A new photography gallery is to open in the East End of London, the first overseas branch of Sweden’s Fotografiska, founded in Stockholm in 2010.
Fotografiska will take the entire ground-floor area of a new building in Whitechapel, close to the acclaimed Whitechapel Gallery, according to an announcement from the property investment company Derwent.
Apart from a brief statement from the centre’s Swedish co-founder and chairman, Tommy Rönngren, confirming the deal, no details have been released of the new gallery. The White Chapel Building, designed by Fletcher Priest architects, is due for completion in 2018.
The original Fotografiska was created in a restored 1906 customs building on the Stockholm waterfront, and has become an important centre for exhibitions of photography, with changing shows in four large galleries. Exhibitions have featured the work of Annie Leibowitz, Robert Mapplethorpe and Guy Bourdin. It also houses an award-winning restaurant.
The statement from Rönngren said: “Fotografiska has for a long time been searching for suitable facilities in London, one of the world’s most dynamic cities when it comes to photography. Whitechapel, which is one of London’s most dynamic areas, will be a perfect location.”
The centre is also said to be scouting for a site in New York.
