★ Frieze New York

01Why it matters

New York in May is the densest commercial week in the American art calendar, but its centre is the evening auctions rather than the fair. Frieze New York's role is to give the week a gallery anchor and a reason for international dealers to fly in for something other than a sale.

Our reading is that the move to The Shed was a correction rather than a retreat. The Randall's Island editions were large, hard to reach and weather-dependent; the current fair is small, central and easy. The trade-off is that almost everyone attending is in the city for the auctions anyway.

02The week around it

The May auctions dominate. Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips hold their marquee evening sales in the same days, with free public previews beforehand that are the best art viewing of the week and cost nothing. Satellite fairs cluster around Frieze: NADA New York, Independent at Spring Studios in Tribeca, Future Fair and Esther, with TEFAF New York usually immediately before or alongside at the Park Avenue Armory. The galleries in Chelsea, ten minutes north of The Shed, open new shows, as do the Lower East Side and Tribeca clusters. New York absorbs all of this without visible strain.

03When to arrive

Tuesday if you hold a preview card and want the auction previews unhurried; Wednesday evening otherwise. On a public ticket, Thursday or Friday morning is ideal, before the weekend crowd. Because the fair is small, a single well-planned day covers Frieze, the High Line and two Chelsea gallery streets. Most visitors stay through the auction evenings and leave over the weekend.

04Where to stay

Chelsea and the West Side around the High Line put The Shed, the Chelsea galleries and Hudson Yards within walking distance; this is the practical base. Tribeca and SoHo suit anyone whose week is really about the downtown satellites. The Upper East Side is the auction-week neighbourhood, close to Sotheby's, TEFAF at the Park Avenue Armory and the museums, and is a different week entirely. Midtown has the greatest supply and the least character.

05Access and hospitality

Frieze runs an invitation preview on the opening day and sells public tickets for the remaining days on frieze.com. A Frieze membership carries preview access and is the published route for anyone without a gallery relationship. Prices are set each year by the organizer and are not reproduced here. Free alternatives are unusually good in New York: the auction previews at all three houses, the High Line's commissions and the Chelsea gallery openings are open to anyone.

06Where the social activity happens

The High Line and Hudson Yards' public plaza carry the daytime movement, and the bars of the Meatpacking District immediately south of the fair take the early evening. Chelsea's gallery blocks between West 19th and West 27th Streets hold their openings on Thursday evenings and are open-door. Downtown, Tribeca and the Lower East Side around Orchard and Ludlow Streets are where the younger fairs and their audiences end up.

07Getting there

08Practicalities

09History

Frieze opened its New York edition in 2012 in a long white tent on Randall's Island in the East River, reached by ferry and shuttle bus, and ran it there through 2019. The 2020 edition was cancelled; the fair returned in 2021 at The Shed in Hudson Yards, much reduced in scale, and has stayed there. The Armory Show, which Frieze acquired in 2023, occupies the September slot in the same city and keeps its own identity.

10Who is there

American collectors in the largest numbers, with European and Latin American dealers and clients in town for the auctions; museum curators and acquisition committees from across the United States; advisers and auction specialists; and a substantial New York public across the weekend. The fair skews younger and more gallery-focused than the auction rooms it shares the week with.