A flurry of outdoor artwork and installations is set to explode onto the streets of west London this summer.
The Kensington & Chelsea Art Week will return on June 21 with art trails, theatre performances, neon creations, gallery events and insightful talks open to the public.
More than 150 venues have been drawn together to celebrate this year’s theme, ‘Reimagine.’
Director Vestalia Chilton said: “What really makes the festival unique and exciting is that it is very much driven by the local culture.
“We have a lot to celebrate, we feel like we’re serving our community.
“We’ve split the exhibitions into zones from locations where public transport is, so you can divide up the 11 days into eight zones and just go on foot and travel across.
“The effort is colossal to amplify all the activity across the board, especially after the pandemic.”
Originally launched in 2018, the art committee’s goal is to raise awareness of the cultural hotspot of established and unknown artists by painting a world of culture in the streets, parks and galleries in every corner of the borough.
This summer’s festivities include Baker and Borowski’s family-friendly Victorian pleasure garden on Warwick Road, a living plant installation running for two months from Netflix’s ‘Big Flower Fight’ contestant Yan Skates, and neon-lit quotes inspired by Chelsea icons, from Oscar Wilde to Vivian Westwood, designed by Lauren Baker forming part of an Art Trail around King’s Road.
The 11-day Art Week will take over vacant shop spaces on Kensington High Street, replacing their frontage with vibrant murals in a bid to surround residents and revellers in a colourful cosmos of culture.
Each year Kensington & Chelsea Art Week launches an open call inviting all artists, creative organisations and curators to present pre-existing artworks for the art trail.
The aim of the trail is to display works by artists at different stages of their careers from all parts of the country but mostly to invite local artists to contribute.
Miss Chilton added: “We do an open call in order to invite locally based talent to apply.
“Through this process, we give an opportunity for those artists that we don’t know, to come forward and say I live locally and I want to do something adds to the local culture.”
“We are looking for treasures across Kensington and Chelsea.”
The Art Trail will take up proud residence from June to September at some of London’s most iconic sites across eight zones of Kensington & Chelsea.
Chilton added: “These locations are specifically designed to invite people to see the trail and to discover that area.
“In Holland Park, we’ve got a regular spot in the Napoleon Garden, this year is going to be LR Vandy.
“She has created the Superhero Cog Woman and that’s the legacy of all the women that do invisible work as a cog in the wheel unit.
“By visiting the installation, people can go and have a look around, as well to see what else is on.”
The art zones include Holland Park, Sloane Square, Duke of York Square, King’s Road, Earl’s Court, Notting Hill Gate, North Kensington and the Chelsea Physic Garden.
To see the full art schedule on Kensington & Chelsea Art Week you can visit their website.
