● London Gallery Weekend, the biggest gallery weekend in the world, will return for its fourth edition from Friday 31 May to Sunday 2 June 2024● In a new partnership for 2024, the Government Art Collection (GAC) will acquire one work on display during the weekend from a London gallery● The Art Fund Travel Bursary for Visiting Curators returns with support from Contemporary Visual Arts Network to facilitate trips for 20 curators from UK regional museums and galleries to visit and stay in London● The European Curator Bursary Fund has increased to support travel and accommodation for curators from up to six European institutions to visit London for the weekend● Nil Yalter and Adelaide Cioni are announced as the performance artists for the 2024 London Gallery Weekend performance programme in collaboration with UP Projects

London Gallery Weekend will return from Friday 31 May to Sunday 2 June 2024 for its fourth edition. A key moment in the international art world calendar, London Gallery Weekend showcases the strength of the London art scene and draws collectors and curators from around the UK and abroad, as well as the city’s art-loving public. With over 130 participating galleries confirmed – ranging from established galleries to emerging spaces and featuring 16 new participants – London Gallery Weekend demonstrates the vibrancy and variety of the London gallery scene. The 2024 edition will also feature the return of the popular public performance programme developed in collaboration with UP Projects, that will see free, artist-led performances taking place over the course of the three-day event. In a new partnership for 2024, the Government Art Collection (GAC) will acquire one work on display during the weekend from a London gallery. LGW is pleased to announce an expanded LGW European Curator Bursary scheme this year alongside the return of the Art Fund Travel Bursary for Visiting Curators delivered in partnership with Art Fund and with support from Contemporary Visual Arts Network.

Each of London Gallery Weekend’s three days focuses on one area: starting with Central London on Friday, followed by South London on Saturday and culminating on Sunday in the East End. The exhibitions will be complemented by a programme of workshops and kids events, guided tours, talks and special performances; all of which are totally free and accessible to all. Participating galleries will be open across the three days, closing at 5pm on Sunday. Jeremy Epstein & Sarah Rustin, co-directors of London Gallery Weekend:“Momentum continues to build year-on-year as we look towards London Gallery Weekend's fourth edition, with an expanded public offering, more than 15 new galleries participating, and a performance programme including the first London performance of the selected 2024 Venice Biennale Golden Lion Award-winning artist. Now an annual fixture in the art world calendar and drawing an increasingly international attendance, this unique city-wide experience serves as a gateway to the breadth and diversity of London's thriving contemporary art gallery landscape for the public and collectors alike. Underpinned by a range of initiatives that foster more meaningful connections and understanding across the commercial and institutional arts sectors at a time when collaborative support is critical, the vital partnerships we have forged are testament to LGW's aims.”

London Gallery Weekend partners with Government Art Collection In a new partnership for 2024, the Government Art Collection (GAC) will acquire one work on display during the weekend from a London gallery. The announcement of the acquisition of one work from across the London Gallery Weekend exhibition programme will be made at the LGW launch event on Friday 31 May, following consideration by the GAC curators and advisory committee members. The work will be acquired once its respective exhibition has ended.

Art Fund Partnership & London Gallery Weekend European Curator Bursary schemeAs part of the ongoing partnership with Art Fund, now in its third year, London Gallery Weekend will support trips for 20 curators from UK regional museums and galleries to visit and stay in London. The initiative continues to strengthen relationships between London galleries and colleagues in institutions further afield. The Art Fund collaboration also supports 27 Event Assistants with the Student Opportunities bursary. The assistants provide essential support in the delivery of the programme, as well as leading guided walking tours across the weekend.

Dedicated to supporting the development of better networks between the UK’s regional public institutions and London-based commercial galleries, in 2023 London Gallery Weekend and Art Fund collaborated to convene a focus group across museum and commercial gallery professionals. The discussion built on the outcomes of the first LGW x AF focus group in 2022 which resulted in the report, How To Support the Ecosystem: Building Networks Between Regional Museums and Galleries. The 2023 focus group established a unanimous need for a knowledge-sharing resource between professionals across public institutions and commercial galleries, specifically concerning contemporary art, in the form of a digital newsletter, a platform that London Gallery Week is seeking to realise in the future - with seed funding received from Art Fund.

