Left: Whitechapel Art Gallery, extended to fill the former library in 2009; right: Gilbert & George’s ‘London Pictures’ at White Cube Bermondsey in 2o12
The capital has become the beating heart of the international contemporary art scene in under a decade. How did this happen and how can we best navigate its arteries? Louisa Buck offers some suggestions With London now universally acknowledged as a world centre for international contemporary art, it is astonishing to think that just over a decade ago the capital was still a comparative backwater. Only with the opening of Tate Modern in May 2000 did we at last get a museum of modern art – New York has had theirs since 1929 and Paris since 1947 – and it was in the same year that White Cube gallery, home to Gary Hume, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, the Chapmans et al, expanded out of a tiny converted first-floor flat in Duke Street St James’s into more extensive Hoxton premises, thus unleashing a property boom in the area. But so precarious was London’s art world status that even when the first Frieze Art Fair was launched in 2003 it was seen as a huge gamble, with its directors, Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp, genuinely concerned that nobody would turn up. Of course they did, in their droves, and now the overall scene is very different. Every autumn Frieze utterly dominates the London contemporary art world and has to exercise evermore stringent crowd controls to keep visitor numbers manageable, while Tate Modern currently attracts more footfall than any other modern art museum in the world – including MoMA New York – and will soon add more than 60 per cent to its existing dimensions with a new extension.
White Cube and other stalwarts such as Victoria Miro and Lisson Gallery have massively increased their presence with extensive premises and museum-style shows. White Cube’s Hoxton branch has now been replaced by the hangar-like spaces of its Bermondsey gallery, which, in addition to its premises in Mason’s Yard, Piccadilly, has been specially designed to accommodate the often gargantuan works of its ever-increasing stable of artists, which now include such international heavyweights as Georg Baselitz, Anselm Kiefer and Chuck Close. Recent years have also seen the evolution of what was a strictly local marketplace into today’s cosmopolitan commercial scene with a number of major American and European galleries arriving to set up shop in the capital. New York’s Gagosian Gallery was the first to put out feelers in 2000 with a modestly sized outpost in Heddon Street, now replaced by a megagallery in King’s Cross sufficiently versatile to house major exhibitions of Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore and Rachel Whiteread, with its floors reinforced to bear the weight of Richard Serra’s monumental steel sculptures. Among the other overseas arrivals are Swiss gallery Hauser & Wirth, which represents a roster of big names including veteran bad boy Paul McCarthy and the estate of Louise Bourgeois, and occupies
London contemporary art mapped out 52 Autumn 2013 Art Quarterly
whitechapel: Š gavin jackson / arcaid. G&G: Š gilbert & george, courtesy white cube
When Frieze art fair launched in 2003 it was seen as a huge gamble
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serra: © joshua white, courtesy gagosian gallery. frieze: © frieze london. Eliasson: © olafur eliasson, courtesy tate
both a grand Lutyens-designed former bank on Piccadilly as well as a pair of vast new spaces on Savile Row. Sprüth Magers, the European agent for the likes of Jenny Holzer and Cindy Sherman, now resides in Mayfair, with fellow German Michael Werner another recent arrival. More New Yorkers crossed the pond with Pace Gallery settling in Soho and Burlington Gardens, while around the corner Manhattanite David Zwirner has spent a considerable sum converting a townhouse into an outlet for art. Yet London’s vibrant contemporary art scene is by no means restricted to the upper echelons. For it is in the smaller commercial and artist-run galleries that the very latest and often the most experimental new work can be found. Spaces such as Cell in Bethnal Green or Studio Voltaire in Clapham combine artist’s studios with professionally run exhibition galleries that mount rigorously curated and programmed shows, which in turn are almost interchangeable in appearance with London’s most dynamic smaller galleries such as Cabinet, Limoncello, Kate MacGarry and Herald Street. All of these may be relatively modest in scale and often situated in seemingly inauspicious locations, but this belies their seriousness of intent and global reach. Whether an artist-run, not-for-profit outfit, selling work solely to sustain practitioners’
Why are the capital’s galleries great and small appearing to thrive?
