What Makes the Perfect Private View?
Ocula asked industry insiders for their opinion on what makes these events outlive the free wine.
After a busy workday, art world insiders are more likely to be found on a gallery crawl, hopping between private views, than at their local pub or happy hour. A British misnomer, private views are the opening night of an exhibition, but tend to be open to the public, touting free booze, a busy atmosphere, and, of course, the first opportunity to observe an artist’s latest oeuvre. New Yorkers will be more familiar with the straightforward term ‘opening’, whilst Parisians will be accustomed to the ‘vernissage’.
Whatever you may call it, conjuring the perfect private view is an alchemy all of its own. So where to start? For Cecily Bates, senior director of events at White Cube, ‘The artist always comes first.’
‘It’s the first moment that you’re unveiling that exhibition to the public and it’s also the first time that the artist is finally able to breathe and let go,’ Bates tells Ocula. ‘So there’s this huge amount of emotion that goes into it. It’s just about capturing that, or finding a way to celebrate that moment in the way that is most apt for that particular artwork or for that particular artist.’