We spoke to London Gallery Weekend co-founder and Artlogic client, Edel Assanti’s gallery director Jeremy Epstein about how the city has evolved as a thriving art capital, and why London Gallery Weekend’s latest edition from 2-4 June seeks to support this.
Jeremy Epstein. Courtesy of London Gallery Weekend. Photo: Will Amlot.
As a resident Londoner and established gallerist, how have you seen London evolve as an art capital over the past five years?
London has one of the most dynamic visual arts landscapes in the world. Despite the challenges of the past few years, it remains one of a small handful of cities where you can find the broadest representation of global contemporary art practice across its art spaces at any given time.
Whilst London’s array of world-class museums is a familiar geography, the gallery community continues to evolve year on year in surprising ways – different areas come to the fore as hubs every few years, and organising London Gallery Weekend highlights how many new spaces are established every year.
Whilst London’s many museums and public art programmes provide access to the arts, I believe there is work to be done to build a broader audience for the city’s phenomenal and diverse gallery exhibition programmes. In my opinion London Gallery Weekend is a well-suited vehicle to achieve this goal.
Courtesy of London Gallery Weekend. Photo: Will Amlot
What does London Gallery Weekend mean for galleries across the city?
London Gallery Weekend provides a unique moment in the London arts calendar to focus on what galleries are created for: realising artists’ exhibitions.
The galleries pull out all the stops with ambitious new shows and events designed to engage a broader local visiting public, creating an awareness of the diversity and volume of free spaces devoted to contemporary art in London.
The event differs from other cities’ gallery weekends as it both drives public gallery going, and strengthens connections between the gallery community and the national/international institutional sectors. For example, our partnership with Art Fund subsidises travel and accommodation for regional museum curators from across the country, and the VIP programme offers an irresistible invitation to domestic and overseas curators and collectors to spend the first weekend of June immersed in London’s gallery scene.
“On journeys back (from other European gallery weekends) to London we would lament the fact that we didn’t have a similar annual moment focusing exclusively on London’s galleries."
Tell us about how the idea of London Gallery Weekend was born.
The idea of creating a gallery weekend for London was a longstanding dream of myself and my partner at Edel Assanti, Charlie Fellowes. We always loved attending European gallery weekends – we were struck by the warm atmosphere of being hosted by a group of local galleries, and how you came away with an understanding of the nature of that city’s art landscape. On journeys back to London we would lament the fact that we didn’t have a similar annual moment focusing exclusively on London’s galleries.
During the pandemic, I started discussing the idea with a handful of London gallerists. Early conversations with Jo Stella-Sawicka (Goodman Gallery), Glenn Scott-Wright (Victoria Miro), my London Gallery Weekend Co-Director Sarah Rustin (Thaddaeus Ropac gallery) and a few others were invaluable in shaping how the initiative might work in a city as large as London, and soon we had an enthusiastic group working towards realising the first edition.
Courtesy of London Gallery Weekend. Photo: Will Amlot
Coming into the 3rd edition of the event, what should we get excited about? What's new?
The most exciting feature of London Gallery Weekend is always discovering the exhibitions and special events presented by each gallery, and we’re particularly thrilled to see galleries beginning to programme headline exhibitions especially for London Gallery Weekend.
Our performance platform in collaboration with UP Projects returns this year in an expanded format, allowing galleries to present their artists’ performances in three public contexts on each of London Gallery Weekend’s focus days.
Last year we launched a travel bursary initiative for UK regional museum curators. This year, the bursary is expanding to accommodate European museum curators. We are also particularly proud of our blossoming gallery-led VIP programme, which grants exclusive access to studio visits, private collections and institutional receptions.
"Our ambition is for London Gallery Weekend to be established in the minds of both the UK public and the international art community as an unmissable annual moment to engage with London’s unique gallery landscape."
Courtesy of London Gallery Weekend. Photo: Will Amlot
Where do you see London Gallery Weekend in five years? What are your goals for the event?
Our ambition is for London Gallery Weekend to be established in the minds of both the UK public and the international art community as an unmissable annual moment to engage with London’s unique gallery landscape. The strategy will be to expand existing initiatives and partnerships in order to welcome an increasing volume of international visitors to future editions as we gain momentum year-on-year.
London Gallery Weekend Map: londongalleryweekend.art
How has it been working with Artlogic on the development of the London Gallery Weekend website? What’s your favourite feature?
My gallery has worked with Artlogic for over a decade, so when we came to develop London Gallery Weekend’s site, Artlogic was naturally the first port of call.
Artlogic has been a highly motivated partner from the outset, designing a bespoke offering to suit London Gallery Weekend’s needs and working in continual dialogue with our committee to evolve the site in line with user experiences each year.
The feature we are most proud of is the gallery mapping tool, which provides the first interactive map of London’s galleries, searchable by artist and genre. It is intended to allow both experienced and novice visitors alike to curate their own route around London’s galleries to suit their own personal criteria.
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