Friday 5 June 2009

General Information
Main pay bar in North Duveens 18.00-21.30
Pay bar in Room 9 18.30-21.30
Refreshments available in the café 18.00-21.30
Restaurant Tasting Menu for 19.30 sitting £60 per head
Members Room open to all members 18.00-21.30
Main Shop Level 2 open until 21.40
Collection Displays open 18.00-21.40
Half-price entry to 'Richard Long Heaven and Earth'

Join us for an evening celebrating London's many histories - Tate's archive will be open all evening revealing the transformation of the gallery over the years, as well as providing a privileged view into some of London's famous artist groups. Be transported to Blake's 1801 Soho exhibition, recreated in the gallery and hear a talk by Chris Orr about The Life of W Blake, his series on display in the Prints and Drawings room. Explore black British film in London with director Horace Ové, followed by a screening of his seminal 1975 film Pressure, or simply relax with a drink accompanied by our genuine vintage gramophone DJs, The Shellac Sisters.

Tate's Archive
18.00-21.30

Explore the Library's collection of Artists Books and early images of London, including rare Blake images, Hogarth engravings and Dore illustrations. In the Archive Reading Room find documents detailing Tate's history and wartime experience, as well as work from London-based artists such as Freud, Bacon and the London Group. Look out for more archive images in the South Duveens. 

Walking Tour
18.30-19.30
20.00-21.00

These tours of Millbank will give a history of Tate's neighbourhood and seek to explain how the site evolved from a wasteland to Tate Britain. Find out how today's gallery was shaped by an imposing prison, a Victorian sugar baron, a military hospital and abandoned yet ambitious schemes. Led by Tate's Ross Burnett.

Tickets available from the Clore Information Desk on a first-come first-served basis from 18.00.Please meet at the Rotunda Information Desk 15 minutes before your tour

The Shellac Sisters
18.30 - 21.30
Room 9

The Shellac Sisters are four glamorous retro-chics who dress in all things vintage and play 78rpm records on 1920s wind-up gramophones. Hear the archived sounds of by-gone London in this not-to-be-missed audio archive extravaganza..

Black History in London on Film: Panel Discussion
18.30 - 19.30
Auditorium

The 1970s saw Britain's first black newsreader, the first black footballer for England, and the first publication of The Voice. It was also a time of civil unrest in London, with riots at Notting Hill carnival in 1976 and numerous clashes involving the National Front, contributing to the Brixton riots in 1981. 

London's shifting culture was documented in a number of films at this time. Director Horace Ové and film historian Professor Ian Christie will discuss the films that placed issues of racism and nationality squarely in the streets of London. Chaired by Colin Prescod

This panel discussion will be BSL interpreted

Tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis from the Clore Information Desk from 18.00

Pressure
19.40 - 21.40
Auditorium
UK / 1975 / colour / 120 mins

Screening of Horace Ove's 1975 film Pressure, widely acknowledged to be the first feature film drama to be made by a black film-maker in Britain. Courtesy of the BFI.

Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis from the Clore Information Desk from 18.00

Chris Orr on The Life of W Blake
Prints and Drawing Room
18.45 - 19.15

Hear Chris Orr talk about his responses to the life and works of William Blake, a source of inspiration and reflection, influencing his experimentation in printmaking. Defined as 'part homage and part artistic manifesto', Orr's series The Life of W Blake (1992) can be seen alongside his recent 'Blakeian' works in the Modern Prints and Drawings Room.

Tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis from the Clore Information Desk from 18.00

Poetry Through Mechanics: the Printmaking of Chris Orr, inspired by William Blake
Prints and Drawing Room
19.15 - 21.30

The modern Prints and Drawings room will be open from 19.15 to all to view the new display by Chris Orr who will be there. You will also have the opportunity to purchase a signed copy of Chris' book, The Multitude Diaries (2008).

The Big Smoke: Films from a Lost London 1896-1945
18.30 - 21.30
North Duveens

Experience London life in a bygone age, from the bustle of the Victorian commute to the ordeal of the Blitz, with this programme of silent films from the BFI National Archive - brought to dazzling life with a newly-commissioned score and featuring a selection of treasures from the Imperial War Museum and the London Archives projected in the imposing space of the Duveen galleries.