Art Night London

On Saturday 7 July 2018 from 6.00pm to 6.00am, Art Night will transform the Thames riverbank with new commissions, one-off artist projects and premieres by 12 internationally renowned artists for London’s largest free contemporary arts festival.

With highlighted projects curated by the Hayward Gallery exhibitions team, Art Night will take place in iconic and off-the-beaten-track venues along a trail that runs from Southbank Centre, through Vauxhall and Nine Elms, and Battersea Power Station.

Art Night is generously supported by international auction house Phillips for the third year running.

Artworks will be sited across a dozen exceptional and historic sites along the trail, from cultural landmarks such as the Hayward Gallery and the Garden Museum, to more unusual spaces including New Covent Garden Market, the British Interplanetary Society, Embassy Gardens, and the iconic Battersea Power Station. A group of Art Night Guides, supported by Art Fund, will be on hand across the trail to guide visitors throughout the night, with a dedicated MBNA Thames Clippers boat running a bespoke route until 4am.

Hayward Gallery Director Ralph Rugoff and the curatorial team have taken their cue from the immediate context of the local area, to ask questions about the emotional and political associations of ‘home’, including residency, refuge and security; and even the quest to create habitats on other planets. This edition of Art Night also explores the rich history of gardening and urban produce in the area between the South Bank and Battersea Power Station, which once supplied vegetables, fruit and flowers to the whole of London and contains the oldest continually cultivated gardens in the city.

The 2018 programme comprises new commissions by artists including Turner Prize nominee Anthea Hamilton (b.1978, UK) who will respond to Battersea Power Station site with a new augmented reality experience presented concurrently with her recently unveiled Tate Britain 2018 Commission; Jeremy Deller (b. 1966, UK) presenting a new performance in a second collaboration with the Melodians Steel Orchestra; Tamara Henderson (b. 1982, Canada), inspired by the taxonomies of plants and their diverse geographies and climatic conditions, will respond to the New Covent Garden Market with a ‘Floral Ensemble’ musical performance; and a public procession and performance by Marinella Senatore (b. 1977, Italy) for thousands of people to take part in along the Art Night trail.