Frieze New York and how to plan your May visit

The Shed's floors give Frieze New York a vertical layout, with galleries spread across several levels rather than one large hall. The scale is smaller than a convention center fair, so many collectors can see the whole fair in an afternoon and still return for a second look.

• Read the exhibitor list and floor plans in advance, and mark the galleries you want to see on each level.
• At The Shed, invited guests see the fair on its opening preview, and ticket holders follow on the public days.
• Because space is limited, booths are often tightly curated, with fewer works and clear presentations.
• Take elevators and stairs into account when you plan your route, and start with your highest priority floor.

The Shed sits at Hudson Yards, near the northern end of the High Line. The subway station at 34th Street and Hudson Yards is close by, and buses and taxis serve the area. Walking the High Line south takes you toward Chelsea, so it is easy to move from the fair to the galleries on foot.

May is one of the busiest months in the New York art calendar, and many galleries time strong exhibitions to the fair.

• Give the fair a half day to a full day, depending on how closely you want to look.
• Walk to Chelsea after the fair. Our chelsea art galleries guide covers the blocks between West 18th and West 28th Streets.
• Use other days for lower east side galleries and tribeca art galleries, which sit close together downtown.
• Read our art exhibitions nyc guide to track openings that week, and the city overview of art galleries nyc.
• Many galleries open Tuesday to Saturday and close Sunday and Monday, which matters at the end of the fair.

Because the booths at The Shed are compact, staff can usually hand over or email the priced list of works within minutes.

• Ask about a work by title and gallery, and photograph the label.
• With fewer booths and a busy May crowd, a hold at Frieze New York can end within hours.
• If a work is sold, ask about related work in the gallery's inventory or upcoming work by the artist.
• Ask what the price includes. Sales tax depends on delivery, and crating and shipping usually appear as separate lines on the invoice.

For delivery within Manhattan or beyond, see how to buy art from a gallery, which covers the invoice and New York sales tax questions to ask.

A compact fair rewards a clear plan.

• Make a short list of galleries and artists, and find their booths on each floor plan before you arrive.
• Ask galleries you already follow whether they will be at the fair and what they plan to bring. Many share a PDF of available works or a private viewing room link in advance.
• Decide roughly what you are looking for and a comfortable price range, so you can move quickly through the levels.
• Keep a simple list with gallery, title and price as you go, which makes your follow up emails easy to write.

Smaller booths fill quickly, so give other visitors room near the work and keep conversations short when the booth is busy. Ask before photographing work. If you are interested, introduce yourself, leave your email and ask for details by message rather than negotiating in the aisle. If you are only looking, it is fine to say so.

Send one short email after the fair, naming Frieze New York, the gallery and the work by title, with one clear question about price, availability or related work. Give galleries a few days after the fair closes. If the gallery has a space in New York, ask whether you can see more work there in the following weeks. Fairs later in the year are on our art fairs page.