What is the Royal Academy? This question set me thinking as I wandered through the crowds that celebrated the opening of the RA’s new, greatly extended building. After all, there is nothing else quite like this institution anywhere else in the world.
It was a terrific party: a mêlée of artists, journalists, politicians and media types such as I have not seen since the inauguration of Tate Modern 18 years ago (with the unexpected addition of DJs and high-volume music). The whole gang was there, and rightly so. This is a significant addition to the amenities of London, including, among other things, two new suites of galleries at 6 Burlington Gardens, behind Burlington House. Amid the throng in the galleries where Tacita Dean’s exhibition Landscape currently hangs, I happened to bump into Nicholas Serota. As terse as ever, he delivered a two-word verdict that went straight to the point: ‘good spaces.’
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