Pigeons, protests and plinths – that’s what Trafalgar Square is usually known for. But it’s also a heck of a party destination, having held plenty of sports screenings and day festivals (like the recent edition of West End Live). The square’s party rep is being revived later this month, this time in the name of art.
Jeremy Deller, Turner Prize winner and all-round art world icon, is throwing a massive, one-day street party in Trafalgar Square. Taking place on Saturday July 26, it’s called The Triumph of Art, and it’s shaping up to be a joyful, chaotic blowout of banners, brass bands, inflatables, puppets and public performance. No tickets. No barriers. Just turn up.
The event marks the end of the National Gallery’s 200th birthday celebrations and is the culmination of two years of projects across the UK. Deller has very much been part of those anniversary celebrations, being part of collaborations in Derry, Dundee, Plymouth and Llandudno. Each of those places staged its own art event earlier this year, and now it all comes together for one big finale in central London.
The party will start with a procession up Whitehall at 11am which will wind its way into Trafalgar Square, where things will keep going until 4pm. Expect music, performances, workshops, banners, costumes and, crucially, a giant puppet called Quingo Starlequinn. This towering creation was built by learning disability arts collective Do Your Own Thing, and there’ll be DJs performing from inside it throughout the day.
Deller has called the event ‘a big fête/bacchanal-type thing’ and says it’s about rethinking who makes art, what it looks like, and where it belongs. This isn’t a stuffy gallery show. It’s a noisy, funny, generous invitation to be part of something together.
Whether you come for the spectacle, the music, or just to say you saw a DJ puppet in Trafalgar Square, The Triumph of Art is a chance to loosen up and do something properly unexpected at a London landmark. You can find more details about what to expect here.
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