Art Fortnight London 2005 promises to involve a little bit of everything in the art world. Their press release boasts that Art Fortnight is “a major event in the art-world timetable….[and] it has organised a comprehensive and sophisticated cultural programme for visitors to the capital, bringing museums, auction houses, and a range of public and private galleries together to form a powerful partnership.” This is already sounding like an event for collectors with a few more zeros in their bank account balance than the combined bank accounts of the Londonist staff.
The goal of Art Fortnight is to make London a more prominent destination for all international art collectors. Good news though, Art Fortnight London is a not-for-profit initiative that “is working to increase awareness of London as a capital of culture, and to raise further funds and support for London's museums and galleries.”
In the past Londonist has covered more affordable options, like the Affordable Art Fair, do not for one moment believe that Art Fortnight will be affordable. In the programme of events to attend one of the events will cost you approximately ₤40. To be fair though, there are some events that even we amateur art collectors can attend. There is an Art Photo Brunch for ₤10 at the Photographer’s Gallery in the first week, a Young Master’s Brunch for ₤15, and an Art and Interior Master Class for ₤20 which promises to instruct us on how to best incorporate art into the home. Did we mention that each of these classes lasts approximately only one and one half hours?
Now there are a few free events that you may find appealing, as well as some events where the non-Chanel suit wearing set may be welcome. On 30 June, Prince Charles Cinema is showing a collection of Art House films which sounds promising, and a talk with Grayson Perry (you know, the winner of the Turner Prize who wore a school girl dress to the awards ceremony) about what it is like to be an artist living and working in London (which will really only be as good as its attendees) – sadly Perry’s event has a price tag of ₤20 with no promise of cocktails.
We here at Londonist love nothing more than visiting galleries and seeing what the next generation of YBAs has to offer, or taking a visual snapshot of some classic works of art that with the right financial grounding could be hung in our home, but this entire event sounds a bit …. stuffy for our tastes. Perhaps we will make it over to the Cinema to see the Art House films but other than that we are going to avoid the flood of investors flooding the London gallery scene.
For more information and the full programme of events visit the Art Fortnight London website.
