Play
Play is the live, social and unpredictable side of Fair Play. Woven through One Marylebone, it brings artists, performers, musicians and audiences into the same spaces, changing the rhythm of the fair as the day unfolds. You might find a performance among the artworks, music drawing you into another room or an artist developing an idea in real time. Some moments will be announced. Others will catch you by surprise.
Stay for a drink, follow the sound downstairs or return after dark as selected nights continue late. Play offers different ways into the work and leaves room for chance, so what you experience depends on the hour, the space and the people around you. Read on for a first look at what is taking shape, with more Play events, details and timings to be announced soon.
Tom Pope, CPO
Tom Pope joins Fair Play Art Fair as its first Chief Play Officer, bringing a practice spanning photography, sculpture, installation and performance. His work uses chance, participation and everyday actions to create encounters that are playful, experimental and often quietly absurd. For the inaugural edition, he has turned his attention to the four greenhouses at One Marylebone.
Each will host a different happening, curated by Tom, from participatory performances and interactive artworks to tarot readings, personal poems and attempts at gloriously improbable world records. Some invite you to take part, others to watch, and none behave quite as expected. Drop in, follow your curiosity and see what unfolds.
El Rayo Exhibits
Fair Play is an artist-led art fair. El Rayo is an artist-led Tequila brand. Both believe in the same thing: giving independent creatives the platform, freedom and space to make something genuinely their own. El Rayo will bring that same spirit to life at Fair Play in The Courtyard, creating El Rayo Exhibits: a space for art, music, food and Tequila - and most importantly, people to come together.
Alongside a Tequila bar inspired by modern Mexico and tacos to keep visitors going, El Rayo Exhibits will showcase two artists at the heart of the brand's creative story: Mario Higinio and Alice Isaac. The space will also host Voices Radio on the Exhibits stage, bringing a weekend-long programme of DJs and live performances.
Location: The Courtyard
A Table With...
House Collective presents a series of intimate, creative supper club-style gatherings taking place during Frieze week in London, bringing artists, collectors, curators, designers, chefs and cultural thinkers together around the table. The programme takes PLAY as its starting point: experimentation, collaboration, curiosity and a willingness to challenge the conventions of the art world.
Each sitting is shaped by a different host and theme, opening up conversations around how art is collected, lived with, discovered and supported. From artist and chef collaborations to discussions about the changing art world, every gathering brings its own perspective, atmosphere and exchange of ideas to the table.
Location: The Greenhouses
Programme
Category
Location
Event type
Thursday 15 October
17:00 – 22:00
The Gardens
Alongside a Tequila bar inspired by modern Mexico and tacos to keep visitors going, El Rayo Exhibits will showcase two artists at the heart of the brand's creative story: Mario Higinio and Alice Isaac. The space will also host Voices Radio on the Exhibits stage, bringing a weekend-long programme of DJs and live performances.
17:00 – 22:00
The Galleries
RankinLIVE is coming to the inaugural Fair Play Art Fair, giving you the chance to step in front of the camera of one of the world’s most celebrated photographers. This unique experience offers participants a chance to be professionally photographed, review their images, select their favourite shots, and receive an authenticated print delivered to their doorstep.
17:00 – 22:00
Devonshire Greenhouse
The Play-ground by Eve De Haan, working under the name Half a Roast Chicken, revisits the social world of childhood from the distance of adulthood, tracing the language, humour and memories that continue to resonate years later.
Drawing on familiar phrases, private jokes and shared codes, Half a Roast Chicken uses neon to revisit the things once written, shouted or passed between friends.
Removed from their original context and encountered again as adults, these fragments can take on an unexpected emotional weight. What once felt throwaway or funny becomes charged with memory.
The work considers how those early experiences of belonging, embarrassment, bravado and identity continue to echo into adult life.
The Play-ground sits somewhere between memory and experience — familiar, but altered by time.
18:30 – 21:00
Regency Greenhouse
The Game of Life is a participatory performance where members of the audience are invited to sit individually with Tom and make a confession. Set in a greenhouse, the conversation will be visible to the wider audience, but the conversation itself will not be audible.
After each confession, both the participant and Tom, without conferring, will invent and write down a rule informed by the confession. The rules will be the only hint of what conversations and confessions have unfolded.
Tom Pope is a contemporary artist and Fair Play’s Chief Play Officer, working across photography, sculpture, installation and performance to explore chance, participation and the everyday.
19:00 – 21:00
Portland Greenhouse
An Art World Guess Who Supper Club
This is an actual supper club, not a panel discussion disguised as dinner. On arrival, you’ll be given an assignment: a role in the art world. Over the first course, the table becomes a game of Art World Guess Who, with everyone playing their part. Expect clichés, caricatures and pastiche, in the best possible way.
