Charles Saatchi will announce a small artistic coup today. One of the wealthiest collectors in Britain Saatchi has secured a partnership with contemporary art auctioneers Phillips de Pury and Company which will allow free admission even to special exhibitions and touring shows, for which almost all national museums charge. When his old gallery in the former County Hall in London closed two years ago, after bitter disputes with the Japanese landlords, adult admission was £8.50. His prediction is that visitor numbers at the new gallery will grow from 600,000 to more than 1 million a year. The opening exhibition next year will be of Chinese contemporary art, including Wang Guangyi's Materialist's Art (2006). "Our role will be to concentrate on very new art from around the world, and feature rotating exhibitions drawn from the collection and occasionally from other sources," Saatchi said. "We hope that free admission will enable many more state schools to organise school visits and bring in more students who can't always afford normal gallery charges. Free entry can only help spread the interest in contemporary art."
The new space, off the King's Road in south-west London, has been delayed again, with alterations to the top floor bringing the total display space in 15 large rooms to 70,000 square feet.
