London's best contemporary art galleries

Although the Tate Modern, the ICA and the Saatchi Museum all have the financial might to bring in top names and big crowds, London still boasts a wealth of alternative contemporary art museums well worth discovering.

Design Museum
This is Practicality Vs Art, all contained in a neat little riverside package. This slender collection offers a brief distraction from your Southbank stroll. When it opened in 1989, under the watchful eye of one Sir Terrance Conran, it was the world’s first museum to be entirely focused on 20th century design. Now that that has swallowed up the 21st century as well aspects like graphics, fashion, architecture, industry, manufacturing and interiors are also included. Anything goes with the exhibits: from global packaging to concepts in video gaming, from Manolo Blahnink shoe designs to Vogue photography. The museum is limited to two floors and the showcases are, therefore, constantly renewed. It’s also worth knowing that there’s a Conran restaurant, the Blue Print Café, on the premises. Get futuristic, get inspired and, while you’re at it, get a great view of the Thames and Tower Bridge.
+44 (0) 870 833 9955
www.designmuseum.org

2 Willow Road
This influential Hampstead homestead will suit fans of modern architecture. It was designed and lived in by Modernist architect, Ernö Goldfinger. If you’re thinking you’ve heard that surname before, you’re right: James Bond’s creator and fellow Hampstead resident, Ian Fleming, allegedly gave Bond’s nemesis the architect’s name when Fleming objected to him demolishing the previous cottages to make way for his modern terrace. Although Goldfinger’s private art collection still lives here and includes important works by Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and Henry Moore, it’s the building’s large, open interior that commands the most attention: the clever use of color; the obsessions with wood and concrete; and the spiral staircase designed by Anglo-Danish engineer, Ove Arup. Be warned, entry times are hourly and by tour only, plus facilities are very limited: restricted wheelchair access, no toilets, no refreshments and no parking.
+44 (0) 20 7435 6166
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-2willowroad

The Barbican Art Gallery and The Curve
Cutting edge art and design housed in possibly London’s most peculiar building. Constructed in the 1980s—and boy does it show—the Barbican Centre is a specifically-built cultural complex (Europe’s largest, apparently). And in terms of galleries it boasts two for the price of one; although one of them is actually free to enter. The Gallery, on the third floor of this labyrinthine monstrosity, heavily favors touring exhibits to keep things fresh (roughly seven shows a year). The rotation brings in elements of fine art, architecture, fashion and design but is particularly well known for photography. The second gallery, The Curve—so called because of its long bent shape—commissions new installations from contemporary artists. You could literally spend an entire day at The Barbican filling your boots with culture what with the concert hall, two theatres, a cinema, and a public library. There’s also the newly-refurbished (as of September 08) Searcy restaurant on site too.
+44 (0) 20 7638 4141
www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery


Bloomberg SPACE
An avant-garde space fueled by the world of business. It seems an odd pairing, especially when you think of all those ghastly works of art in skyscraper foyers dotted around the world. Better to have all the great art collected in one place, wouldn’t you agree? Well, Bloomberg, the kings of business TV, have taken the fiscal-meets-fine-art idea and transposed it into a deliberately innovative venue. This isn’t your average run-of-the-mill contemporary corporate art, this is large and intrepid. The ceilings are especially high and aid the artists in providing a larger and wholly differing sense of perspective. As well as intriguingly themed collectives—such as an exhibition about prison—there are commissioned installations by solo artists: for example, the bold wall paintings of Brit Paul Morrison and the neon explorations of Frenchman Bertrand Lavier. Plus, it’s only a 5-minute walk through the impressive Liverpool Street new business district to the delicious Turkish restaurant, Haz.
+44 (0) 20 7330 7959
www.bloombergspace.com

Kinetica
As the name suggests, this the UK's first, and possibly only, museum dedicated to kinetic, electronic and experimental art. If you like you art to be static, motionless and hung on the wall, this is not the place for you. Everything here exploits the world of movement; where shapes, rhythm, light, energy and sound combine in some sort of quirky science lab. Whilst it somehow conveys the very essence of the East End—fashionable, funky, leftfield, modern—it also quaintly juxtaposes the ‘ye olde’ feel of its Spitalfields Market setting. The installations utilize new media and audiovisual technology and the work is often created by up-and-coming artists. Recent highlights include suspended pens that draw light beams on the floor and a sonic exhibit called Soundwaves. Overall, half an hour spent warming your bones after trawling the vintage clothing stores in the chilly market all morning. Plus, it’s only a two-minute walk from the hearty St. John Bread & Wine eatery.
+44 (0) 20 7392 9674
www.kinetica-museum.org/new_site

Whitechapel Art Gallery
A must for 2009. Although Whitechapel is currently (as of October 2008) in the midst of major redevelopments it’s still worth a mention because if artists like Picasso, Kahlo, Pollock and Rothko have all had UK premiers there, you know it’s got to be great. Like The Barbican, Whitechapel is a one-stop shop for culture, boasting a whole host of events, talks, discussions, films, music and poetry, as well as art installations. If at all humanly possible, try waiting until the Spring of 2009 to visit because by then the £13 million expansion program will be in full operation and what was once the old library will then transform into three new galleries and a street-facing café. It seems the contemporary art scene feels most at home in the East End. The Barbican, Bloomberg SPACE, and Kinetica are all in East London and all less than 15 minutes walk from one another other. Indeed, you might want to have a crack at doing them all in one day.
+44 (0) 20 7522 7888
www.whitechapel.org