London Connect

London's busiest week in the art calendar gets underway in earnest with blockbuster openings galore and shiny art fairs for the visiting collectors to slather over. Chief among them is the seventh Frieze Art Fair (Oct 15-18) - the park-bound marquee around which all other autumn exhibitions and events now huddle. Despite losing 28 high-profile galleries from last year's roster, there's a new, more youthful section called Frame (stepping painfully on the toes of Zoo) to show single-artist projects, while also attracting the cream of international bright young things from as far afield as Athens, Bucharest and San Francisco.

The superlative Frieze Projects, dotted around the main fair and outside in the sculpture park, always provide well-earned distraction from the endless corridors. This time around, Monika Sosnowska's crash-landed sculpture should definitely turn a few heads, as will Ryan Gander's photo studio, where he'll immortalise visitors as they self-consciously pretend to gaze thoughtfully at a piece of art they probably don't understand. American artist Stephanie Syjuco will be masquerading as a bootlegger and making knock-offs of favourite works while a motivational speaker gees up flagging fair-goers with a fake smile and a cheesy aphorism. Spending four days under canvas has never been so glamorous.

Zoo 2009 (Oct 16 - 19) - not just an art fair anymore, but a set of 'Enterprises' - has had to downgrade from its swanky Burlington House venue off Piccadilly to three nearly conjoined buildings in the gritty environs of Old Street, but will instead offer more to the average art lover (and a dismissive pah! to those needy-greedy collectors). Apart from 21 of the sort of gallery stands that you'll find at any art fair, Zoo boasts a dozen stalls selling limited-run prints that are keenly priced between £10 and £4,000. Then there's the central exhibition on psychedelia, 'Altogether Elsewhere', which will snake down the cheerfully named Ripper Alley off Blossom Street, as well as a deserved solo show for the punky collages of Clunie Reid, who won last year's prize for best exhibit. And a caff, a bookshop and a champagne bar.

That's not all, because there's also the up-market interiors and fine art fair, Pavilion (Oct 14 - 18), as well as the third, and most likely, final Free Art Fair (Oct 12-18), which will once again be giving away all the exhibits at end of play on Sunday. It's a long haul, so just remember to wear comfortable shoes!

See details about all art fairs happening this month

Click here for 2-4-1 entry into Zoo 2009