- Date: 18 May 2012
- Region: London
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The Photographers’ Gallery at 16- 18 Ramillies Street. Credit: Kate Elliott, 2012
Arts Council National portfolio organisation The Photographers' Gallery opens its new home for international and British photography in the heart of London's Soho tomorrow, Saturday 19 May.
Designed by award-winning Irish architects O'Donnell + Tuomey, the new building has been made possible by a £8.9 million capital campaign supported by Arts Council Lottery funding as well as through trusts, foundations and corporate and individual donors.
The transformed building features a two storey extension that doubles the size of the Photographers' Gallery's previous exhibition space, enhancing their ability to showcase established and emerging photographic talent from the UK and around the world.
Also launching tomorrow are the new gallery's first exhibitions, featuring works by renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky and New Delhi based Raqs Media Collective.
The major solo exhibition of Edward Burtynsky's photographs will showcase over thirty large-scale images from his widely acclaimed series Burtynsky: OIL. Raqs Media Collective will display a silent, looped video projection titled An Afternoon Unregistered on the Richter Scale (2011) featuring a series of subtle alterations to an early 20th century photograph depicting a surveyors' room in colonial Calcutta.
The exhibitions will run until 1 July 2012.
The opening of the gallery also sees the relaunch of its education programme and an innovative digital programme which will respond to recent trends to raise questions concerning the changing status and circulation of photography in today's digital culture. As part of this, social media channels, mobile devices and the gallery's website will all be explored as alternative platforms for exhibitions.
Moira Sinclair, London Executive Director of Arts Council England, said: 'The Photographers' Gallery is nationally and internationally significant, presenting and developing the very best contemporary art and artists and playing its part in our city's reputation for great artistic experiences and visitor attractions.
'Our support for this project is an investment in the ambitions and aspirations of the gallery; giving it more space to share the work of exciting new and established photographers and putting education, literally, at the heart of the gallery's work. Like many, I'm really looking forward to the reopening of this fabulous institution.'
For more information and to view a full programme of events, visit the Photographers' Gallery website.
