Economic doom and gloom may be swirling overhead, but during the Frieze Art Fair wealth, glamour and decadence still reign supreme. At the VIP opening, fat-walleted, fashioned-up collectors queued in droves to get in and scope out the 173 galleries and their artworks, which, as always, ranged from incredible to inscrutable, to downright annoying.

See more of our highlights from the Frieze Art Fair 2011

What to make of the swirling umbrellas placed on upside-down zebra print wallpaper designed 'in homage to famous new York restaurant Gino' by Alex Zachary? How to respond to Andra Ursuta's 'bog body'- a life-size sculpture of herself dragged from a marsh and covered in splodges of silicone to represent semen? A little goes a long way at Frieze; its size guarantees sensory overload, but straightforwardly beautiful pieces such as Doh Ho Su's fabric sculptures of doorknobs, pipes and lightswitches, or Carsten Nicolai's tableaux at Galerie Eigen+Art provide anchors in the storm.

Christian Jankowski's

yacht could be bought either as a boat or an artwork, depending on how much you were willing to pay for it, and had men clustering to take their picture next to it. Though it was meant as a symbol 'to open wide the structures behind selling art' in the words of the artist, it felt more Ideal Home Show than art show. Less oblique was Michael Landy's Credit Card Destroying Machine, first shown, remarkably, in the Louis Vuitton store in Bond Street last year. You put in your card and receive a signed drawing.

Now in its ninth year, the fair is as buoyant as ever, if a little more conservative than in previous years, and 2012 will see a sister event in New York and an additional Frieze Masters fair in London, dealing in artworks made before 2000. At the Frame part of the show, in which 24 young galleries exhibit one artist, curators whispered that South American artists especially those from Brazil and Argentina, are the ones to watch.

The ripple effect created by Frieze means galleries across town pull out all the stops to woo collectors, and a host of excellent shows, among them Ahmed Alsoudani at Haunch of Venison, run long after the tent has gone. Opportunists too, pitch in; on the south side of the Regents Park, a strip of John Nash terraces have been converted into millionaires pads with price tags of up to £45m. During Frieze, one mansion is turned into a temporary gallery of works from private collections for a show called The House of the Nobleman. Around 700 guests sashayed across the park to the opening party - and this time it wasn't art they were after.

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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Galerie Eigen+Art dedicated its whole stand to Carsten Nicolai

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More by Carsten Nicolai

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Michael Riedell at the David Zwirner stand

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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Untitled work by Isa Genzken at David Zwirner

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Untitled (tondo) by Jason Martin at the Lisson Gallery stand

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Detail view of Untitled (tondo) by Jason Martin

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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Untitled by Anish Kapoor at Lisson Gallery

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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'Self Portrait I' by Ryan Gander at Lisson Gallery

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'Modern Tower' by Julian Opie at Lisson Gallery

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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'Gate' by Dirk Bell at the Sadie Coles HQ stand

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'Something Changed Raymond' by Sarah Lucas at Sadie Coles HQ

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'Solar Catastrophe' by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla at the Galerie Chantal Crousel stand

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Detail of the work, made from broken solar cells on canvas

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'30 pieces of silver' by Cornelia Parker at the Frith Street Gallery stand

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'Wasserregal' by Nicole Wermers at Herald St gallery

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'Parking garage' by Rita McBride at the Mai 36 Galerie Zurich stand

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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'If 3' by Roni Horn at Hauser & Wirth

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'August 6, 1945' by Matthew Day Jackson at Hauser & Wirth

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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Detail of Day Jackson's piece, made from burnt wood and lead

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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'White Earth' by Reyle Anselm at the Gagosian Gallery stand

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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Untitled (Pray) by Barbara Kruger at the Sprueth Magers stand

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'What is produced' by Liam Gillick at the Maureen Paley stand

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'Freischwimmer 190' by Wolfgang Tillmans at Maureen Paley

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Sculpture by Abraham Cruzvillegas at the Kurimanzutto stand

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'Crush' by Andra Ursuta at the Ramiken Crucible gallery in the Frame area of Frieze

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The Box Gallery from LA reignites the work of Judith Bernstein

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Artist Patrick Jackson describes the figures in his 'Head, Hands and Feet' artwork as characters 'who are part Charles Manson, part hippy'

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Paul Johnson's sculpture for Ancient & Modern took three days to install on site using papier mache and tyres

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'Plane' by Nick Relph at the Standard Oslo stand

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Alex Zachary's installation at the Ken Okiishi stand

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A sculpture of cucumbers and Perpsex by Martha Friedman at the Wallspace Gallery stand

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From left: works by Callum Innes and Tommy Grace at the Ingleby Gallery stand

