London beyond the mega-gallery crisis

Maria Adelaide Marchesoni, Il Sole 24 Ore, June 8, 2026

The sixth edition of the London Gallery Weekend (5 to 7 June), with over 120 participating galleries, had to reckon with news on the eve of the event that cast a different light on the health of the system.

 

Pace, one of the most powerful galleries with eight venues worldwide, announced a drastic reduction in its structure, cutting around 50 artists from the roster and 50 employees, in what CEO Marc Glimcher called "a necessary return to a more sustainable model". The decision has a symbolic value that goes far beyond the specific case. For more than a decade, the model of international mega-galleries, particularly American ones, - built on geographical expansion, monumental venues and an increasing concentration of artists and services - has been the horizon to which the global market has looked.

 

Today, however, even one of its protagonists recognises the limitations of that strategy. It is in this context that the sixth edition of London Gallery Weekend opens, an event that offers a significant snapshot of the state of contemporary art in the British capital. If the exhibitions testify to the vitality of the London scene, the Pace case reminds us that the market is going through a phase of profound transformation, characterised by an increased focus on economic sustainability, more selective collectors and new international balances. To interpret this affair as yet another proof of London's decline would, however, be reductive. The reality appears more complex.

 

Thaddeus Ropac, among the guests of the panel discussion: "How is London's contemporary commercial gallery scene thriving in times of flux?" recalled that "over the last ten years the city has had to deal with a long sequence of negative news, from Brexit to the market slowdown and rising operating costs that have put pressure on many in the sector. Yet London continues to be one of the world's leading hubs for contemporary art. It is the city that concentrates living artists, has some of the best art schools and can count on a cultural ecosystem that is difficult to replicate'. In the London space, the Parisian gallerist exhibited paintings by Oliver Beer and a site-specific exhibition by Mandy El-Sayegh.

 

While Paris has become considerably stronger, attracting new international galleries, collectors and institutions, London has not lost its centrality. Today, the two cities increasingly appear as the main European poles for the production, circulation and presentation of contemporary art. Indeed, London retains a significant advantage thanks to its cultural infrastructure, the presence of internationally important museums, the density of professionals in the sector and its ability to attract new projects, despite the difficulties of recent years. It is precisely this tension between the fragility and the resilience of the system that emerged strongly from the London Gallery Weekend: on the one hand a market that is downsizing some of the expansive ambitions that characterised the last cycle; on the other hand a city that continues to be one of the fundamental places where contemporary art is produced, exhibited and discussed.

 

Even according to Pilar Corrias, founder of the eponymous London gallery, the tale of a London in decline does not convey the complexity of the present moment. While acknowledging the growing competition from Paris, Hong Kong, and the new marketplaces of the Middle East, now put in the balance by the war, Corrias points out that the British capital continues to possess characteristics that are difficult to replicate elsewhere. "London is not only a major market centre, the second largest in the world after the United States, with world-class institutions, galleries and art schools, but it is above all a city where people choose to live, work and create," observed the gallerist presenting the new works by Hayv Kahraman, a leading figure in contemporary figurative painting, whose painting practice interweaves experiences of migration and cultural identity with a reflection on the female body and representation (range between 20 and 200,000). For Corrias, one of the city's main strengths lies in its ability to attract international talent and to constantly renew itself. "London is a diverse, international and constantly evolving city. On the market front, the gallery owner sees signs of recovery after a complex phase for the sector with a return of confidence on the part of collectors. ForJo Stella-Sawicka, senior director of Goodman Gallery, which turns sixty this year, "London is a crucial market for the gallery and opening here in 2019 was a key step, because it allowed us to put our programme in the heart of Mayfair and St James's and bring the work of artists from El Anatsui to Shirin Neshat, to a global audience. It is a truly international city, where clients and colleagues come from all over the world several times a year, and where the local market remains very active, as evidenced by the success of our 'Ravelle Pillay' exhibition, almost entirely sold to British collectors and with a work acquired by the Government Art Collection" (prices from £15,000 to £50,000).

 

The route through the city also returned some of the trends that are characterising the international market. Several leading galleries chose to present projects built around legacies of established artists or works from important private collections in consignment, confirming the increasing focus on segments perceived as more solid in a complex market phase. At Gagosian "Air" is an exhibition that brought together the historical project never realised by Christo with rare early works that synthesise the conceptual foundations of the artist's artistic practice. At Hauser & Wirth, an exhibition dedicated to Francis Picabia anticipated some of the works that will be presented during Art Basel week, while in the other space a solo show byRoni Horn, built around numerous variations of the phrase "I'm paralyzed with hope" exhibited strictly in natural light. Nahmad Project exhibited works by Pablo Picasso andJoan Miró, showing how the market is returning to look with interest at the great masters of the 20th century and works with an established provenance. Alongside these proposals, the London Gallery Weekend offers space for the more experimental research of young galleries.

 

Several young galleries participated in the show, which varies in cost depending on the number of staff and ranges from £550 (staff of 1-3) to a maximum of £3,630 (+15). For the founders (Emma Hodgson and Thomas Graham) of Pale Horse (only show by Marijn van Kreij's with works starting from 2,000 up to 8,000 euro), the London Gallery Weekend is above all an opportunity for visibility and confrontation with the entire city ecosystem. Besides more affordable participation costs than a fair, the initiative has brought a significant increase in visitors, including many international curators. According to the gallery, the next step could be a greater ability to attract collectors from abroad, further strengthening the international profile of the event by becoming an even more valuable initiative, closer in some respects to the Berlin model.

 

Alice Amati and Ilenia Rossi are both at the helm of galleries founded in recent years in the British capital. At Ilenia Rossi's was on show 'Outline', the second solo exhibition of Emil Michael Klein, with paintings, a curtain and a monotype synthesising his practice around four essential elements - line, colour, surface and form - in a rigorous investigation of abstract painting (prices between £4,000 and £30,000). At Alice Amati's was 'Dusk', Rafal Topolewski's second solo exhibition (prices from EUR 5,000 - 14,000). The project, accompanied by a commissioned essay by writer and curator Saša Bogojev, continued the Polish artist's reflection on the limits of pictorial representation and the perceptual possibilities of the image. "For a young gallery the London Gallery Weekend is an amplifier of visibility," said Lyndon Talbot, founder of TINA new entry at LGW, "fostering lasting relationships with collectors and institutions. In an increasingly competitive environment, the event helps to reaffirm London's role as an international centre of contemporary art. The city's strength still lies in its extraordinary cultural density and its ability to bring together and dialogue with artists, musicians, writers, designers and diverse communities, generating a creative ecosystem that is difficult to replicate elsewhere'. On show are several silkscreens by Katie Shannon (£1,500 to £10,000), which will also be exhibited in Liste (Basel) in the coming weeks. At William Hine Gallery (active since 2024) Elena Njoabuzia Onwochei-Garcia (born 1996) presented a series of casein paintings on marble dedicated to the myth of Demeter and Persephone. Using an ancient technique, the artist intertwines themes of motherhood and vulnerability with a reflection on contemporary environmental crises. The exhibition was an immediate commercial success, with three works selling at the Government Art Collection since its opening day (prices ranged from £1,100 to £14,500).

 

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