The English capital is overrun every year with contemporary art events, as the sibling art fairs Frieze London and Frieze Masters (both October 9–13) take over Regent’s Park. The 21st-century-focused Frieze London 2024 features more than 160 galleries from 43 countries, while the more classically oriented Frieze Masters brings 130 galleries from 26 countries, selling a range of collectibles from modern art to antique books and Greek statuary. Beyond the small booths inside the two big tents, here’s a look at shows to see across London this October.
Oct 8–Mar 16, 2025
Mire Lee
Open Wound
Tate Modern
For the ninth Hyundai Commission at London’s Tate Modern, Seoul-born artist Mire Lee presents a new site-specific motorized installation, Open Wound (2024), in the Tate’s 3,400-square-meter Turbine Hall. Known for combining mechanical objects with visceral materials—including silicone and clay—to create sprawling kinetic installations, Lee reflects on notions of psychology, the body, and human desire. Her works are frequently compared to the grotesque or the monstrous as well as to ideas of theorist Julia Kristeva’s concept of abjection. This major showcase is Lee’s first solo presentation in the United Kingdom.
—The Editors