Photographer’s Gallery reopens and it's a bit meh.

[editor]

It's veh shiny, but I miss the old cafe. Anyone been?

http://www.urban75.org/blog/photographers-gallery-london-reopens-and-its-a-bit-of-disappointment/

 

[FridgeMagnet]

£5.50 for a roll

 

[Mrs Magpie]

£5.50 for a roll

What sort of roll? It would have to be something special at that price.

 

[sim667]

Do they still have a bookshop?

 

[editor]

They do indeed have a bookshop in the basement, and you can see a picture of it in the article.

 

[sim667]

Ah good. The bookshop was always good there

 

[editor]

What sort of roll? It would have to be something special at that price.

It was nice but not £5.50 nice.

And the well pricey cakes are nowhere near as good as the home made ones that Billy's wife used to make.

I think the place is much the worse for its refurbishment although I'm sure it'll make loads more money.

 

[Dhimmi]

Good article, the place looks sterile and ghastly...

 

[editor]

Good article, the place looks sterile and ghastly...

It's a huge disappointment. It used to be one of the main reasons I'd go into town, but since the old cafe has gone and it's become all corporate, I can see I'm only going to go now if there's something new to see.

 

[Blagsta]

Is Billy not running the cafe anymore? They were really good to us when I put an event on there.

 

[Dhimmi]

It's a huge disappointment. It used to be one of the main reasons I'd go into town, but since the old cafe has gone and it's become all corporate, I can see I'm only going to go now if there's something new to see.

I'm experiencing this with a few museums as they reposition their brand and all that cobblers... last one was the IWM in April on my annual visit to the capital - it's become a horrid hybrid of playground for the sprogs of the bored middle class wife and photo opportunity for tourists. The staff look tired, bored and thoroughly disinterested, too many shops, not enough exhibits and "experiences", a Blitz one and a Trench one, tiny, piss-poor and not likely to develop any real interest in history in anyone.

So I share your pain, but with different venues.

 

[editor]

Is Billy not running the cafe anymore? They were really good to us when I put an event on there.

They booted him out after over fifteen years service.

http://www.urban75.org/blog/goodbye-photographers-gallery-london/

 

[Blagsta]

They booted him out after over fifteen years service.

http://www.urban75.org/blog/goodbye-photographers-gallery-london/

That's really shitty.

 

[editor]

That's really shitty.

Yep. He was well pissed off as were the staff, who were lovely.

 

[spliff]

. .. ...it was always too much cafe, not enough gallery

So says Adrian Searle, he also says Edward Burtynsky is 'so-so'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/may/17/photographers-gallery-london-review

 

[editor]

I went again last weekend. Really didn't enjoy it much.
http://www.urban75.org/blog/photographers-gallery-continues-to-disappoint-getty-gallery-enthrals/

 

[RoyReed]

I have to agree. I went a few weeks ago and it just seemed a bit characterless.

 

[UrbaneFox]

I liked the cakes when it was on Great Newport Street. Photographs less so. I went to hear Sebastiao Salgado talking there. He was an economist and went to investigate the viability of a gold mine somewhere down the Amazon. What he saw there changed his life.

 

[editor]

The cakes were made by Billy's wife (the guy who owned the cafe). They were indeed lovely and nowhere near as expensive as the less tasty ones sold in the new place.

 

[editor]

It was rubbish on Saturday. So packed it was pointless even trying to look at some of the work and all those stairs makes it a really disjointed experience.

http://www.urban75.org/blog/beach-s...hotographers-gallery-and-other-london-photos/

 

[sim667]

I've been a couple of times and always been a bit dissapointed.... The old one was much nicer.

 

[editor]

I've been a couple of times and always been a bit dissapointed.... The old one was much nicer.

They've pursued a policy of encouraging more and more people to come to the point where it's shit for everyone. It used to feel to me that most of the people who visited the gallery went there because they were really keen on photography, and although those people are still going, it seems it's now also become one of those places on the map that tourists must 'do.'

 

[blossie33]

I went to see the last exhibition, the photographs of Edward Steichen from the 20's and 30's which I really enjoyed.
On that afternoon, they were also showing a full length Wim Wenders film on the second (I think) floor about a Japanese fashion designer which was free to view with the cost of entry.

I've not been since the very recent refurb - will go and have a look at a less busy time!
I know what you mean about the old gallery though,

 

[Rushy]

So says Adrian Searle, he also says Edward Burtynsky is 'so-so'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/may/17/photographers-gallery-london-review

I used to eat in the cafe once or twice a week when I was working in Covent garden. Much as I liked it, I tend to agree it felt more like a cafe with exhibitions than vice versa. Haven't been to the new one.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I never went to the old one—I've seen some great exhibitions at the new one (really liked the Burroughs/Lynch/Warhol one last year for instance, though not the Warhol part) but it is definitely one of those layouts that gets irritatingly packed with just a few people in it. I wouldn't go there at any time that might be busy.

 

[blossie33]

They do have some good exhibitions but one reason I don't go that often is I generally avoid the Oxford Street area!

 

[editor]

They seem to have slipped in a £3 entry fee for almost everything there now. Not a lot of course, but it will put some folks off, and I reckon and takes it further away from the original concept.

 

[blossie33]

That's a shame