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studios and to fund an exhibition programme, or a small commercial space representing a stable of artists, these organisations operate at the creative rockface, providing an outlet for radical artists whose work can often challenge conventional notions of what can be bought or sold, or indeed what constitutes art at all. Many of these take the form of temporary, performative or environmental artworks, which would seem impossible to own, let alone sell. But even at the most experimental end of the artistic spectrum there can be an eager market for this work. At this year’s Basel Art Fair, Herald Street’s booth consisted of Pablo Bronstein’s irresistibly titled Marie Antoinette and Robespierre engage in an irritable post-coital conversation (2013) that comprised a couple of motionless powdered and bewigged dancers reclining back-to-back on adapted camp beds throughout the fair. The piece, described by the gallery as a ‘performance with props’, attracted a flurry of potential buyers and was snapped up by a major European museum for £35,000. For this not inconsiderable sum the purchaser received all the costumes and props, as well as the artist’s detailed instructions for the work’s re-enactment. So amidst all this activity, what lies behind London’s rapid and dramatic transformation from dozy cul-de-sac into global art hub? Why
are its galleries great and small appearing to thrive, even in a time of economic austerity? The reasons for this expansion are many and complex and involve a mix of factors cultural, social and – especially – financial. Certainly since the 1990s the profile of contemporary art, both at home and abroad, has been greatly raised by the meteoric success of the Hirst generation of so-called YBAs, along with the entrepreneurial acumen of their go-getting young dealers and the promotional genius of über-collector Charles Saatchi. What also cannot be underestimated is the vision and consummate political skill of Tate director Nicholas Serota, both in bringing Tate Modern to fruition from its inauspicious origins during the culturally inclement Thatcher years (one of the few millennium projects to be delivered on time and on budget) and also in his management of the ongoing expansion of the Tate ‘brand’. All of the above have helped contemporary art enter the cultural mainstream and be considered as something that everyone – not just a wellinformed élite – can appreciate and acquire. Another crucial if not so widely discussed component is the popularity of London as preferred place of residence for an increasing number of wealthy, non-domiciled individuals, many of whom have become very active in the art world. Despite the economic crash of 2008, the recent tightening of the UK’s ‘non dom’ tax exemptions and ongoing instability in world markets, there still seems to be no shortage of well-heeled individuals – especially from Russia and the Far and Middle East – who are eager to involve themselves in a glamorous and eventdriven global contemporary art world, which now has London firmly at its centre. Indeed, such is the commitment to contemporary art among an expanding number of London-based art collectors both from home and abroad that some have even set up their own charitable foundations that function like mini – or not so mini – institutions in their own right. These not-for-profit organisations may have private origins but they pride themselves on reaching out to the general public, and they have made a significant impact, both complementing and to an extent competing with existing institutions. One such example is Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, founded in a refurbished and greatly extended East London warehouse in 2004 by Ziba Ardalan; her husband, Pierre de Weck, a trustee, was until recently head of Private Wealth Management
at Deutschebank. Parasol Unit declares that it ‘operates purely for the public benefit’ and functions exactly like a high-end arts centre, with no core collection but a rolling programme of temporary exhibitions, workshops, public art events and even an annual ‘Exposure’ award for promising young arts graduates. More modest in scale but no less aspirational is Raven Row, programmed and funded by Alex Sainsbury, scion of the grocery dynasty, which declares itself to be ‘led by a desire to test art’s purpose outside the marketplace’. Since 2009 this small and perfectly formed exhibition centre has been devoted to showing the most rigorous of historical and contemporary conceptual art from its home in two exquisitely refurbished 17th-century Huguenot weavers’ houses in the historic Spitalfields area of the City. Then there are the private foundations that are predominantly devoted to the display of their founder’s collections, holdings that can sometimes be as comprehensive as those in the public realm. The David Roberts Art Foundation, which is housed in a former furniture factory in Camden Town, has a rolling programme of exhibitions, events and