Cultural shift as White Cube says farewell to Hoxton base

 
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5 October 2012

The White Cube gallery whose exhibitions of Brit Art stars from Damien Hirst to Tracey Emin led the transformation of Hoxton is to close at the end of the year, the Standard can reveal.

Jay Jopling will concentrate operations at his Mayfair gallery in Mason’s Yard and at the Bermondsey Street site opened nearly a year ago.

It has proved such a hit with visitors that it is busier than Hoxton and Mason’s Yard combined with more than 120,000 visitors to date.

A show opening next month by sardonic artist and writer Harland Miller entitled The Next Life’s On Me will be White Cube’s final exhibition in the East End. Doors will close for good on December 22.

Tim Marlow, White Cube’s director of exhibitions, said no decision had been taken on the future of the former industrial building in Hoxton Square, which was Mr Jopling’s second gallery — after a tiny space in Duke Street — when it opened in 2000.

Over the years it has hosted some of the most buzzing private view parties for artists including Antony Gormley, Gilbert and George and the Chapman brothers.

But Mr Marlow said the decision was “fairly obvious” once they had seen the critical, public and artists’ response to the larger spaces in Bermondsey.

“Hoxton has been wonderful. What Jay did at the beginning of the last decade was one of the dominant forces for the re-energisation and revamping of Hoxton,” he said.

“I hope that we leave Hoxton in a much greater creative state. But you can’t let an emotional tie to a place determine your thinking.”

Mr Marlow insisted the East End was still buzzing — even if Olympic development had meant the loss of many artist studios.

He added: “There is no city in the world greater than London in terms of its cultural life. We want to keep up that momentum.”

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