Some London Galleries Prepare to Reopen by Appointment Next Week as the City Lifts Its Ban on Non-Essential Retail Businesses
After trade associations
successfully lobbied the UK
government to include art galleries alongside other
“non-essential retail” businesses in its plan to ease lockdown
restrictions, a dozen central London galleries have announced that
they will reopen on June 15.
Galleries in London’s West End
have decided collectively that they will open by appointment only.
Social distancing will be observed, and visitors are encouraged to
bring their own masks, or will be given them on
arrival.
“I know that our members are
looking forward to opening their doors again after the long
lockdown,” Christopher Battiscombe, the director general at Society
of London Art Dealers, said in a statement. “Much as they have
enjoyed doing business online, it will be great for them to be able
to meet their customers face to face again and we are confident
that this can be done safely while observing all the necessary
precautions.”
Galleries reopening on June 15
include White Cube Mason’s Yard, Thomas Dane Gallery, Luxembourg &
Dayan, Holtermann Fine Art, Stephen Friedman Gallery, Gagosian,
Goodman Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, Annely Juda Fine Art, Pace
Gallery, Simon Lee Gallery, Sprüth Magers, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac,
and David Zwirner.
James Turrell, Sagittarius, Medium
Elliptical Glass (2019). © James Turrell, courtesy of Pace
Gallery and Kayne Griffin Corcoran. Installation view at Pace
Gallery, London. Photo by Damian Griffiths.
“Opening by appointment only
allows for high-security standards and greater social distancing
control,” a spokesman for Pace Gallery tells Artnet News, adding
that it will also make it easier to make adjustments to the
protocol if they are needed by the end of June.
The gallery will be reopening
its James Turrell exhibition (through August 14), and is also
considering installing a new work by the artist that it hopes will
offer visitors a moment of solace in the current atmosphere. The
next step for Pace will be to gradually offer more availability for
the public to book viewing slots on Eventbrite, which it used
previously for its teamLab exhibition in 2017.
The gallery is meanwhile
following government regulations on best practices in its other
locations, open by appointment only in Geneva and with limited
capacity in Hong Kong and Seoul. “An interesting point about London
though, is the sense of unity amongst galleries,” the
spokesman said. “Reopening is a concerted effort and we’ve had
several conversations with neighboring galleries, colleagues and
friends, to make the best decision, share good practice and
coordinate this process.”
The gallery hopes to reopen its
two locations in Manhattan by appointment later in the summer,
ahead of a public reopening in the fall.
David Goldblatt, Playground,
Chiawelo, Soweto. September 1972. Vintage silver gelatin print.
Courtesy of Goodman Gallery.
Meanwhile, Goodman Gallery is
planning a “soft opening” on June 15, offering appointments to view
selected works while it deinstalls its Shirin Neshat
exhibition. “We
felt that it would be important to reopen with something new that
would speak to this moment,” the spokeswoman said, referring to the
global Black Lives Matter demonstrations protesting the killing of
a black man in the US, George Floyd.
In July, the gallery will open a
major presentation of photographs by the South African artist David
Goldblatt. The show will be Goldblatt’s first solo exhibition in
London since 1986, when he showed work at The Photographers’
Gallery. It will be a presentation of the photographer’s
documentation of the fight for racial equality and social justice
grounded in the images he took in his hometown of Johannesburg. “We
felt that this was an important moment to bring his work to the
London audience,” the spokeswoman said.
The gallery will be taking
visitor’s temperatures, a decision influenced by the similarly
cautious approach the government has advised businesses to take in
its home country of South Africa.
Yinka Shonibare CBE, Justice for
All (2019). Copyright the artist, courtesy the artist and
Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.
Stephen Friedman Gallery will
reopen its Andreas Eriksson
show, but will also be responding to the moment
by showing a timely sculptural installation
by Yinka Shonibare, titled Justice for All, in
its main gallery window, looking onto Old Burlington Street. The
sculpture is a postcolonial re-configuration of FW Pomeroy’s
golden Lady Justice, which looms over London’s
Central Criminal Court.
“In light of the events of the past weeks and the Black Lives
Matter movement, Stephen Friedman Gallery has been amplifying its
artists voices in solidarity with the cause,” the gallery’s
director of sales, Mira Dimitrova, tells Artnet News. We
therefore decided it was timely and necessary to show Yinka
Shonibare CBE’s powerful work Justice for All—its message
couldn’t be more apt.” The gallery’s lights will also remain on
24/7, making the work visible to the public even at night.
Installation view, “Isa Genzken.
Window,” Hauser & Wirth, London. ©Isa Genzken / Licensed by Artists
Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy the artist, Hauser & Wirth
and Galerie Buchholz Cologne / Berlin / New York. Photo by Alex
Delfanne.
Elsewhere, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac will reopen its Hito Steyerl
exhibition as well as present highlights from its Art Basel online
viewing room, and David Zwirner will reopen its shuttered Paul
Klee and Bridget Riley exhibitions. But it will be a while
before London’s art scene is back to its old self. The city’s
wealth of museums are unlikely to open for a while, with Tate
saying it hopes to reopen at the beginning of August, and the
British Museum telling Artnet News that it has no firm dates for
reopening yet. “The strength of London’s art community is the
combination of both galleries and outstanding institutions,” Neil
Wenman, a partner at Hauser and Wirth, tells Artnet News. The
gallery will reopen its Isa Genzken and Alina
Szapocznikow shows on June 15. “In this moment, people are looking
for intimate encounters with art, which we can offer in our London
space. This is a vital first step but I can’t wait until the
museums are able to join us and reopen safely as well. I’ll be
first in line!”
The post Some London Galleries Prepare to Reopen by
Appointment Next Week as the City Lifts Its Ban on Non-Essential
Retail Businesses appeared first on artnet News.
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