Art Night: Previous Editions

ABOUT ART NIGHT 2019

Curated by: Helen Nisbet
In collaboration with: London Borough of Culture Waltham Forest

Art Night 2019 was curated by Helen Nisbet and took place in Walthamstow and King’s Cross on 22 June. The programme took place in partnership with the first ever London Borough of Culture, Waltham Forest and was based in and around Walthamstow’s busy market area.

Curated Programme

Curated by Helen Nisbet with Associate Curators Amy Budd and Laura McFarlane. The Curated Programme took inspiration from the pop group East 17’s 1993 song It’s Alright.

“Don’t you worry, cos it’s alright, don’t you worry, child of the night”

Consisting of 12 major new commissions, the Curated Programme was conceived in response to the physical context of Walthamstow and its most cared for and used spaces including the local working person’s club (the Trades Hall), the library, Sainsbury’s car park, the mall, the cinema, museum and of course the market itself. The programme paid particular attention to the communities who use these spaces working with Trades Hall members, local primary schools and Sixth Form Colleges. Artists were invited to consider how we might care for and support each other amidst times of political and cultural uncertainty.

A major new work at King’s Cross by artist Christine Sun Kim completed the commissions for 2019. Sun Kim worked with Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children to make a three-site work on the importance of sign language.

ART NIGHT OPEN

Presented alongside the Curated Programme Art Night Open programme, organised by Zarina Rossheart was an open call opportunity jury, alongside new Art Night Open Partner Projects shortlisted by the festival.

ABOUT ART NIGHT 2018

Curated by: Ralph Rugoff
In Collaboration with: Hayward Gallery

In 2018, Art Night headed south of the river for the first time. The 2018 trail took over the Thames riverbank between the South Bank and Battersea Power Station, via Vauxhall and Nine Elms, taking place in iconic and off-the-beaten-track venues. The Curated Programme included projects by 12 internationally renowned artists to coincide with the Hayward Gallery’s 50th anniversary.

Curated Programme

Hayward Gallery Director Ralph Rugoff and the curatorial team took their cue from the immediate context of the local area. The programme asked questions about the emotional and political associations of ‘home’, including residency, refuge and security, even looking to the quest to create habitats on other planets. The 2018 edition of Art Night also explored the rich history of gardening and urban produce in the area between the South Bank and Battersea Power Station, which continues to supply vegetables, fruit and flowers to the whole of London through New Covent Garden Market, and contains the oldest continually cultivated gardens in the city.

Art Night Open

Presented alongside the Curated Programme the Art Night Open programme, organised by Zarina Rossheart, offered local galleries, organisations, independent artists and curators the opportunity to take part in the festival responding to the 2018 curatorial themes and cultural trail. More than 50 cultural institutions and local venues were included in 2018’s Art Night Open programme, with independent initiatives, curators and artists activating the 2018 trail with contemporary art.

Outreach and Participation

Organised by Margaux Portron, Art Night’s Outreach and Participation programme aimed to actively engage with harder-to-reach groups of all ages, and to provide students and adults with volunteering opportunities. The year-long programme resulted in projects which were Art Night, from a film school for young people to children’s workshops and engagement with local construction workers.

ABOUT ART NIGHT 2017

Curated by: Fatos Ustek
In collaboration with: Whitechapel Gallery

In 2017, Art Night focused on the East End in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery.

On July 1 2017, Art Night took place in East London, combining art, performance and music by some of our most respected contemporary artists. A collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery, curated by independent curator and writer Fatoş Üstek (now Director of the Liverpool Biennial), the festival is supported by international auction house Phillips, and received public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

CURATED PROGRAMME

Fatoş Üstek explored the theme of ‘Fusion of Horizons’, inviting visitors to engage in multifarious dialogues whilst bringing their own aspirations and dreams. She formulated the festival experience as a series of situations to be evocative of the horizons that lie ahead, through which we could see and understand the world around us. The festival looked to celebrate the multiplicity of the East End, with its diverse architectural, societal, psychological and linguistic profile.

ABOUT ART NIGHT 2016

Curated by: Kathy Noble
In Collaboration with: The ICA

Art Night’s inaugural festival transformed London for one summer night on 2 July 2016. The festival was originally inspired by Nuit Blanche, an all-night arts festival created in Paris, 2002.

The first edition took place in partnership with the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and was curated by Kathy Noble (now Chief Curator at Performa, New York), who presented ten artists’ works and new commissions in iconic and unusual locations across Westminster. Ten international artists’ projects, which included six new site-specific commissions, feature in a cross-disciplinary programme of art, architecture, dance, design and music.

CURATED PROGRAMME

Kathy Noble took the idea of festivals as a way of exploring the possibilities of this new project. Festivals have played a unique role historically as a site for artistic experimentation, outside the formal setting of the gallery or museum – ranging from the street theatre of the Renaissance; Bauhaus festivals in the early twentieth century that combined music, theatre, dance and design; and happenings in the 1960s and 70s. The first Art Night looked to build on this rich history of experimentation by combining unusual spaces with artistic experimentation.

The festival was generously supported by international auction house PHILLIPS.