Returning from 2 – 4 June 2023, London Gallery Weekend announces participating galleries, European Curator Bursaries and an expanded performance program me

London Gallery Weekend, the biggest gallery weekend in the world, has announced it will return from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 June 2023. Established in 2021, this third edition of the free public event will bring together the city’s galleries and attract tens of thousands of visitors to engage with art at locations across the city. With over 120 participating galleries confirmed so far and including 15 new participants, 2023 will also see an expanded performance programme developed in collaboration with UP Projects, with multiple free, public artist-led performances taking place across London over the course of the three day event. Following the successful launch of a new partnership with Art Fund in 2022 to bring curators from the UK’s regional institutions to London, this year London Gallery Weekend is delighted to announce another new bursary programme, to support curators to visit from across the EU.

London Gallery Weekend offers art-lovers and collectors the opportunity to experience and celebrate the rich and diverse range of exhibitions that the city’s galleries have to offer. Each of London Gallery Weekend’s three days focuses on one area: starting with Central London on Friday, followed by South London on Saturday and culminating on Sunday in the East End. The exhibitions will be complemented by a programme of workshops and kids events, guided tours, joint gallery parties and special performances; all of which are totally free and accessible to all. All participating galleries will be open across the three days, until 8pm on their respective focus days and until 5pm on Sunday.

Jeremy Epstein and Sarah Rustin, co-directors of London Gallery Weekend:
“LGW has grown in exciting directions to draw an even bigger and more diverse audience this year. In addition to new galleries joining, many will open new exhibitions for LGW, and our expanded performance programme with UP Projects will bring more artists into the public realm as part of the weekend’s spotlight on the exceptional breadth of London’s outstanding contemporary gallery scene. We've also stepped up our commitment to strengthening the connections, support and development initiatives between participating galleries and art institutions, providing funding and programmed events not only for curators from across the UK through our partnership with Art Fund, but now for European museum colleagues too”.

Exhibition highlights
In Central London, early highlights of the gallery programme include a solo show of new sculptures and paintings by Gary Simmons at Hauser & Wirth, an exhibition of new works by storied painter of dusky metropolises Jane Dickson at Alison Jacques, a suite of new humorous and erotic works by young British artist Cary Kwok at Herald St, and a site specific performance work at Karsten Schubert London by Rose English, one of the most influential performance artists working today. Early highlights from galleries in South London include a presentation of Isamu Noguchi’s sculptures at White Cube’s Bermondsey space, wall-based and freestanding sculptures by Estefanía B Flores at up-and-coming young gallery Xxijra Hii, the first UK solo show by Benjamin Slinger at Darren Flook, and a new series of works by Larry Achiampong at Copperfield. In East London, Project Native Informant will celebrate their tenth anniversary with a group show of gallery artists including DIS, Sophia Al-Maria, Hal Fischer, and Sean Steadman, on view at Nicoletti will be an exhibition exploring the relationship between colonial history and ecology through the work of artists including Ali Cherri, Karrabing Film Collective and Patricia Dominguez, and presented at Soft Opening will be an exhibition of otherworldly porcelain sculptures by Japanese-Nigerian artist Narumi Nekpenekpen.

Performance programme
London Gallery Weekend is pleased to announce the expansion of the collaboration with public art commissioners UP Projects to facilitate a programme of artist performance commissions which will be delivered across the weekend event. The performance programme is an unparalleled opportunity for members of the public to freely experience site-specific performance artworks by some of the most exciting artists working today. In 2022, Mandy El-Sayegh was co-commissioned to create The Minimum presented in three publicly accessible, open air sites across London including in central Shoreditch, Piccadilly, and outside Peckham Library. This year, galleries have been asked to submit proposals for artists who would benefit from the performance programme opportunity. Up to five artists will be selected by a panel of industry experts including Zoé Whitley (Director, Chisenhale), Bengi Ünsal (Director, Institute of Contemporary Arts), Jo Baxendale (Senior Policy Officer - Visual Arts and Public Realm, Greater London Authority), Rose Lejeune (Founding Director, Performance Exchange), Nephertiti Oboshie (Artistic Director, Peckham Platform), Emma Underhill (Founding Director, UP Projects) and Moira Lascelles (Deputy Director, UP Projects). Each artist’s performance will be staged in the three LGW locations (Friday 2 June in Central London, Saturday 3 June in South London and Sunday 4 June in East London). Further details of the performance commissions will be announced in May.