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Project: White Cube: Mason's Yard
Publication: Time Out
Date: 26th September 2006
Link: Timeout Website
by Sarah Kent
In the heart of the West End is a hidden courtyard; access to Mason‘s Yard is through a scruffy archway off Duke Street in St James‘s but, since there has been little to attract passers-by to a square dominated by an ugly electricity sub-station, you could easily have missed it altogether. This week changes all that; the sub-station has been torn down and in its place rises White Cube, Jay Jopling‘s latest venture.
A stone’s throw from the building in which he opened the first White Cube gallery in 1993, the new space marks his return to the West End. When Jopling moved to Hoxton Square six years ago, Victoria Miro and others followed, provoking a veritable stampede; some 120 galleries have since opened in the area.
Why, then, is Jopling returning to his old hunting ground? ‘It’s about being central,’ he says, ‘building a gallery that allows us to make exhibitions that are more accessible geographically, especially for people who are only in London for two days. The East End misses out on that so, from a business point of view, being in the West End will be beneficial. It also reinforces our commitment to London; we’ll be able to do four shows at once, since each gallery has two spaces, and they’ll probably attract different audiences – about 3,000 people come to our exhibitions!’
Publication: Time Out
Date: 26th September 2006
Link: Timeout Website
White Cube in the West End
by Sarah Kent
In the heart of the West End is a hidden courtyard; access to Mason‘s Yard is through a scruffy archway off Duke Street in St James‘s but, since there has been little to attract passers-by to a square dominated by an ugly electricity sub-station, you could easily have missed it altogether. This week changes all that; the sub-station has been torn down and in its place rises White Cube, Jay Jopling‘s latest venture.
A stone’s throw from the building in which he opened the first White Cube gallery in 1993, the new space marks his return to the West End. When Jopling moved to Hoxton Square six years ago, Victoria Miro and others followed, provoking a veritable stampede; some 120 galleries have since opened in the area.
Why, then, is Jopling returning to his old hunting ground? ‘It’s about being central,’ he says, ‘building a gallery that allows us to make exhibitions that are more accessible geographically, especially for people who are only in London for two days. The East End misses out on that so, from a business point of view, being in the West End will be beneficial. It also reinforces our commitment to London; we’ll be able to do four shows at once, since each gallery has two spaces, and they’ll probably attract different audiences – about 3,000 people come to our exhibitions!’