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Blue lightbulbs by Katie Paterson at Ingleby Gallery

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Pieces by Alex Isreal at the Peres Projects stand

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Michael Landy's 'Credit Card Destroying Machine' crushes Frieze vistors' cards in exchange for a signed drawing

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Three works from the late Romanian artist Florin Mitroi at the Johnen Galerie stand

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A series of works by David Shrigley at the Yvon Lambert gallery stand

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Nick van Woert's boxes filled with waste matter piece at Yvonne Lambert is called 'Not Yet Titled'

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Ivan Navarro's work at the Paul Kasmin gallery stand

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Land artist Roger Ackling uses a magnifying glass to burn the wood in his Voewood sculptures at the Annely Juda gallery stand

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More by Roger Ackling

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Claude Rutault reproduces the evolution of Mondrian's 'New York Boogie Woogie'

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'Norman Foster' by Xavier Veilhan at the Galerie Perrotin stand

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Tatiana Trouvé at Galerie Perrotin

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Tatiana Trouvé at Galerie Perrotin

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Elmgreen & Dragset's untitled piece suggests a woman in a morgue

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Detail of the Elmgreen & Dragset piece at Galerie Perrotin

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Artist Marianne Vitaly has reproduced in minute detail IBID Project's original exhibition space for the gallery's Frieze stand

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A work by Anthea Hamilton at IBID Projects

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The 'Nemesis' by Muntean/Rosenblum turns Galerie Georg Kargl's stand into a house and garden...

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... complete with a picket fence

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Doh Ho Su's fabric sculptures of doorknobs, pipes and lightswitches

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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Doh Ho Su's fabric sculptures of doorknobs, pipes and lightswitches

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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A work by by Lucy Williams at the Timothy Taylor Gallery stand

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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A work by by Lucy Williams at Timothy Taylor Gallery

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'Icon' by Will Ryman in the sculpture park in Regent's Park

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On the south side of the Regents Park, a strip of John Nash terraced houses has been converted into millionaires pads with price tags of up to £45m. During Frieze, one mansion has been turned into a temporary gallery of works from private collections in a show called the House of the Nobleman. Pictured here is a Yves Klein sculpture on Fredrickson Stallard table

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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Damien Hirst 'Who's Afraid of Red Yellow and Blue' at The House of the Nobleman exhibition

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Untitled by Ahmed Alsoudani, on show at the Haunch of Venison in Mayfair

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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Untitled by Ahmed Alsoudani, on show at the Haunch of Venison

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Untitled by Ahmed Alsoudani, on show at the Haunch of Venison

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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Untitled (brown) from the 'Hostage' series by Alex Hoda at 20 Projects

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Untitled (plum) from the 'Hostage' series by Alex Hoda at 20 Projects
Peter Mallet

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The Wendy Mayer piece at the Future Can Wait show in Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, has been purchased by Charles Saatchi

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The White Cube chose Frieze week to launch its third London gallery in a 1970s warehouse on Bermondsey Street. Retrofitted by Casper Mueller Kneer Architects, the building's 780sq m South Galleries opens with ‘Structure & Absence', a group show that uses the Chinese concept of a scholar's rock as a motif. It features several veterans of White Cube and Frieze alike: Andreas Gursky, Brice Marden, Sterling Ruby, Gabriel Orozco and Damien Hirst
courtesy of White Cube

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In Room I, Gary Hume's 'Pink Brown Smoke' paintings flank his 'Green and Green Brown Smoke' on one wall. On the far wall are works by Sterling Ruby. Pedestals in the centre of the space feature two scholar's rocks
courtesy of White Cube

Frieze Art Fair 2011, London

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Berlin-based artist Kitty Kraus shows her installation of mirrored light boxes as part of ‘Inside the White Cube', an exhibit located in White Cube Bermondsey's North Galleries
courtesy of White Cube

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Colour field paintings with digital-print overlays by Romanian-born artist Marieta Chirulescu, also shown as part of 'Inside the White Cube'
courtesy of White Cube

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Thomas Dane's new, raw space at 3 Duke Street, a minute's walk from his original gallery at number 11, has also launched during Frieze, inaugurated by the monochrome works by Albert Oehlen. The house in St James', London, was entirely redesigned by architect David Kohn

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Oehlen's exhibition of large-scale drawings, 'Painthing on the Möve', runs until 19 November

Emma O'Kelly is a contributing editor at Wallpaper*. She joined the magazine on issue 4 as news editor and since since then has worked in full and part time roles across many editorial departments. She is a freelance journalist based in London and works for a range of titles from Condé Nast Traveller to The Telegraph. She is currently working on a book about Scandinavian sauna culture and is renovating a mid century house in the Italian Lakes.