Michelin-starred restaurant Sketch and Arts & Business Principal Member GSK are coming together in a meeting of minds with a pop-up patisserie and cafe inside the Royal Academy from the start of December, coinciding with the opening of GSK’s second annual Contemporary season.
GSK Contemporary: Art of a Changing World will feature international contemporary artists, both established and up and coming using a multiplicity of media including exhibitions, film screenings and talks concerning environment and the modern world. It mixes the political, the environmental and the cultural, creating a series of works set to inspire debate. In its first year East London’s Bistrotheque set up their pop-up restaurant in tune with the exhibition called Flash made from art storage boxes.
Sketch will also be following the ethos of GSK Contemporary by using seasonal ingredients produced solely in Britain and using recyclable materials such as recycled heavy duty cardboard for furniture. Despite the eco-friendly credentials expect this pop-up cafe to be the height of glamour and design. The Sketch restaurants themselves went over a multi-million pound makeover at the turn of the century, and have strong links to art and music. They hold exhibitions in their own gallery, the last being of Noam Gonick and his works on Queer culture and human rights abuses in August. Exhibitions change every six weeks and they engage with new media with the use of projectors in their space. Furthermore, the space will have input from Sketch’s Artistic Director Mark Lawson Bell who has also worked with Absolut Vodka, Hendrick’s Gin and Body Shop.
Of course with the gorgeous surroundings there will be sublime food. Imagine oyster bars and creperies, along with Michelin standard afternoon tea and lunch. The outside section – where you can order takeaways – should be comfortable with the cafe providing hot water bottles and blankets.
With this event we see the finest, most chic food mixing with innovative, radical art that pushes the boundaries. The pop-up restaurant opens on December 3rd and will be keeping the public enchanted and well fed for three months.