Then come the guesses. Over the main course, all is revealed. But not everyone at the table will be pretending. Come hungry. Come ready to play.
Carrie Scott is a curator, art historian, writer and television presenter who has spent more than two decades working with artists, galleries and collectors around the world.
This supper is part of A Table With…, House Collective’s series of intimate, creative gatherings bringing artists, collectors, curators, designers, chefs and cultural thinkers together during Frieze Week.
Friday 16 October
11:00 – 19:00
The Gardens
Alongside a Tequila bar inspired by modern Mexico and tacos to keep visitors going, El Rayo Exhibits will showcase two artists at the heart of the brand's creative story: Mario Higinio and Alice Isaac. The space will also host Voices Radio on the Exhibits stage, bringing a weekend-long programme of DJs and live performances.
11:00 – 17:00
Regency Greenhouse
Rosie McGinn's ‘The Mountain’ [2019] is a stuffed sculpture connected to a pulley system.
The viewer is in control of the World’s Strongest Man, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who is either victoriously lifting a giant disproportionate weight, or crushed by it on the floor.
McGinn’s practice explores the human tendency to chase moments of ecstasy, whether it’s winning at Bingo, scoring a goal or jumping from space. These rituals observed within the practice often explore our relationship with transcendence and extreme human achievement. Based between London and Kent, McGinn primarily works with kinetic sculpture, inflatable installation, video and painting.
11:00 – 19:00
Devonshire Greenhouse
The Play-ground by Eve De Haan, working under the name Half a Roast Chicken, revisits the social world of childhood from the distance of adulthood, tracing the language, humour and memories that continue to resonate years later.
Drawing on familiar phrases, private jokes and shared codes, Half a Roast Chicken uses neon to revisit the things once written, shouted or passed between friends.
Removed from their original context and encountered again as adults, these fragments can take on an unexpected emotional weight. What once felt throwaway or funny becomes charged with memory.
The work considers how those early experiences of belonging, embarrassment, bravado and identity continue to echo into adult life.
The Play-ground sits somewhere between memory and experience — familiar, but altered by time.
13:00 – 15:00
Portland Greenhouse
Host to be announced soon...
House Collective presents a series of intimate, creative supper club-style gatherings taking place during Frieze week in London, bringing artists, collectors, curators, designers, chefs and cultural thinkers together around the table. The programme takes PLAY as its starting point: experimentation, collaboration, curiosity and a willingness to challenge the conventions of the art world. Each sitting is shaped by a different host and theme, opening up conversations around how art is collected, lived with, discovered and supported.
19:00 – 21:00
Portland Greenhouse
Storytelling, Art and a Little Mischief
Eric Underwood will begin the evening with a story from his recent appearance with The Moth at the Southbank Centre, before letting dinner find its own rhythm. Expect good food, good company, plenty of laughter and conversations that may or may not stay on topic. Eric will set the tone, get people talking and make sure nobody is quietly checking their phone under the table.
Think dinner with a little storytelling, a little art and a little mischief, plus a few moments you may still be talking about afterwards. Come curious. Come hungry. Eric will bring the atmosphere.
Eric Underwood is a dancer, actor and model, and a former Soloist with The Royal Ballet, whose career spans performance, fashion, film and television.
This supper is part of A Table With…, House Collective’s series of intimate, creative gatherings bringing artists, collectors, curators, designers, chefs and cultural thinkers together during Frieze Week.
Saturday 17 October
11:00 – 19:00
The Gardens
Alongside a Tequila bar inspired by modern Mexico and tacos to keep visitors going, El Rayo Exhibits will showcase two artists at the heart of the brand's creative story: Mario Higinio and Alice Isaac. The space will also host Voices Radio on the Exhibits stage, bringing a weekend-long programme of DJs and live performances.
11:00 – 18:30
Regency Greenhouse
Join artist Rosemary Jane Cronin for a Tarot reading and leave with a personal poem inspired by what the cards say and the poetry of the Fluxus movement, a poem to keep and to guide you and your future self.
Rosemary Cronin is an artist, writer and lecturer with a research-based practice focusing on gender, psychoanalysis and subversion. Her work is realised through film, performance, paint, print and sculpture. Cronin has exhibited at The Freud Museum, Tate Britain, ICA London, National Portrait Gallery, Transition Gallery, South London Gallery and The Wallace Collection.
11:00 – 19:00
Devonshire Greenhouse
The Play-ground by Eve De Haan, working under the name Half a Roast Chicken, revisits the social world of childhood from the distance of adulthood, tracing the language, humour and memories that continue to resonate years later.
