Frieze London returns with 168 galleries reconfigured under a fresh layout. The fair’s organisers are doubling down on a bet: that the real energy now lies with the emerging spaces, not the marquee names. 

Under its revamped floor plan, galleries younger than 12 years old are ushered into prime positions at the fair’s entrance—a gesture designed to recalibrate the power dynamics between the audacious upstarts and the blue-chip establishment heavyweights. 

Across Regent’s Park, Frieze London’s sister fair Frieze Masters hosts more than 120 exhibitors from 26 countries. This year, the latter fair, which is dedicated to work from before the 20th century—sometimes going as far back as ancient Egyptian sarcophagi—will be run by a new director, Emanuela Tarizzo.

Here are seven standout booths (and one offsite exhibition) that capture the fair’s janus-faced spirit: the spaces where freshness, vision, curation and risk meet with the cool gaze of the international collector class.