By Fiona Green
A new art event involving many galleries could bring evening exhibitions throughout the year to Fitzrovia. The event organisers are hoping to develop evening or night-time collaborative exhibitions similar to Paris’s Nuit Blanche and East London’s First Thursdays.
The project is in its early stages of development and is being led by Marq Smith of the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture at the University of Westminster. He hopes regular monthly, quarterly or annual events could take place.
At a meeting taking place tonight (Thursday 24 March) in the University of Westminster the organisers, artists, gallery owners and Fitzrovia residents will discuss how the event could take shape.
A name for the event has not yet been agreed but a working title of Fitzrovia Open is being used. “The Fitzrovia Open could be a monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, or annual event, and it could take a number of forms,” says Marq.
“Depending on frequency and scale, it could be the equivalent of the monthly First Thursdays in east London or the annual Nuit Blanche in Paris. Or something else altogether.
“It could involve, for instance, all the galleries in the neighbourhood extending their opening hours on a particular day once a month, or however often, or something more concentrated like an annual arts and culture festival,” says Marq.