In A New Home, Photo London Gets Down To Business The Art Newspaper International Art News And Events

Photo London's first days at Olympia in West Kensington suggest that the fair's relocation is doing more than changing the address. Exhibitors have described the new setting as easier to navigate, more visible, and better suited to business, a practical shift that appears to be reflected in early sales. The fair opened previews on May 13, 2026, and runs until May 17.

The move also places the event inside a larger transformation. Olympia's exhibition halls are undergoing a £1.3bn refurbishment that is scheduled to continue into 2027, giving the fair a setting that is still very much in flux. Even so, the atmosphere on the floor has been described as more coherent than at Somerset House, with galleries benefiting from clearer sightlines and a layout that makes it easier for visitors to move between stands.

Sales reported in the opening days point to a market that remains selective but active. Paris-B Gallery said it sold three works to one buyer for £100,000, including two works by Yang Yongliang. In Camera sold both the vintage and modern prints of Jane Everlyn Atwood's Auto Portrait (Serpent) for £13,000 and £2000. Radius Publishing said it had sold 40 percent of its stock by Thursday lunchtime, a useful sign for a sector that depends as much on specialist readership as on collector appetite.

The fair's curatorial direction is also shifting. A new initiative called Source has been introduced to encourage solo artist booths, part of a broader effort to reward galleries willing to take risks. The expanded Discovery section and increased space for independent book publishers reinforce that strategy, giving younger and more specialized exhibitors a stronger platform.

Among the presentations on view, JEDNOSTKA from Warsaw showed Weronika Gęsicka's Encyclopedia works, priced between €4,800 and €10,000. The fair also marked the announcement of Rene Matić as the winner of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize at The Photographers' Gallery, though the artist was not present at Olympia.

For a fair that has long balanced commercial ambition with curatorial credibility, the early response at Olympia suggests the new site may be helping both aims at once. The question now is whether that momentum holds as the fair settles into its new home.

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