space transformed from an art fair into a playing ground of human creativity. It is this sense of collaboration that places Frieze London as a fantastic landscape for young people to experience the art world of today. A place in which students, leading art collectors, celebrities, and artists come together to celebrate their passion for art and the emerging artists who continue to shape and challenge what art means to the modern age.

The leading gallery, Esther Schipper, exhibiting artist Camille Henrot’s sculpture, Prima Ballerina (2023).

Founded in 2003, Frieze London is a global collaboration showcasing almost three hundred galleries from forty different countries across both Frieze London (post 2000) and Frieze Masters (pre 21st century). Situated in Regent’s Park, Frieze offers an immersion into the world of leading artists, collectors, and galleries in the very heart of London. The global selection of works is of an unprecedented scale showcasing leading works by Tracy Eminen, George Condo and Antony Gormley. If such masterpieces can’t convince you to attend, the remarkable attractions of premium grade matcha stalls, flowing stands of champagne and even an exclusive Deutscher Bank Lounge, which much to my disarray did not accept my Student University Card as VIP status, may entice you in. And if this constant supply of food and drink doesn’t quite do it for you, journey to the rear end of the Fair. Here the blue-chip galleries dominate, transforming Frieze London into a fashion week catwalk as the latest Dior and Chanel accessories catch your eye more than the Tracy Eminem’s nudes, they flash past against.

Yet despite the shiny luxuries that accessorise the fair, at its centre remains a focus to championing the rising voices of the art scene. By placing the dominating blue-chip galleries towards the back of the fair, visitors are encouraged to stop and consider the works that challenge our presumptions of what modern art is. One of the most strikingly, politically engaged pieces was the Scottish based artist, Morag Kiel’s, ‘House’ presented at Arcadia Missa Gallery. The work featured sculptural mannequins whose heads have been displaced by empty house sculptures entwined with wires. The work engaged with ideas of the technological dependency we face at the hands of our own creation. In a world where young people are increasingly bombarded with technological advancement, the piece was rather poignant in its realisation of the fears and strained relationship we all share to the tech that seems to speak for us.

Tracy Emin’s work captivates viewers at Galleria Lorcan O’Neill.

The absence of wall text or a clear pathway through the fair may seem daunting, but in reality it is one of Frieze’s most compelling aspects, distinguishing it from a mere trip to the museum. Whether you have a question regarding the material, price or simply where the nearest toilet is, the gallerists working each booth are eager to help. Through, the seeming lost art of conversation, the collaborative nature and discussion that is so integral to art takes hold.

Most Read

What happened when filming was stopped during James Acaster’s Celebrity Traitors breakdown

Love Is Blind’s Michaella had some major life updates since the break-up with Rob

Woman who pooped herself at HYROX shares another grovelling apology as she returns to race

I myself spoke to the gallerist at the Crisis Galeria showing in the Focus section of the fair, displaying works of rising Latin American artists. The gallery founded in 2017 in Lima, Peru showcased a solo exhibition by Andrea Canepa, an eclectic colourful symposium of kinetic sculptures and mosaics. It was through my simple smile at the young stylish gallerist that I learnt of the Paraíso exhibition, another major contemporary showcase of Latin American artworks outside of Frieze. This engaged and personal aspect of the fair makes it a unique, pivotal opportunity for young students to gain often exclusive insights into the ever-shifting global art world. Whilst also learning of the wide array of cultural events, more close to home, scattered across London.

Another notable exhibit within the Focus section of the fair was Ginny on Frederick Gallery, a thriving, new London Gallery, displaying works by Okikioluwa Akinfe. The gallery merged both digital media with traditional oil painting, a juxtaposition of mediums that many galleries across the fair employed, to push the boundaries of what art installations can be. Okikioluwa Akinfe works shown by Ginny on Frederick focuses on challenging the absurd stereotypes that have been perpetuated by a lingering ‘white gaze’ within art. Instead, her figures become poised within their own agency, time and space. Akinfe went on to win the inaugural emerging Artist prize. Her success is a testament to the value of the fair in its cultivation of a space for the younger generation, to express through art, the shared anxieties of the age.

Whether for the art, fashion, or opportunity to airdrop your LinkedIn to the big shot finance heads, Frieze London offers to students an unmissable whirlwind of cultural immersion that leaves you inspired by the emerging voices breaking into the art scene. An art enthusiast or not, the works displayed will stop you in your tracks to reflect upon the social issues we younger people face, and the hopeful response artistic collaboration can offer us.

If you are interested in attending the fair tickets the fair offers subsided texts for Students available with more information on their website for next year’s Frieze London at:

https://www.frieze.com/fairs/frieze-london-frieze-masters/tickets