Returning for its 15th edition, Frieze New York will bring together 68 galleries from more than 25 countries. Held at The Shed from May 13 (preview day) through May 17, the fair remains comparable in scale to last year’s edition. With nearly half of participating galleries maintaining a presence in New York, the fair features a strong contingent of blue-chip dealers, including Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, Thaddaeus Ropac, White Cube, and David Zwirner, all among the nine galleries also presenting a booth at TEFAF New York, running from May 14 to 19.
Pace Gallery, Frieze New York 2025. Photo by Casey Kelbaugh. Courtesy of Frieze and CKA.
While Western galleries continue to dominate, accounting for roughly two-thirds of exhibitors, this year’s edition reflects a stronger Latin American presence, with 13 participating galleries. Asia is also represented by four South Korean galleries, alongside exhibitors from the Middle East and Singapore.
Taking place during one of the busiest weeks of the New York art calendar – alongside Christie’s and Sotheby’s marquee spring sales and at least five other fairs, including Independent, NADA, and 1-54 – Frieze opened its online viewing room on May 6, giving collectors additional time to navigate an especially dense schedule. The smallest fair within MARI Group’s portfolio – which also includes The Armory Show (230 galleries), EXPO Chicago (130 galleries), and Frieze Los Angeles (95 galleries) in the U.S. – Frieze New York still occupies a strategic position. The fair cultivates strong local roots while leveraging New York’s institutional ecosystem and major art events, from the Whitney Biennial and Counterpublic Triennial to the Venice Biennale. Having overseen these fairs in recent years, Christine Messineo draws on prior experience in the gallery sector in both New York and Los Angeles. Ahead of the fair’s preview opening, she shares with MutualArt her perspectives on the evolving market and her ambition to further consolidate New York’s status as a global hub for contemporary art.
Remy Jarry: What is new in the 2026 edition of Frieze New York?
Christine Messineo: Seven galleries are participating for the first time – Sargent’s Daughters, Europa, and Ulrik from New York, and international arrivals including Soft Opening from London, and Johyun Gallery from Busan. Four galleries are graduating from Focus to Galleries, including Daniel Faria, Mitre, Yeo Workshop, and G Gallery, creating pathways for younger galleries to grow within the fair over time. Programming this year also sees a number of new developments, with a particularly strong institutional dimension. Dia [Art Foundation] is showing a selection of David Lamelas’ film works, and Kite offers a new commission and performance, a preview of the Counterpublic Triennial in September. Most significantly, the fair will launch the inaugural Sherman Family Foundation Acquisition Fund: a $50,000 annual, five-year commitment to acquire works from the Focus section, with a $5,000 unrestricted artist award alongside each acquisition. This year’s acquisitions will go to the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum.
RJ: Half of the galleries attending this year already have a space in New York. How do you account for this strong level of participation?
CM: The US continues to be by far the world’s largest art market, with an estimated $26 billion in sales in 2025 (44% of the global total). In May, New York brings together collectors, curators, museum groups and international visitors in a way very few places can. For local galleries, that level of access and visibility across a single week remains incredibly valuable. For exhibitors showing at multiple fairs in the city there is the opportunity to maximize visibility across different collector demographics within a single week. We do everything we can to ensure that galleries’ costs are kept in check and have maintained our booth prices at the same level as 2025.
David Zwirner, Frieze New York 2025. Photo by Casey Kelbaugh. Courtesy of Frieze and CKA.
RJ: How do you view “Basel Exclusive,” Art Basel’s new initiative requiring galleries to reserve works exclusively for the fair prior to its opening?
CM: It is an interesting initiative because it speaks to something many fairs are thinking about right now: the continued importance of physical discovery. The underlying principle that certain works should be revealed for the first time in person is something many of our galleries already practice informally. One of the things that has always mattered to us at Frieze New York is creating space for new voices and new discoveries, through our Focus section and programming, offering continuous moments for new engagement and discovery.
OMR, Frieze New York 2025. Photo by Casey Kelbaugh. Courtesy of Frieze and CKA.