Drawing on familiar phrases, private jokes and shared codes, Half a Roast Chicken uses neon to revisit the things once written, shouted or passed between friends.
Removed from their original context and encountered again as adults, these fragments can take on an unexpected emotional weight. What once felt throwaway or funny becomes charged with memory.
The work considers how those early experiences of belonging, embarrassment, bravado and identity continue to echo into adult life.
The Play-ground sits somewhere between memory and experience — familiar, but altered by time.
12:00 – 19:00
The Galleries
RankinLIVE is coming to the inaugural Fair Play Art Fair, giving you the chance to step in front of the camera of one of the world’s most celebrated photographers. This unique experience offers participants a chance to be professionally photographed, review their images, select their favourite shots, and receive an authenticated print delivered to their doorstep.
13:00 – 15:00
Portland Greenhouse
Host to be announced soon...
House Collective presents a series of intimate, creative supper club-style gatherings taking place during Frieze week in London, bringing artists, collectors, curators, designers, chefs and cultural thinkers together around the table. The programme takes PLAY as its starting point: experimentation, collaboration, curiosity and a willingness to challenge the conventions of the art world. Each sitting is shaped by a different host and theme, opening up conversations around how art is collected, lived with, discovered and supported.
19:00 – 21:00
Portland Greenhouse
Host to be announced soon...
House Collective presents a series of intimate, creative supper club-style gatherings taking place during Frieze week in London, bringing artists, collectors, curators, designers, chefs and cultural thinkers together around the table. The programme takes PLAY as its starting point: experimentation, collaboration, curiosity and a willingness to challenge the conventions of the art world. Each sitting is shaped by a different host and theme, opening up conversations around how art is collected, lived with, discovered and supported.
Sunday 18 October
11:00 – 13:00
Portland Greenhouse
Host to be announced soon...
House Collective presents a series of intimate, creative supper club-style gatherings taking place during Frieze week in London, bringing artists, collectors, curators, designers, chefs and cultural thinkers together around the table. The programme takes PLAY as its starting point: experimentation, collaboration, curiosity and a willingness to challenge the conventions of the art world. Each sitting is shaped by a different host and theme, opening up conversations around how art is collected, lived with, discovered and supported.
11:00 – 18:00
The Gardens
Alongside a Tequila bar inspired by modern Mexico and tacos to keep visitors going, El Rayo Exhibits will showcase two artists at the heart of the brand's creative story: Mario Higinio and Alice Isaac. The space will also host Voices Radio on the Exhibits stage, bringing a weekend-long programme of DJs and live performances.
11:00 – 17:00
Devonshire Greenhouse
The Play-ground by Eve De Haan, working under the name Half a Roast Chicken, revisits the social world of childhood from the distance of adulthood, tracing the language, humour and memories that continue to resonate years later.
Drawing on familiar phrases, private jokes and shared codes, Half a Roast Chicken uses neon to revisit the things once written, shouted or passed between friends.
Removed from their original context and encountered again as adults, these fragments can take on an unexpected emotional weight. What once felt throwaway or funny becomes charged with memory.
The work considers how those early experiences of belonging, embarrassment, bravado and identity continue to echo into adult life.
The Play-ground sits somewhere between memory and experience — familiar, but altered by time.
14:00 – 16:00
Portland Greenhouse
Artist Networks & Communities
What happens when the places where artists have traditionally gathered, worked and connected no longer feel accessible?
As rising costs push artists beyond cities such as London, this participatory supper explores how creative communities can take shape outside established art world structures. Through prompts and exercises led by Edward Liddle, everyone at the table will contribute experiences, questions and ideas about how meaningful networks are formed and sustained.
Come with a perspective to share or simply with curiosity. Expect good food, open conversation and new connections, and leave with inspiration for creating the kind of artistic community you want to be part of.
Edward Liddle is an artist, curator and educator, and co-founder of Knot Works, a Kent-based organisation supporting artists and makers.
This supper is part of A Table With…, House Collective’s series of intimate, creative gatherings bringing artists, collectors, curators, designers, chefs and cultural thinkers together during Frieze Week.
14:00 – 17:30
Regency Greenhouse
Officially Amazing is a series of micro-performances in which Tom Pope will attempt to break a variety of absurd world records. Each record attempt needs to be recorded as evidence in the event that a record is broken.
The recordings will also act as records of the performances. The performance embraces the subtle balance between the achievement of breaking a Guinness World Record and doing something that appears completely meaningless.
Tom Pope is a contemporary artist and Fair Play’s Chief Play Officer, working across photography, sculpture, installation and performance to explore chance, participation and the everyday.
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