Goodwood Art Foundation opens its doors

The hotly-anticipated new destination for world-class contemporary art in Sussex, Goodwood Art Foundation, has opened its doors to glowing reviews and critical acclaim from the 2000 guests who have already visited. Following a busy two days launching to press, dignitaries, guests and critics from the art world, the public were finally able to see what five years of hard work, transformation, planting, building and installing artworks has produced.

Sir Chris Bryant MP, Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sport was in attendance at the official launch, addressing crowds on the importance of bringing art out of urban areas and making it accessible to all, a key aim of the not-for-profit organisation. “Every single aspect of what I’ve seen today is utterly beautiful," he said, “I look forward to being able to come back to other exhibitions in the future and I really wanted to be here to say on behalf of everybody in the Government and in the country,  who I hope we’ll have an opportunity to come and visit, really well done, thank you very much and many, many congratulations."

Also present were a range ofmajor international artists, whose works are featuring in the Foundation’s opening season. Headline artist and first female winner of the prestigious Turner Price, Rachel Whiteread, who has four major sculptures on show along with previously unseen photography, said: “All the work has been located so that it has enough breathing space – and some of the pieces are really quite unexpected.” Lubna Chowdary (UK), whose ceramics adorn the walls of new licensed café, 24, Susan Philipsz (Scotland), Veronica Ryan (Montserrat), Amie Siegel (USA), and Rose Wylie (UK) turned out in force to ensure the opening had star appeal.

The weekend also saw the first Goodwood Art Foundation volunteers welcoming guests in the two gallery spaces and the incredible landscape. Director, Richard Grindy, said: “Volunteers are the lifeblood of not-for-profit arts organisations and we are hugely grateful to have such a lovely and knowledgeable group who are so generously giving up their time. Chichester is an area incredibly rich in the arts and we are delighted to be adding to it in such a bold manner.  We have been blown away by the overwhelmingly positive response to the Foundation from those who have visited so far and look forward to welcoming many more visitors in the coming months.”

More details about volunteering can be found HERE.

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Goodwood Art Foundation will open weekly from Thursday to Monday and visitors are advised to book in advance to secure a parking space during busy times. A ticket for the Foundation is required to visit 24. Annual memberships are available to purchase and day tickets are £15 each with accompanied under-18s free. For those arriving by bicycle or on foot there is a Green Traveller Concession ticket priced at just £10. A free shuttle bus runs between Chichester Train Station (from the south side car park) and the Foundation – more details are HERE.

Full information, memberships and tickets can be found at: www.goodwoodartfoundation.org  

Mian image by Stephen Hayward