Whitechapel Gallery’s free late night contemporary art festival, Nocturnal Creatures, returns for its second year

20 July 2019
Whitechapel Gallery and local locations, Free Entry
In association with Sculpture in the City
#NocturnalCreatures

Artists include: Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom, Ruth Ewan, Navine G. Khan-Dossos, Graeme Miller, Elaine Mitchener, Laure Prouvost, Michael Rakowitz , Tabita Rezaire, Emma Smith  and Guillaume Vandame

Venues include: Whitechapel Gallery, Whitechapel Bell Foundry, The Golden Heart pub, The Andaz hotel, Toynbee Hall, and The White Chapel Building

22^nd May 2019 – New installations, artist performances, music, film and culinary experiences take over London’s East End for late-night festival Nocturnal Creatures, returning for one night only. Presenting site-specific contemporary art in unusual spaces rarely open to the public, the programme features artists including Turner Prize winner Laure Prouvost (b. 1978), and Fourth Plinth artist Michael Rakowitz (b.1973).

Further festival highlights include new works by Ruth Ewan (b. 1980) and Navine G. Khan-Dossos (b. 1982), as well as  a specially-commissioned multi-media installation with performance from Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom (b. 1984). Nocturnal Creatures presents the UK premier of works by Tabita Rezaire, critiquing negative representations of the black female body, alongside a performance from Elaine Mitchener in dialogue with work by Max Mara Art Prize for Women winner Helen Cammock (b. 1970), plus more to be announced.

Nocturnal Creatures offers unprecedented access to some of East London’s most unique spaces and heritage. Venues range from Victorian wash houses to the historic Grade II* listed Whitechapel Bell Foundry. This year incorporates several local pubs including the iconic Golden Heart – a favourite with artists in the area. Audiences are given rare access to the Grade II* listed Masonic temple situated within The Andaz hotel, which dates from 1912 and was only rediscovered during recent renovations on the building.  Further venues include newly-renovated and recently re-opened Toynbee Hall and The White Chapel Building.

In the Whitechapel Bell Foundry Emma Smith creates a performance and new composition referencing both the ancient practice of using bells to mark time and the call for last orders at a pub. In a durational piece ongoing throughout the evening from Laure Prouvost, an opera singer performs fragments of conversations overheard at The Golden Heart in a performance first presented at Frieze Art Fair in 2018. Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom will present new work in The White Chapel Building. Further programme details to be announced in June 2019.

Sculpture in the City will once again be the associate programme partner for the second edition of Nocturnal Creatures.  For this year’s edition, Sculpture in the City will host Guillaume Vandame’s Notice Me (LGBTQIA+ Walk) and Graeme Miller’s On Air (2012) both social sculptures, as well as a series of events led by Sculpture in the City artists.

Iwona Blazwick, former Whitechapel Gallery Director, said: “Discover today’s most exciting artists in a free late night festival that brings performance, installation and sculpture onto the streets and into hidden corners of the East End. Inspired by the momentous Art Night, we are delighted to bring Nocturnal Creatures back to London for its second year”

Nocturnal Creatures will feature a programme of talks and tours. Local galleries will also open their doors to late night visitors.

All events are free to attend and open to all.

Notes to Editors

More detail of the Nocturnal Creatures programme will be released throughout July

Associate Programme Partner
Sculpture in the City

Venue Sponsor
Derwent London

Media Partner
Time Out

Supporters
Arts Council England
Brick Lane Regeneration Partnership
The Aldgate Partnership

Whitechapel Gallery: For over a century the Whitechapel Gallery has premiered world class artists from modern masters such as Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Frida Kahlo to contemporaries such as Sophie Calle, Lucian Freud, Gilbert & George and Mark Wallinger. With beautiful galleries, exhibitions, artist commissions, collection displays, historic archives, education resources, inspiring art courses, dining room and bookshop, the Gallery is open all year round, so there is always something free to see. It is a touchstone for contemporary art internationally, plays a central role in London’s cultural landscape and is pivotal to the continued growth of the world’s most vibrant contemporary art quarter.

 Sculpture in the City: is a unique collaboration between the City of London Corporation (the elected body which looks after the Square Mile global business district), local businesses, and the art world, providing the opportunity for new audiences to engage with established and emerging contemporary artists. The initiative is delivered through a partnership between the City of London Corporation in partnership with Aon, Aviva, Beaumont, Bloomberg, British Land, Brookfield Properties, CC Land, Hiscox, London & Oriental, Nuveen Real Estate, Tenacity, Tower 42 and TwentyTwo. The artists taking part in the ninth edition of Sculpture in the City, launching 27^th June, will be revealed later this month. For more information please visit: sculptureinthecity.org.uk

About the White Chapel Building and Derwent London plc: Derwent London is known for its innovative approach to architecture and design. Abundant natural light, volume and high quality detail are found in every one of their projects.  We believe in a building directly responding to its place and we partner with the most talented architects and designers who share our passion. Equally, we believe in making spaces that are sustainable – both to their environments and users. We adopt this ethos and know we have succeeded when we see our tenants happy in their surroundings. Our portfolio is some 5.4 million square feet with a value of around £5.2 billion. In 2017 Derwent London completed its Phase 1 refurbishment of The White Chapel Building and, at the end of 2018, completed Phase 2 which has been pre-let to Fotografiska for their London Museum of Photography. This will be their first gallery outside Stockholm and will add another important cultural venue to the Whitechapel area.

About Whitechapel Bell Foundry: Raycliff, the owner of the former Bell Foundry buildings, is working with a heritage-led design team to deliver an exciting new and sustainable future for the site which celebrates and retains the architectural and historical significance of the Grade II* listed foundry building on the Whitechapel Road. Operating on this site since the 1740s, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry was responsible for the creation of some of the world’s most famous bells, including Big Ben and the original Liberty Bell. The Westley Group, based in Stoke on Trent, continues the manufacture of tower bells under licence and Bells Of Whitechapel Ltd continues the production and maintenance of musical handbells and small bells. The archives are being conserved at the London Metropolitan Archives to allow public access to the collection at the expense of Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd. Most of the skilled employees formerly employed at Whitechapel are re-employed within the industry. John Taylor & Company, based in Loughborough, continue to cast new tower bells. Visit www.thebellfoundry.co.uk for more information on Raycliff’s proposals.

Visitor Information

All exhibitions and displays at Whitechapel Gallery will be free and open until 11pm.

Whitechapel Gallery, 77 – 82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX

Nearest London Underground Stations: Aldgate East, Liverpool Street, Tower Gateway DLR

T + 44 (0) 20 7522 7888 | E info@whitechapelgallery.org | W whitechapelgallery.org

Press Information

For more information, interviews and images, contact:

Lucy Hawes, Senior Media Relations Manager

T +44 (0)20 7522 7871 | E lucyhawes@whitechapelgallery.org

Press Release - Nocturnal Creatures 2019