AMLArt Map London, as it wasSurprise me

London's art scene ran on Thursdays at six

We counted everything in the archive: 4,201 events at 1,260 venues. It is about two thirds of what Art Map London published from 2017 to 2020, so treat the totals as a floor and the patterns as the point.

967 events started at 6pm on the dot

Nearly a quarter of everything. The day had two shifts: workshops and family sessions at ten and eleven, then a dead afternoon, then the doors opened and the wine came out. 1,456 events began between six and seven.

0500100015008am10amnoon2pm4pm6pm8pm10pm1,456
See the numbers
7am6
8am15
9am61
10am493
11am436
noon290
1pm143
2pm232
3pm177
4pm81
5pm132
6pm1,456
7pm535
8pm85
9pm10
10pm10

Thursday was the night

Count only what started at 5pm or later and Thursday has nearly twice as many as Friday. Of the 305 listings that called themselves a private view, 141 were on a Thursday and 174 started at exactly 6pm. Almost nobody opened on a Sunday.

0200400600800MonTueWedThuFriSatSun792
See the numbers
Mon127
Tue294
Wed362
Thu792
Fri446
Sat167
Sun42

June was the rush. August, everyone left.

A typical year built through spring to a June peak of degree shows and summer openings, emptied out in August, then came back for September and Frieze season in October. December and January were for staying in.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec166
See the numbers
Jan73
Feb84
Mar116
Apr119
May132
Jun166
Jul110
Aug67
Sep139
Oct144
Nov123
Dec59

Then, in April 2020, the listings stopped

March 2020 had 79 events. April had 34, May 12. What did get listed that year was often not in a room at all: 62 of the 2020 events were online. The busiest single day we ever had was Thursday 21 September 2017, with 21 things on.

050100150200Apr 2017201820192020First lockdown
See the numbers
Apr 2017104
May 2017129
Jun 2017173
Jul 2017112
Aug 201778
Sep 2017178
Oct 2017164
Nov 2017138
Dec 201779
Jan 201874
Feb 201891
Mar 2018128
Apr 2018134
May 2018126
Jun 2018151
Jul 201893
Aug 201867
Sep 2018135
Oct 2018119
Nov 2018111
Dec 201858
Jan 201972
Feb 201977
Mar 2019101
Apr 2019120
May 2019141
Jun 2019174
Jul 2019126
Aug 201956
Sep 2019103
Oct 2019148
Nov 2019119
Dec 201940
Jan 202044
Feb 202083
Mar 202079
Apr 202034
May 202012
Jun 202014
Jul 202025
Aug 202018
Sep 202040
Oct 202050
Nov 202046
Dec 202022

The centre of the London art world was in the Thames

Average the location of every event and you land in the river, just downstream of Waterloo Bridge. 58% of events were north of that point. Each dot is one event; the yellow one is the middle of it all.

SE1 had twice as much on as anywhere else

Bankside, Bermondsey and the South Bank had more on than Mayfair, Shoreditch or Bethnal Green. Croydon makes the top ten, which is mostly the work of Turf Projects.

  1. SE1379
  2. N1181
  3. E1166
  4. W1K144
  5. SW1Y118
  6. E2117
  7. NW1109
  8. E3109
  9. W2109
  10. CR0105

Get off at Old Street

Every listing came with the nearest tube and the walk from it. The typical walk was 8 minutes, and 31% were five or under. The record is Crossness Engines Trust, listed as 4 hours 46 minutes on foot from Becontree, because the nearest tube was on the other side of the river.

  1. Old Street284
  2. Bond Street162
  3. Charing Cross159
  4. Bethnal Green153
  5. Green Park149
  6. South Kensington124
  7. Oxford Circus118
  8. Lancaster Gate109
  9. Southwark108
  10. Bermondsey107

Galleries sent their listings in after lunch

The typical event reached us 17 days ahead. 92 arrived with less than 48 hours to go. Submissions peaked at 2pm, and 57 were sent between midnight and 5am by someone who should have been asleep.

0200400600midnight3am6am9amnoon3pm6pm9pm498
See the numbers
midnight13
1am23
2am11
3am5
4am5
5am5
6am18
7am48
8am95
9am203
10am373
11am435
noon453
1pm425
2pm498
3pm489
4pm369
5pm168
6pm107
7pm107
8pm108
9pm111
10pm94
11pm38

The press release dictionary

How many listings used each word. Artists had a practice far more often than they had wine, though wine still beat Brexit 3 to one. "Liminal" appears 18 times, which feels low.

  1. practice599
  2. explores336
  3. immersive172
  4. instagram148
  5. climate69
  6. wine66
  7. refreshments58
  8. site-specific51
  9. interdisciplinary48
  10. beer41
  11. prosecco29
  12. brexit22
  13. liminal18
  14. untitled17

Odds and ends

62%

of events were free to walk into.

779

venues appear exactly once. A lot of London's art happened somewhere for one night only.

25, VHS, WHAT

The shortest titles. 25 wins.

188 characters

The longest title, which is most of a press release.