Jenny Waldman, Director, Art Fund:“London Gallery Weekend offers an abundance of opportunities for museums, galleries and artists to meet and forge new connections. I’m so pleased Art Fund is able to continue our partnership for a third year – enabling us to support curators working in regional museums across the UK to attend the event in London, as well as providing great opportunities for students to gain invaluable experience and insight into the world of contemporary art.”

Separate from the Art Fund partnership, in 2023 London Gallery Weekend established a European Curator Bursary Fund for colleagues from international institutions. Increasing the fund for 2024, London Gallery Weekend will support travel and accommodation for curators from up to six European institutions to visit London for the weekend, inviting them to engage with the rich gallery and events programme during their stay.

Contemporary Visual Arts Network EnglandFor the first time, Contemporary Visual Arts Network England (CVAN) will partner with London Gallery Weekend in an advisory capacity for the fourth edition in 2024. CVAN will be working with LGW, alongside Art Fund, to deepen LGW’s engagement with the institutional sector through CVAN’s regional UK network. Both advising LGW on the initiatives concerning regional curators, and contributing to outreach for the Curator Bursary Fund, the partnership is developed to achieve a greater understanding of the specific and different regional needs of institutions across the UK. The activities resulting from this partnership will benefit from the fair and equitable approach that is ingrained in CVAN’s organisation.

Paula Orrell, National Director, Contemporary Visual Arts Network England (CVAN):“CVAN are delighted to partner with London Gallery Weekend. It is an excellent opportunity to support curators across England and engage with commercial galleries. We are working in a challenging climate. The bursaries are a great example of the support our colleagues need in regional galleries and museums. It is challenging for curators to build partnerships when networking is complex, and there are significant financial barriers. More access and open dialogue between the public sector and commercial sector is needed more than ever.”

In Central London, early highlights of the gallery programme include: mixed media assemblages made whilst on residency in India by John Baldessari at Sprüth Magers; a new series of acid-hued paintings by Harmony Korine drawn from his new film Aggro Dr1ft at Hauser & Wirth; a new series of paintings by Jacqueline de Jong in dialogue with a group of works from the 1960s at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery; a historic exhibition presenting Lynda Benglis’ sparkle knots and video works at Thomas Dane Gallery; new works bridging representation and abstraction by Raphaela Simon at Michael Werner Gallery; the UK debut of two films by Andrea Büttner at Hollybush Gardens; a survey exhibition of the late surrealist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun at Ben Hunter; intricate hand-assembled collages celebrating black women by Sharon Walters at HackelBury Fine Art; new photographic works by Dayanita Singh at Frith Street Gallery; a solo exhibition by American sculptor Hannah Levy at MASSIMODECARLO; an exhibition in support of Gasworks, showcasing artist editions from the organisation's last 30 years, on view in David Zwirner’s Upper Room; and the first UK solo show by Yi To presented at LGW newcomer Alice Amati.

London Gallery Weekend welcomes new participants from the new Bloomsbury Group of galleries, including: Brunette Coleman whose space will be dominated by an ambitious, site-specific cold room by Amsterdam-based artist Brianna Leatherbury; a. SQUIRE who will show new paintings of gay bathhouse scenes by Düsseldorf-based artist Ryan Huggins; and Hot Wheels Athens London, who will present new works by Danish artist Jesper List Thomsen. Also in Bloomsbury – in their space on Museum Street – Herald St will show photographs by artist Annette Kelm, and Union Pacific, newly relocated to the area, will present a series of new, large-scale paintings by Jin Han Lee.

Early highlights from galleries in South London include: a selection of new paintings by Georg Baselitz at White Cube’s Bermondsey space; an exhibition by Isabella Benshimol Toro that delves into ideas about identity, sexuality and domesticity at ZÉRUÌ; works on paper by Jade de Montserrat at Bosse & Baum; speculations over regenerative public space in the form of Can Altay’s exhibition at Arcade; new sculptures by Vincent Fecteau at greengrassi; and a group show of expressive, gestural paintings by Carole Gibbons, Roy Oxlade and Max Wade at Sid Motion Gallery.

