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One of the best things about London: a lot of art is for free. It's basically like heaven for someone who loves strolling around museums all day instead of taking photos of all the obvious stuff. However a combination of both is also very welcome, no offense to Big Ben.So I put quite some effort into creating the perfect gallery experience for me. As I am a nice person I want to share it with you. But I must say: it is not a collection of the best museums/galleries. There a tons! and I obviously couldn't go to all of them. Plus they are quite centered around my area of interest at the moment: Contemporary Art. So here it goes. Just click on the headings for the websites.
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About the gallery: I found this gallery through the Unlike Website (it's always worth checking, they recommend a lot of great places off the main tourist attractions). It's located in the Kensington Garden, so you also get a really nice walk around the park. The architecture of the building is also really beautiful. Plus the bookshop is really really good.
What's on? They are currently preparing for the Rosemarie Trockel exhibition - so you could go there in February. I was there in December, when they had a sort of overview of Jonas Mekas's oeuvre, a collection of his lifework in video at the occasion of his 90th birthday. As he was in contact with many well-known artists, such as Yoko Ono or Andy Warhol, the exhibition gives quite interesting insights into his life, work and the world around the turn of the century.
About the gallery: This one's not really an insider's tip, however they are also hosting exhibitions apart from the permanent collection. You could easily walk there from Covent Garden. I think the gallery is well-known for all the royal portraits which were not as spectacular as I had expected. Especially the 'new' portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge aka Kate Middleton looked quite dull to me. Sorry but she doesn't seem as lively and young as usual.
What's on? I mainly went there because of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize which is still on till 17 February 2013. They show contemporary artists from around the world - of course with a wide range of different genres, styles and techniques in photography. Interestingly, they provided a lot of background information so I read all the amazing stories to the people being depicted. They also show a quite unconventional portrait of Ai Weiwei. I have to admit that this small exhibition was not for free - it costs 2 Pounds.
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| source: National Portrait Gallery |
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| Prize winner: Jordi Ruiz Cirera, Margarita Teichroeb source: http://artandphotography-uog.blogspot.co.uk |
About the gallery: Okay, this one is really really my ultimate recommendation. Although I was exhausted from the whole day, I was literally waking up again. They really have a lovely exhibition space, not too crammed and intelligently arranged. If you have only time for one or two galleries - this one's not to miss.
What's on? They currently host an exhibition of the Irish artist Gerard Byrne until 08 March 2013, which is really worth seeing. Not only does he work with video installations but also does he take great photographs - I must say that these are really unique, really phantastic colours. The second Gallery shows works by Giuseppe Penone (until 01 September 2013). I saw one of his works on documenta 13 in Kassel last year. Seeing this exhibition however made clear for me how he works as you get an interesting insight into his approach through drawings, material studies and plans. I was really tempted to buy the catalogue... Also really worth seeing!
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| Gerard Byrne source: artfacts.net |
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| Giuseppe Penone source: whitechapel gallery |
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| Giuseppe Penone source: whitechapel gallery |
About the gallery: The gallery is situated in The Mall, near Trafalgar Square so you can easily pop in while doing sightseeing in the city. I read that they also include a small cinema, so I assume that they show some interesting stuff.
What's on? You can see an exhibition of selected works from well-known photographer Jürgen Teller until 17 March 2013. He is famous for being open, radical and not really timid with his photography, both in art and commercial photography. Celebrities such as Lily Cole, Kurt Cobain and Vivienne Westwood are presented to us in a way that they somehow lose their status and become ordinary people from everyday life, not hiding anything. I liked the depiction of Björk and her son in particular.
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| Jürgen Teller source: miista.com |
What's on? They don't have a permanent exhibition so they usually switch exhibitions every three months. The current exhibition A House of Leaves is a series of three movements, currently running the third movement until 16 February 2013. I don't want to go into too much detail about the project itself - it is definitely worth seeing as they show quite a lot of different media from performance to radio to concept art etc. I really liked Trisha Brown's performance which was taped at different speeds and a nice translation concept work (I don't remember the artist ... have to check on that.)
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So, I hope this was helpful! I created a google map of all the described galleries so that you can easily find them.
View London Galleries in a larger map
View London Galleries in a larger map
Liiiisa. Wie hilfreich für meinen nächsten Trip nach London!
AntwortenLöschenLiebste Küsse!
Maria