Frieze New York to Include Whitney Biennial Commission

In just over a month, the 2026 edition of Frieze New York will open, which will include multiple institutional collaborations and a new acquisitions fund.

Frieze New York, scheduled to take place at the Shed from May 13 to 17, will feature more than 65 exhibitors and will present a series of performances and installations both inside and outside the show, in partnership with the Whitney Museum, Dia Art Foundation and the Counterpublic Triennial.

One of the most notable is Frieze’s collaboration with this year’s Whitney Biennial. At the exhibition, artist Jonathan González will present Body configuration (2023-25), a photographic installation of six C-prints commissioned for the Biennale, will be on display on the sixth floor of the Shed.

Gonzalez will also perform continuously during the show from May 15 to 17 Magic Hour – Golden Hour (2026), will be staged on some of the Whitney’s exterior terraces, including those not open to the public, as well as on the High Line.

“Jonathan Gonzalez is an important and compelling young voice in contemporary performance who creates ongoing work that often engages with architecture and the environment,” Drew Sawyer, co-curator of the Whitney Biennial, said in a statement. “It is particularly exciting to present his new work at the Biennial, concerns that resonate with the exhibition’s broader themes of infrastructure and relationships. The work, co-presented with Frieze New York, extends the exhibition beyond the gallery, becoming a shared encounter on the museum balcony.”

The 2026 edition will also launch a new acquisitions fund for its focus segment, provided by collector Michael Sherman and the Sherman Family Foundation. The five-year fund will make annual donations of $50,000: two artworks of $20,000 each, plus an unrestricted $5,000 prize awarded directly to each artist who created the work.

The Baltimore Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum will each receive one work in the 2026 acquisition round. “We want to build relationships between artists and museums and continue to support new voices in the field,” Sherman, who is also a Baltimore museum trustee, said in a statement.

Additionally, Counterpublic will launch its third edition in September, titled “Coyote Time,” which will showcase site-responsive installations and performances by Kite (Oglála Lakşóta), while Dia will present a series of moving image works by conceptual artist David Lamelas, currently the subject of an investigation at the institution’s Chelsea space. The latter demonstration will include Pour milk into glass (1972) and time as activity (1969 to present).

“Just as Lamelas works with place and time in a non-linear and iterative way, presenting these moving image works at Frieze amplifies the resonance of the work and the Dia Chelsea exhibition located just a few blocks away, inviting viewers to engage with Lamelas’ practice within the wider cultural ecosystem of the neighborhood,” Humberto Moro, associate director of the Dia program, said in a statement.

“At Frieze New York 2026, visitors will encounter a series of performance and site-specific works that extend beyond the walls of the gallery and into the city itself,” Christine Messieno, director of Frieze Americas, said in a statement. “These commissions invite viewers to reflect on the changing relationship between the body, environment and time,” she added.