performances organised around Scottish property developer David Roberts’s collection of more than 1,800 modern and contemporary artworks. Another major private player is the Zabludowicz Collection, comprising more than 5,000 artworks commissioned and/or acquired over three decades by businessman Poju Zabludowicz and his wife, Anita. In addition to its London HQ in a former Methodist chapel in Chalk Farm, it also has a space in New York and a residency programme and series of art commissions on the island of Sarvisalo in Finland. Then, of course, there is always Charles Saatchi, London’s Grand Master of acquisition and display, whose collection has gone through multiple incarnations since he opened his first space in Swiss Cottage in 1985 and whose current gallery, devoted to showing new art from Germany, Russia, India, China and the Middle East as well as the UK, is housed in 70,000 square feet of the former Duke of York’s barracks in Chelsea and claims to attract more than a million visitors a year. There is no doubt that all this institutional cross-dressing – whereby private and commercial now seem almost indistinguishable with public, and public museums in turn seek the support of private and corporate funders – can send out some confusingly mixed messages. But the proliferation of so many different, albeit Left, top: Richard Serra, TTI London, 2007, at Gagosian; left, below: crowds at Frieze London; above: Olafur Eliasson, The Weather Project, 2003, at Tate Modern
In smaller galleries the most experimental new work is found
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So while no one wants to return to the ethos of the much-mocked 1980s’ advertising campaign that described the Victoria and Albert Museum as ‘an ace caff with quite a nice museum attached’, or to embrace the American model whereby major institutions are almost entirely reliant upon private patronage, in recent years our public galleries have had to spruce up their premises and perk up their business plans to pull in the punters. In addition to ongoing building works at Tates Modern and Britain, over the past few years the Whitechapel Gallery, Camden Arts Centre, ICA and South London Gallery have all expanded and enhanced their spaces to make them more welcoming both for works of art and for visitors. Just as rigid categories of gallery no longer apply, neither is London’s dynamic art scene
Above: Katharina Fritsch, Hahn / Cock, 2013, commissioned for the Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square
London offers the very best work by the widest variety of artists
fritsch: © gautier deblonde
interconnected, species of showcases for art has proved highly advantageous for art lovers, whatever their income or level of expertise. For in today’s multifarious art world, everyone is welcome, even in the most high-rolling of establishments. This new lack of snootiness is largely because commercial galleries of all sizes now do most of their business at art fairs, but can only gain acceptance at these fairs by mounting a credible exhibition programme, and therefore it is in their interest actively to encourage as many visitors as possible, whether or not they are potential purchasers. Similarly, all the not-for-profits, whether deep-pocketed private foundations, major public institutions or small outfits run by artists on a shoestring, depend upon encouraging as broad a demographic through their doors as possible.
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restricted to one geographic zone. Instead, it has pretty much permeated the fabric of the capital, with different art hubs and clusters of spaces and galleries in the West End, the East End and now, increasingly, in South London, with the district of Peckham fast becoming a new art quarter. Yet while this greatly expanded and complex landscape might initially seem somewhat daunting both to access and to navigate, it is actually very user-friendly with information no longer restricted to an élite band of cognoscenti. The culture pages of the quality national press as well as listings magazine Time Out (especially its website, www.timeout.com/ london) all carry good coverage of what is happening across the capital. An excellent recourse is also the New Exhibitions guide which has been keeping gallery-goers up to date since the 1970s, and which can be accessed online at www.newexhibitions.com. It also comes in a hard-copy format with a useful map and is given out for free on the front desk of every art gallery, large or small, public or private. For south of the river, try www.southlondonartmap.com. So whether it is a rich patron’s art foundation in a Chalk Farm chapel, a collective enterprise in Clapham or a multimillion-pound operation in a Mayfair mansion, never before has London offered such an extensive and rich plethora of opportunities to see the very best work by the widest variety of artists of all nationalities and generations, and in such an extraordinary range of contexts. Today’s current contemporary art scene