Art Night 2017: After dark art extravaganza will include meditation underneath Tower Bridge

A meditation class in the depths of Tower Bridge is just one of the events being staged for the capital’s second art night.

Artists including the Chapman Brothers, who are transforming an empty docklands warehouse with a new video installation, will turn the East End in an after hours art gallery.

After dark art lovers will be able to spend the night strolling the streets which will be filled with sculptures, video installations and performers.

The event, inspired by the Nuit Blanche movement in Paris, launched last year in central London transforming office blocks, flats, public spaces and Tube platforms.

Locations this year include the disused building on London Dock that will be home to the Chapman Brothers show and Exchange Square in Broadgate will be the scene for a mass public dance led by artist Melanie Manchot.

Other venues include a Grade II listed Masonic temple, inside the Andaz Hotel near Liverpool Street station, which will be transformed with a video installation by artist Lindsay Seers and the Bascule Chamber inside Tower Bridge which will host artist Ian Whittlesea who will lead his audience in a meditation session.

Iwona Blazwick, Director of Whitechapel Gallery which helped plan the event, said : “As an institution which prides itself as bringing great art to the people of East London for over a century, we are delighted to be working with Art Night, a festival which brings art and heritage to life for one special summer night. It is a project that enables us to engage even further with our diverse audiences and local heritage, and to offer artists the opportunity to create engaging works of art outside of the confines of the gallery walls. We are excited to invite everyone on a journey to rediscover the city out of hours and through art.”

Guides will be on hand at each site to answer questions and help audiences move through the city to the next event.

Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor of Culture and Creative Industries, said the event was “a fantastic way to experience the city after hours”.

She said: “Art Night will bring major international artists to London’s East End, opening up incredible spaces to the public, and see them create new work inspired by the history of the area and its changing identity.”