Top Seven Frieze Moments Outside of the Tent

Fashion Weeks, move over. As one of our favourite local art fests kicks off, we rounded up our best happenings without a Frieze ticket in hand. Here’s what's going on around town, outside of the tent, for all your viewing pleasure. 

1: Post Human VII at the Cramer St Gallery

Starting off strong we have collaboration between contemporary British artist and curator Tobias Ross-Southall and Thames Carpets. Bringing together artists into dialogue with the ancient craft of weaving, by translating their visions into 100% natural, handwoven, luxury art collectibles. Sounds collectible! Building off of today’s digital codes and binary logic, thai exhibition hopes to use woven carpets as a new site for contemporary expression, Featuring works from the likes of Hayden Kays, Helen Beard, Sola Olulode, Saman & Sasan Oskouei, Tom Furse, James Massiah, Mays Al Moosawi, and Michael McGrath. Post Human VII is the seventh in a series of global group exhibitions curated by Tobias Ross-Southall. The exhibition will run till the 9th of November, find more info here!

2: Shifting / Spirit / Time at St Mary Le Strand

Poet and filmmaker Julianknxx, presents a multi-screen film installation with 180 Studios, centered around migration, displacement and belonging through voice, movement and ritual. Building off his earlier Chorus in Flight performance on the steps of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in 2024 with the Memoria Collective, Julianknxx hopes to continue his conversation of how cultural loss and connection echoes through generations. Through footage, and auditory repetition, this exhibition transforms one the the UK’s most outstanding Baroque churches into a rich sensory experience. The exhibition will run till the 19th of October, learn more here.

3: Thrill, Fill and Spill at the South London Gallery

Recognized for her multidisciplinary investigations of cultural narratives and amazing work using only natural dyes, Yto Barrada presents her most recent exhibition as an ode to humans' creative anchoring, accumulating and overflowing thought. Featuring textiles, film, sculptures, and paintings, this exhibition draws on color theory, abstraction, and our current ecological crisis. Natural dyeing is at the centre of Barrada’s practice: her textiles are dyed with plans she grows herself at The Mothership, her artist-led eco-campus and garden in Tangier, Morocco. This installation is available on the Main Gallery floor, and will run till the 11th of January. Find more info here!

4: Loewe Pop-Up on New Bond Street

Fresh off their debut success in Paris, creative directors Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez introduce their newest perfume, the Crafted Collection. From the perfumer Nuria Cruelles, Oud, Iris and Vanilla are the three key debut fragrances, revealing these scents as a sensorial art through a Loewe lens. Inspired by the organic beauty of glass-blowing, each sculptural flask features naturally-formed bubbles, topped by a tactile granite cap. This motif can also be found in the exhibition itself, where their Mayfair townhouse is transformed into a three-level experiential journey! The space is open for all to explore, while visitors can experience the new collection and enjoy an array of bubble-teas. The fun lasts till the 19th of October, learn more here!

4: Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World at the National Portrait Gallery

If you really want some fashion, then we have something for you. Better known as ‘The King of Vogue,’ Cecil Beaton remains one of the most impactful creative forces within the 20th century. Known for his illustrations, Oscar-winning custom design, and writing style, Beaton was known to capture the essence of glamour. This exhibition showcases Beaton at his best, from the Jazz Age and the Bright Young Things, to the high fashion brilliance of the fifties and the glittering success of My Fair Lady. With over 200 items displayed, including photographs, letters, portrait sketches, fashion illustration and costume, the exhibition features portraits of some of the twentieth century’s most iconic figures, including Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando; Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret; as well as Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Salvador Dalí. Tickets are £23, and will be available till the 11th of January. Grab yours here. 

5: And yet it still moves at Edel Assanti

This is Noémie Goudal’s fifth solo exhibition at the gallery, continuing her ongoing dialogue with the field of paleoclimatology, examining the vastness of geological time and the inherent instability of our planet’s surface. Spanning three rooms, the installation features film, sculpture, photography and performance. Specfically highlighting the intersection of ecology and Earth sciences, showing this big ole planet as an example of an ever-changing system of unpredictability. The arrangement invites viewers to navigate the uncertainty that underpins our perception of the natural world. This is a precursor to her upcoming Artangel commission, and shouldn’t be missed. This exhibition concludes on the 19th of December. Dig deeper here.

6: Ex Voto: Rites of Life/ Rites of Infernos at the Tank Project Space

Something close to home: An exhibition at TANK HQ’s own gallery! Curated by Rose Issa (yup, Caroline’s aunt!), she poses the question: how do artists from Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Iraq or Yemen, countries exposed to annihilation of their history, respond to their situation? Who can express this better than artists, whose work will, for generations to come, reflect the rituals of life, history and memory? Featuring works from Maliheh Afnan, Farhad Ahrarnia, Nasser Al Aswadi, Ayman Baalbaki, Said Baalbaki, Tagreed Darghouth, Abdul Rahman Katanani, Issam Kourbaj, Ramzi Mallat, Mehdi Navabi, Nayla Romanos Iliya, Raeda Saadeh, and Walid Siti, we hope you come on down and find the answers yourself. All are welcome, and this exhibition will run till the 18th of October. More info here!