is truly open to all comers, and the only commodities required are an abundance of enthusiasm and energy. l For more details of venues in this feature see www.artfund.org, or download the free Art Guide app, the Art Fund’s comprehensive exhibitions and museum listings app, from the iTunes app store or Google Play l Frieze Art Fair, Regent’s Park, London nw1, 17 – 20 October. www.friezelondon.com, www. friezemasters.com. Day pass Frieze London or Frieze Masters £24 National Art Pass (£32 standard); joint ticket £37.50 National Art Pass (£50 standard); Frieze Art Fair tours £12 National Art Pass (£16 standard). For National Art Pass discounts all tickets must be purchased online, in advance, using code ARTPASS13 (booking fee applies; subject to availability; present National Art Pass on admission) Louisa Buck is contemporary art correspondent for The Art Newspaper
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Mayfair, centred around Cork Street, has been the heartland of contemporary art for nearly a century. Despite several big British names moving out of the area in 2000 – notably Victoria Miro and White Cube – in recent years the area has attracted major international galleries including David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth and Sprüth Magers. This route takes in eight of the leading galleries in the area, but there are dozens more lining the streets. Take the Piccadilly (north side) exit from Green Park tube station, turn left and walk towards the Royal Academy of Arts, before turning left up Dover Street (which becomes Grafton Street). Towards the top of the street on the right, a discreet brass plaque on a whitewashed Georgian townhouse announces the David Zwirner gallery (1) at no. 24, with shows extending over two floors of the house. At the head of the street, at 7a, is Sprüth Magers (2), its latticed floor-to-ceiling shop windows allowing exhibitions to be seen even when the gallery is closed. They represent an impressive roster of artists including Barbara Kruger, Waddington Custot and Flowers. George Condo and Robert Morris, Continue along Clifford Street to and this autumn the programme the end and turn left into Savile includes solo shows by Rosemarie Row. Tailors such as Richard James Trockel and Stephen Shore. may continue the sartorial Follow the street around until you reach the pedestrianised corner tradition, but there are also several galleries on the street now, the of New Bond Street, swerve around most significant being Hauser Lawrence Holofcener’s 1995 & Wirth (4), which occupies sculpture of Roosevelt and two bespoke glass-walled Churchill chatting on a bench spaces on the right. and turn right into Clifford 4 4 Retrace your steps to Street. This leads to the Clifford Street and take top of Cork Street, the first left on to Old where Alan Cristea Burlington Street. Gallery (3) . T S D OR This road runs occupies the F IF 5 CL parallel to Cork corner property, 3 Street and and Cork Street ST. 2 VIGO Stephen Friedman galleries include 6 D
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(5) has two gallery spaces, one on the left and his original premises further down on the right. The gallery represents painters Mamma Anderson and Beatriz Milhazes as well as sculptors Stephan Balkenol and Yinka Shonibare. At the end of this street is American juggernaut Pace Gallery (6), housed in the Royal Academy’s Burlington Gardens annexe. Walk down through the classic Burlington Arcade and cross Piccadilly, walk left and take the first right down Duke Street, packed with Old Master dealers and the occasional contemporary gallerist such as Thomas Dane (7) at no. 11, a first-floor gallery whose entrance is next to the red awning of dealer Rafael Valls. It was in this street that the 30-year-old Jay Jopling opened his tiny first-floor gallery at no. 44 called White Cube and where he showed many of the Young British Artists. Scroll forwards 20 years and visit White Cube Mason’s Yard, one of Jopling’s two capacious London spaces, this one purpose-built in an enclosed courtyard off Duke Street (8). Charlotte Mullins l Many Mayfair galleries exhibit in Frieze London and Frieze Masters. See main feature for details Top: Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Iolanda, 2008, at David Zwirner (26 September – 23 November); above left: Li Songsong, Big Girls, 2013, at Pace Gallery (from 19 September)
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dicorcia: © courtesy the artist and david zwirner. songsong: © li songsong, courtesy pace gallery
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next to each other on the right. Housed in a former furniture factory, they are airy white temples to contemporary art, commercial (Victoria Miro) and not-for-profit (Parasol Unit). CM l Check opening times before you visit, as some galleries do not open on Mondays or Tuesdays, and others do not open on Sundays. Over 170 galleries open late on the first Thursday of every month across east London, with walking tours by critics and curators and a free art bus. See www.firstthursdays.co.uk Left: Adel Abdessemed, installation at Parasol Unit, 2010; top: Chantal Joffe, Jessica, 2012 , at Victoria Miro, summer 2013; right: Magali Reus, Parking (Window), 2013, at The Approach (5 September – 6 October)
