Detail from Sugar Slump
(Picture: Caroline Wong)White Cube, Hauser & Wirth, Gagosian - anyone who spends any time visiting London’s commercial galleries will have at least a vague recollection of these names, and more. The city has almost too many of these spaces to count, and, even after the pandemic, has retained its position as one of the world’s leading locations for exciting contemporary art.
London Gallery Weekend is a new initiative (this is only the second iteration) to celebrate and highlight this aspect of the capital’s art ecosystem - kicking off on Friday, it puts the focus on 150 galleries across the city, all of them free to visit, and many of them putting on special events for the weekend. They include behemoths like those above, huge international enterprises with spaces all over the world – but these aren’t the real reason why London is such a thrilling place to see art.