In East London, highlights include: a presentation of choreographed photographs by Hannah Starkey at Maureen Paley; Dean Sameshima’s exhibition of photographs that consider the anonymity and loneliness pervading shared experiences in public spaces at Soft Opening; BLCKGEEZER’s exhibition examining ‘Black Nausea’ at new LGW participant ALMA PEARL; an exhibition of new and recent ceramic work by London-based artist Renee So at Kate MacGarry; and – in their LGW debut – the first UK solo show by American artist Violet Dennison at Ilenia.

London Gallery Weekend is pleased to continue the collaboration with public art commissioners UP Projects to present a series of artist performances which will be delivered across the weekend event. The performance programme is an opportunity for members of the public to freely experience performance artworks by some of the most exciting artists working today.

Focusing on artist-led programming in 2024, London Gallery Weekend is pleased to announce that the artists for 2024 are Nil Yalter and Adelaide Cioni. Nil Yalter is the 2024 recipient of the 60th Venice Biennale's Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement. Yalter’s work references the Anatolian people’s wisdom and knowledge through popular folk poetry and troubadour – or asik – music, as a source of resistance and hope. To facilitate her performance the artist will bring together multigenerational collaborators from Turkish and Kurdish speaking communities in London. Developed with curator Övül Ö. Durmusoglu, this will be Yalter’s first performance in London. Cioni’s work, Touch song, is a performance about relationships, curiosity, and desire. Cioni says, “most of all it is about the awkwardness of being bodies in the world, having to do with other bodies that carry themselves around the same planet, sometimes the same room”. A mini retrospective of Nil Yalter’s oeuvre, featuring new work, will be on view at Ab-Anbar, titled The Story Behind Each Word Must Be Told and Cioni’s performance will be contextualised by a show at The Approach titled True Form. Further details on each performance will be announced in May.

The 2024 performance programme is further supported with advisory input from independent curator Rose Lejeune. The selection panel is composed of industry experts including Fatoş Üstek, Independent Curator; Sepake Angiama, Director, Iniva; Priyesh Mistry, Associate Curator of Modern & Contemporary Projects, The National Gallery; Deborah Smith, Former Director, Arts Council Collection & Independent Curator; Florence Peake, Artist; Moira Lascelles, Executive Director, UP Projects; Emma Underhill, Founder & Artistic Director, UP Projects; and Rose Lejeune, Independent Curator.

Moira Lascelles, Executive Director, UP Projects:“We are delighted to partner once again with London Gallery Weekend on the performance programme - bringing work by two highly experienced performance artists, Nil Yalter and Adelaide Cioni to public spaces across London. This year, the programme will be more artist-led with Nil and Adelaide choosing their own locations, allowing the programme to be more site specific.”

Florence Peake, Artist:“It is such a privilege to get to see Nil Yalter's performance and community participation presented in London. I am really touched she will be bringing over 60 years of practice here and will form much more of an engaged project before and beyond London Gallery Weekend. I am excited to see Adelaide Cioni bring her striking costumes; a visual spectacle that questions touch and intimacy, participation and how that meets site, audience and public space. These two artists have such weight and intelligence inside their performance work. It's an honour that they will be sharing their work with us here in London.”

Curated Routes Returning for its third year, the Curated Routes initiative will offer LGW visitors personalised guides to the gallery programme, devised by notable Londoners and cultural figures. The routes will appear online and as in-person Live Curated Routes led by a dedicated team of Event Assistants employed by London Gallery Weekend, via Art Fund’s Student Opportunities Bursary. For this edition in 2024, London Gallery Weekend is pleased to present routes designed by figures including photographer Nick Knight, choreographer Wayne McGregor, and artist Flora Yukhnovich. More information will be available on the LGW website ahead of the launch in late May.