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YR D. brunches at The Breakfast Club in Artillery Passage make it a good place to start at the weekend, as Raven Row doesn’t open until 11 am). From Raven Row, continue down Crispin Street and turn right into Brushfield Street. Cross over Commercial Street and turn left; a five-minute walk sees the landscape change from glass and steel office blocks to warehouse conversions and reclaimed spaces, one of which, The Tea Building, houses Hales Gallery (2), as well as the members’ club Shoreditch House on its top two floors. From The Tea Building on the corner of Commercial Street walk along Bethnal Green Road, and turn left into Camlet Street. The second turning on the left is Old Nichol Street, and at no. 27 is Kate MacGarry (3), a small but
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abdessemed: © photo stephen white, courtesy parasol unit. joffe: © chantal joffe, courtesy the artist and victoria miro, london. reus: © gert jan van rooij. flat-time house: © ken adlard
It’s hard to believe that before Victoria Miro and White Cube relocated to Wharf Road and Hoxton Square in 2000, this area of London – just north of the City – didn’t appear on any map of contemporary galleries. Despite White Cube moving south earlier this year, the area is now home to many artist-run spaces, galleries and art foundations. One of these foundations is Raven Row (1), a non-profit exhibitions centre founded, funded and programmed by Alex Sainsbury. Raven Row is located on Artillery Lane, a street perpendicular to Bishopsgate and Liverpool Street station 8 7 (great
art trail 3 bethnal green
interesting commercial gallery. Walk further along Camlet Street to Arnold Circus, and take the third left along Calvert Avenue. Follow it to the end, cross over Shoreditch High Street and walk down Rivington Street. On the right is Rivington Place, home to Iniva (4), the Institute of International Visual Arts, which organises exhibitions, events and talks to celebrate the diversity of society through contemporary art. Rivington Street is a gastro destination with Rivington Grill and The Tramshed next to each other; turn left before The Tramshed and visit two commercial galleries at 44a Charlotte Road, Carl Freedman Gallery (5) and Mummery + Schnelle (6), before turning right at the end of the road on to Shoreditch. From here it is a 10- to 15-minute walk to Parasol Unit (7) and Victoria Miro (8) – the scale and ambition of shows at both venues make the journey worthwhile. Walk along Shoreditch, veering left before turning right at Old Street tube roundabout on to City Road. Follow this until you come to Wharf Road, marked by the petrol station on the corner. Victoria Miro and Parasol Unit stand
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East London has been at the heart of creativity in the capital for over two decades, but with rapid regeneration forcing artists and gallerists to search for unorthodox spaces further afield, it can often seem as if the geography of this cutting-edge art scene is in a constant state of flux. However, Bethnal Green has managed to maintain both an established and emerging artistic presence, offering a broad range of galleries, studios and project spaces within a relatively small area. On exiting Bethnal Green tube station turn left and head south down Cambridge Heath Road and turn right into Wilton Road, which leads into Herald Street. Maureen Paley founded her original gallery in a Victorian terraced house back in 1984, before moving to 21 Herald Street (1) in 1999. Championing new talent from the UK, Europe and the USA, artists who have shown there include Wolfgang Tillmans and Gillian Wearing. Just down the road, at no. 2, the progressive gallery Herald Street (2) can be found, which opened in 2006. Head back north on Cambridge Heath Road, past the tube and the V&A’s Museum of Childhood (with its collection of child-related artefacts dating back to 1600) and turn right on to Old Ford Road, then left on to Approach Road. The Approach (3) gallery is situated above a pub of the same name, and entrance is via the bar. Vilma Gold (4), a slightly more spacious gallery that made the move to Minerva Street in June, is a ten-minute detour on the way to Cell Project Space (5), which is set within a courtyard accessed through a car park on the main drag of Cambridge Heath Road. (Cell is written on the side of the building.) This artist-run initiative has a lively programme of events and performances, as well as offering
