London Gallery Weekend closes on a high, with new performance art commission attracting additional audiences across the city

The second edition of London Gallery Weekend, now established as the biggest gallery weekend event in the world with 150 participating galleries, drew to a successful close on Sunday 15 May, with tens of thousands of visits to participating galleries recorded over the course of the three-day event. Drawing collectors, curators and the art-loving public for a city-wide celebration of London’s vibrant gallery scene, the packed programme of public events included performances, talks, tours and children’s activities, as well as exhibitions by major international names and emerging talents at galleries spanning the capital - from the most renowned international galleries to its newest emerging art spaces, with a host of new participants.

Justine Simons, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries said: “I’m delighted with the success of the second edition of London Gallery Weekend, which cements London’s status as a global hotspot for art. The impressive number of visitors is testament to the strength of this free showcase of the fantastic galleries we have in the capital.”

This year London Gallery Weekend launched its inaugural performative public art commission, attracting hundreds of people to each of the three performances over the course of the weekend. Developed in collaboration with public art commissioners UP Projects and an independent selection panel, Mandy El-Sayegh was the recipient of this year’s commission and performed her work The Minimum to audiences in the different focal areas of Central London, South London and East London.

“As an artist it has been an incredible opportunity to show my work outside of a gallery space and to people who wouldn’t typically see my work. Each of the public spaces we showed the work in had a completely different feel and drew very different communities to see the performances. It’s important and valuable for me to be able to step outside of the conventional ‘white cube’ setting, and it's been great to get a sense of how this accessibility to my work can encourage people to enter the gallery context too. I’m so thankful to everyone who made it possible and to my collaborators.”
Mandy El-Sayegh

“The wonderful responses from the visiting public, the UK’s museum sector and participating galleries alike are testament to the tremendous efforts of everyone involved in making London Gallery Weekend such a success. It is incredibly rewarding to have fulfilled this edition's objective of deepening our audience engagement both in the public realm and within the artworld through our initiative to bring curators and museum directors from across the UK to connect with London’s gallery community, and our performance commission serving to expand London Gallery Weekend's public profile.”
Founder & Director Jeremy Epstein, and Co-Director Sarah Rustin

“London Gallery Weekend has fast become an essential part of the capital’s art scene. It is a valuable platform enabling the support of artists, as well as the galleries that present their work. We had tremendous footfall this year and enjoyed participating immensely.”
Maureen Paley, Founder Director, Maureen Paley

“As first-time participants in London Gallery Weekend, we were delighted by the numbers of new visitors to our gallery who discovered us through it. This was a lovely opportunity to feel part of a city-wide, collaborative gallery ecosystem and reaffirmed the importance of this initiative to connect people from across the UK with London's incredible gallery scene.” Sofia Carriera Wham and Imme Dattenberg-Doyle, Directors, Doyle Wham

“We had excellent footfall during the London Gallery Weekend, and especially on the South London focus day where we are located. It’s a very special initiative for galleries in London because it’s the only occasion throughout the annual calendar that is run by the galleries for the galleries and, with the breadth of outreach to patron groups and curators and museums, I think this is the start of an initiative which could ultimately trump other events during the year. As well as initiating sales and highlighting our programme at Bosse & Baum, which it has done very well, it was also a chance for us to support our peers and connect with colleagues in London.”
Alexandra Warder, Bosse & Baum

“Once again, London Gallery Weekend was a huge success, drawing crowds from every corner of the UK. Pace celebrated by opening Robert Nava’s first show in the UK with a live performance from Thurston Moore and Pat Thomas. The response to our programme was tremendous, demonstrating the extraordinary level of engagement among the London arts community.”
Elliot McDonald, Vice President, Pace

“It was a fantastic weekend for us with patron engagement and visitor numbers exceeding our wildest dreams. We had several London institutions visit as well as curators from institutions outside London visit. Sales were forthcoming too so overall a very happy experience for us. Thank you LGW and Sadie Coles HQ for everything!”

Amrita Jhaveri, Director, Jhaveri Contemporary – participant in Conversations on Tomorrow at Sadie Coles HQ, a collaborative exhibition by four Indian galleries