Somerset House: London’s best kept secret? | Real Time Headlines

Somerset House has been an important part of the London landscape for centuries, with its architectural grandeur and prominent location close to the River Thames and the Covent Garden area.

But its leaders say its current role as a center for arts and culture is not fully understood, with some even describing it as “London and the UK’s best kept secret”.

While its grounds are famous as a striking venue for an ice skating rink in the winter and movie screenings in the summer, little is known about the hundreds of artists and creatives who work within its walls.

As the 25th anniversary of its latest incarnation approaches, the organization hopes to increase its visibility – with a host of exhibitions and events planned through 2025 designed to showcase its artistic achievements.

Jonathan Reekie, director of Somerset House Trust, said: “There is never a moment when Somerset House is in all its glory. And, in some ways, next year is a belated one. time.

Somerset House has undergone many transformations. Queen Elizabeth I lived here in the 16th century, and it served as the headquarters of the navy, the seat of the Royal Academy of Arts and the newspaper tax office until it was completely rebuilt in 1801.

“In the 1770s, 1780s,[King]George III needed an ‘office building’ for his newly formed civil service. So, that’s what he built,” Reekie told CNBC.

Four large wings surround a large cobbled courtyard (plus the “new” wing added on the 19th floor)^th century), this striking Renaissance building has housed various offices for the British government’s tax and excise authorities for over 150 years, and more recently the courtyard was even covered in asphalt and used as a car park.

The foundation gained charitable status in 1997 after a long campaign led by author and newspaper editor Simon Jenkins and philanthropist Lord Rothschild. “When Somerset House… opened to the public in May 2000, the building was still mostly occupied by civil servants,” Recchi said.

“My predecessor basically had to negotiate with every department of government to get rid of them,” he said. The tax authority, now known as HM Revenue and Customs, finally closed the Somerset House office in 2011.

Gail Rebuck, chair of the Somerset House Trust, told the September event that its current role was “a self-sufficient home for cultural innovators”. But aspects of it aren’t always well understood, she said. Rybak said people had “tremendous concerns expressed” when the fire broke out in August, but “it’s hard for people to describe Somerset House,” she said of the news coverage at the time. “In a way, it’s our fault and something we want to correct… We are a very special creative cluster,” Ryback said.

She said: “It’s also London and the UK’s best-kept secret… It’s really important that the three million visitors who walk through our doors really understand what’s going on inside.” Somerset House is the most visited house in the UK in 2023 The tenth most visited attraction, with 2.7 million visits according to statistics major tourist attractions association.

Rybak refers to a network of rooms and areas that are home to multiple artists and creatives who work in buildings, offices, shared offices and studios.

When Reekie joined the organization in 2014, he was asked what Somerset House should “be”. “Part of the question about how it works as a cultural space is: What can you do with a large number of rooms?” he said.

Reekie’s first job was to transform a long corridor in a government office into the rooms the artists (now making up the Somerset House Studio) wanted and raise funds from scratch. Artists’ rent is subsidized by events at Somerset House: most of its income is – £21.2 million ($27.5 million) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023 – from its own events, such as the ice rink and in-house curated art exhibitions, as well as leasing space to other organizations, such as the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair.

There are now around 60-70 artists, teams or collectives working at Somerset House Studios, overseen by director Marie McPartlin.

In 2016, the first resident of the studio was British fashion designer Gareth Pugh, the second was composer Anna Meredith, and there are many others working in the visual arts. “Most of them are working in socially engaged roles … or involved in emerging, evolving advanced technologies,” McPartlin said. Artists are encouraged to collaborate – one big name was denied access to the studio for fear they wouldn’t be on site long enough.

“Community is the most important thing,” McPartlin said. “Most artists were not represented by galleries – it was a precarious existence… Soon we realized that Somerset House could provide long-term support.” Artist residencies last from one to seven years, with some The residency lasted ten years.

In 2025, McPartlin will curate Spell or Dream, a sculpture by studio resident and Turner Prize-winning artist Tai Shani, which will sit in the center of the courtyard in August and September. Inspired by the image of Sleeping Beauty, it will reflect “urgent contemporary issues of our time,” according to a press release.

McPartlin will also curate an artwork by resident artists Lydia Ourahmane and Sophia Al Maria that will explore “retention,” according to a press release. “The Right to Come Down” concept, while BAFTA-nominated filmmaker and artist-in-residence Akinola Davies Jr will showcase images of black British life in the courtyard. “Daily Ritual”

Other highlights in 2025 will include “Salt Cosmology,” an installation mapping India’s interior customs lines that tells the extraordinary story of the 2,500-mile-long hedgerow set up by the British East India Company in the late 19th century to enforce the salt tax. century. An immersive exhibition by choreographer Wayne McGregor titled ‘Infinite Bodies’ will be the climax of Somerset House’s 25th anniversary celebrations.

Nearby the studio is Makerversity, a community of about 300 designers and makers who share a woodworking studio, photography studio and other “maker” spaces near the base of Waterloo Bridge, in Sa. The westernmost boundary of Mercet House. There’s also The Exchange, a co-working space for creatives, and Black Business Residency, a program for black entrepreneurs.

“It seemed very important to have great artists in the heart of London… The idea was to make it completely interdisciplinary,” Recchi said.