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to engage with Latham’s ideas of ‘Flat Time’. Retrace your steps back to no. 133 Rye Lane, where the CLF Art Café (5) is an exciting evening venue for music, art, theatre and film events. For daytime drinks head to Frank’s café on the roof of the multi-storey car park, also on Rye Lane (above the multiplex cinema). ‘Bold Tendencies’ (6), an annual sculpture exhibition now in its sixth year, occupies the top four floors of the car park (to 30 September). This summertime commissioning project was founded by Peckham champion Hannah Barry, whose own warehouse-sized gallery next to Peckham Rye station is eagerly anticipated. Head north five minutes along Rye Lane and, as Rye Lane joins Peckham High Street, the Peckham
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Space’s bright green, angular building in front of Peckham Library is not easily missed (7). It forms part of the University of the Arts’ off-site exhibition spaces, offering a programme that actively engages with art education and the local area’s history and culture. A similar university-led space resides in Camberwell College of Art (9) on Peckham Road, a ten-minute walk west of Peckham Space. The art school is situated next door to the most established destination for contemporary art in the area, the South London Gallery (8). Founded in 1981, the publicly funded gallery encompasses exhibitions featuring a range of internationally acclaimed artists, as well as live art, large-scale off-site projects, talks and film screenings. The bookshop and café are an excellent way to round up a visit, with late night openings every Wednesday. HB l Every last Friday of the month galleries stay open late as part of the South London Art Map programme. Guided tours are also available throughout the area. See www.southlondonartmap.com for further details
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Despite being flanked by Camberwell and Goldsmiths, two of London’s most prestigious art schools, Peckham is often overlooked as a creative destination. In fact, the area has developed into a vibrant hub over the last ten years and is considered to be at the cutting-edge of contemporary art, with an intriguing selection of galleries and artist studios in among local markets and residential back streets. Beginning at Peckham Rye station – now also served by the London Overground Network – The Sunday Painter (1) is just around the corner at 12–16 Blenheim Grove. Founded in 2010 and featuring both a gallery and studios spaces, there is a strong focus on supporting emerging talent with a packed bi-monthly exhibitions programme. It also houses the Peckham Print Space, an open access screen-printing workshop. Further along Blenheim Grove, through the railway arch next to the MOT garage on the right, The Arches Studios (2) have frequent open evenings and weekends. At the end of the street Arcadia Missa gallery (3) presents an ambitious programme of exhibitions from an industrial park unit accessed via Lyndhurst Way. Walk five minutes along Bellenden Road and Flat-Time House (4), at no. 210, is instantly recognisable on the right because of its arresting window installation. Featuring two enormous books that extend beyond both sides of the glass pane, it is easy to see why 7 the building was named a ‘living 6 . T ER S VYN . sculpture’ by John Latham (1921– N ST O S E WA D 2006), the influential post-war artist who called this space home. 5 AY. P’S W Since 2008 it has worked as an BISHO archive, gallery and residency CAMBRIDGE programme, encouraging RO HEATH BIN SO visitors and NR D. participants 3
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a range of studios and workspaces throughout east London. Further along Cambridge Heath Road, just before the canal, lies the once infamous Vyner Street. A decade ago this cobbled lane was the epicentre of contemporary art in London, but the recession and rising rents led influential galleries such as Nettie Horn, Kate MacGarry, Modern Art and Ibid Projects to relocate. Despite this exodus a few spaces remain open, including Wilkinson Gallery (6), an enormous 6,000 sq ft purpose-built space comprising two galleries and a project room, and HADA Contemporary (7), dedicated to showcasing East Asian art. (Vyner Street is a good place to stop for a drink: The Victory pub is a classic East End boozer; the restaurant Ombra has a great vantage point over the canal.) In an interesting parallel, a range of new and exciting spaces have opened further west along Regent’s Canal. Transition Gallery, Space In Between and Five Years are all situated within Regent Studios (8), and acclaimed artist Yinka Shonibare mbe’s Guest Projects (9) is next door, which offers artists access to a free project space for one month. All of these galleries are a stone’s throw from the vibrant Broadway Market, offering every conceivable type of pub, coffee shop and restaurant and a popular market on Saturdays. Holly Black l Art Licks promotes lesser-known arts venues in east and south-east London, and offers tours via its website.The Art Licks Weekend takes place 4–6 October. See www.artlicks.com 10 for details 9
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