Several artists used guerilla tactics to exhibit unauthorised artwork at the exclusive Frieze London art fair last week but received varied responses from security.
Frieze London, which ran from 14–18 October and featured 300 galleries from 48 countries and regions, is renowned for its curated display of the best contemporary art from around the world and strictly prohibits unauthorised artwork or performances inside the fair.
Artist Olivia Herring took her performance-art series, STILL LIFE, to the entrance of Frieze London and into the Frieze Sculpture garden in Regent’s Park on Saturday and was met with a co-operative response from security.
Herring said: “I initially thought we’d be shut down immediately, but after explaining what we were doing, they were incredibly kind.
“They thought the installation was innovative.”
Security allowed Herring’s installation in front of the Frieze London entrance to continue uninterrupted for a couple of minutes and thanked her for respecting their wishes to move on.
Herring said: “That was a really beautiful moment.
“They could have simply said no, but instead they recognised the creative intention behind the work and found a way to accommodate it.”
Featuring real models lying motionless on the floor, Herring’s provocative installations are open to interpretation and explore themes like consumerism, status, and unconscious bias.
Herring said: “It wasn’t about protesting against Frieze or its organisers, it was about celebrating contemporary art and finding another way to share it beyond traditional gallery walls.”
Another artist using guerilla tactics to capitalise on the 85,000 visitors who are drawn to the exclusive art fair each year faced a very different response from security.
Svetlana Grishina, London-based founder of Petticoat Gallery, was reported for using her skirt to smuggle artwork into Frieze London and told to leave the annual fair by around seven security staff on Thursday.
Describing her motivations for the stunt, Grishina said: “There are a lot of people in the art world who love art but can’t afford it.
“Many gallerists, curators, and artists can’t afford the works offered at Frieze.”
While ticket prices for visitors started at £48, a piece of art sold for £5 million on the first day of Frieze London this year and the cheapest booth option for exhibitors cost £17.5 thousand in 2025.
Grishina said: “With my gallery they can discover a new artist, and they don’t need to pay shipping or insurance because I sell them on the spot, unpinning them from my skirt.”
She brought a limited run of affordable miniature artworks from three artists, drawing inspiration from the Overcoat or ‘Palto’ Gallery run by Russian artist Alexander Petrelli since 1998.
The Petticoat Gallerist respected Frieze London enforcing its exhibitor rules, and will not attend with unauthorized artwork again.
Many satellite fairs have sprung up since Frieze London’s conception in 2003, keeping the art elite in London for the whole of October.
Attempting to break into this orbit, a collective of creatives called Living Croatian Artists staged a guerrilla intervention titled ‘F*** IT’ during 12–14 October to bring attention to Croatia’s contemporary art scene.
Founder of Living Croatian Artists, Suncica Perisin Tomlijanovic, or Sunci, said: “Our country erases us.”
Intending to appear a part of Frieze Sculpture in Regents Park while maintaining a respectful distance from it, Sunci’s performance titled ‘I refuse to be buried alive’ embodied her desire to break free from the structural limitations she experiences as a Croatian artist.
She said: “Croatia have an overlooked contemporary art scene, largely undiscovered by the Western art world.
“Not for lack of talent, or art, but because our local structures fail to recognise and show the work being made.”
Sunci makes an annual pilgrimage to the Frieze each year, and brought her performance to London to benefit from the city’s thriving art scene and the opportunities it brings.
She said: “I Love the Frieze, and to soak up all the possibilities.
“To feel people’s excitement to spend on art, and talk about art all over Mayfair, it feels like a dream.
“It is Disneyland, it is heaven, tough as it might be. I know there are closed circles, but at least they exist here.”
Frieze London was contacted for comment on the use of guerilla tactics at the art fair but did not respond.
Frieze Sculpture is situated in Regents Park’s English gardens until November 1.
Featured image credit: Olivia Herring
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