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Frieze Fair Put a Price on High Heat. It Was Met With a Lawsuit.

Credit...Spencer Platt/Getty Images

How much are a few beads of sweat worth? Frieze New York, the mega art fair that takes place annually on Randalls Island, has an answer.

After announcing last month that it would offer compensation to galleries affected by a heat wave that caused extreme temperatures in the main tent structure during this year’s fair in May, Frieze has now specified how much it’s willing to pay: 10 percent of the cost of a booth, with a minimum of $1,000 for each gallery that requests compensation.

The price of booths varies, with emerging galleries under 8 years old paying around $8,000 for a spot in the fair’s subsidized “Frame” section. The $1,000 minimum also applies to those galleries.

In an email sent to galleries Thursday morning, executives including the fair’s director, Victoria Siddall, and artistic director, Loring Randolph, wrote: “We promised to give something back to you following Frieze New York and we are writing now to confirm that we are offering 10 percent of the booth fee to every gallery who was affected by the heat on the first two days of the fair.”

In order to receive the refund, galleries must fill out a formal request, essentially opting in to receive the money.

“We made a commitment during the fair to give something back to every exhibitor, and since then we have consulted a number of galleries, including those on our committee,” Ms. Siddall said in an email exchange Friday. “We are now following through on this promise.”

For some galleries, the compensation isn’t enough.

On Friday, Shane Campbell Gallery filed a lawsuit against Frieze Events, asserting that the fair had been negligent in not preparing for the heat. In the suit, filed in Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, the gallery is seeking full reimbursement for all fees associated with participation in the fair.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section C, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: Frieze Fair Heat Wave Leads to Lawsuit. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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