V&A reveals opening date for new art and design quarter

The Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum has announced the opening of its new Exhibition Road Quarter this June.

The quarter, which will comprise several galleries and public spaces, has been designed by architectural practice AL_A and is part of the V&A’s ongoing FuturePlan redevelopment and expansion project at its site in Kensington, west London.

Visitors will be able to enter the new quarter through the arches of the renovated Aston Webb screen, originally built in 1909 to hide the museum’s Victorian boilers.

New areas within the quarter will include The Sainsbury Gallery, a 1,000m2 column-free space used for temporary exhibitions; The Sackler Courtyard that is made entirely from porcelain; and The Blavatnik Hall, which will act as the museum’s new entrance.

Reveal festival

The V&A is holding a free, week-long festival for the public to coincide with the opening of the quarter, featuring art and design commissions, performances, family activities and collaborations with neighboring institutions in Kensington.

Based on the theme of “Reveal”, the festival will see a light-based installation by designer Simon Heijdens that makes use of the natural sunlight from The Sainsbury Gallery’s skylight. There will also be a series of pop-up performances, and workshops with artists and illustrators looking at the design of the new quarter.

Senior curator at the V&A, Catherine Ince, says: “It has been hugely exciting to see how a wide range of innovative and inspiring artists and practitioners have responded to the new architecture and our collections. We hope that the Reveal festival will invite the public to explore and experience the V&A’s collections, architecture, layers of history and our heritage in new and different ways.”

Exhibition Road Quarter will open to the public on 30 June. Reveal festival will run from 30 June – 7 July 2017. For more information, see the V&A site.