London Gallery Weekend Art insiders share their favourite routes

By Emily Steer

Artists and cultural grandees including Lubaina Himid, Nick Knight, and Edward Enninful reveal their top picks for navigating the 130 galleries participating in the fourth edition of the world’s largest event of its kind

London Gallery Weekend kicks off on Friday and it’s bigger than ever before. Now in its fourth edition, it is already the largest initiative of its kind in the world and gathers 130 participating galleries across focused geographical zones: East, South, and Central London. To help steer visitors through a three-day program of openings and events that can at times feel overwhelming, London Gallery Weekend offers a rich selection of curated routes, laid out by some of the city’s leading creative minds, from artists Lubaina Himid and Flora Yukhnovich, to fashion photographer Nick Knight and Vogue’s Global Creative and Cultural Adviser, Edward Enninful. These are set out online and will also be delivered as in-person tours by event assistants.

‘Despite the challenges, London’s gallery sector has bucked the trend, and its landscape continues to grow,’ says Thaddaeus Ropac’s Sarah Rustin, who co-directs London Gallery Weekend with its founder, Edel Assanti’s Jeremy Epstein. ‘This year we have 16 new participants, of which nine are galleries that have opened since 2023.’ First-timers taking part this year include Alice Amati, Haricot Gallery, and Hot Wheels Athens London.

Curator and writer Ekow Eshun leads visitors from East to West, beginning at Victoria Miro, where paintings by brothers Geoffrey and Boscoe Holder, celebrated artists in pre-war Trinidad, are brought together for the first time. Eshun’s route takes in a show of work by Robert Rauschenberg, made during his 1980s cultural exchange with artists from countries including China, Mexico, and Cuba at Thaddaeus Ropac, as well as exhibitions by late British-Indian artist Gurminder Sikand at Maximillian William and Otobong Nkanga at Lisson, before finishing up at Hackelbury Fine Art for Sharon Walters, an artist that Eshun has long admired.

‘London is a tidal city, with the Thames ebbing and flowing each day through its center. The same is true of the city’s art industry,’ says writer and curator Charlie Porter. ‘At the turn of the millennium, it seemed like East London was becoming the epicenter of the city’s gallery activity – a frenetic energy which quickly died away. In its place, serious galleries have established which concentrate on the long-term, rather than short-term hype. To me, this is more rewarding for artist, visitor, and gallerist.’