'David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not Smaller & Further Away)' Opens at Lightroom Next Year

One of the world's most acclaimed and popular living artists will create the launch show for Lightroom --- an extraordinary four-storey-high space in Kings Cross equipped with the latest digital projection and audio technology. Opening on 25 January 2023, Lightroom will be London's new home for spectacular artist-led shows.

Hockney will use the innovative venue to take the audience on a personal journey through his art, featuring iconic paintings alongside some rarely seen pieces and some newly created work. His life-long fascination with the possibilities of new media is given vibrant expression in a show that invites visitors to see the world through his eyes.

Tickets are on sale from today for the initial booking period from 25 January until 23 April 2023. Tickets are from £25 for adults and from £15 for students.

In a cycle of six themed chapters, with a specially composed score by Nico Muhly and a commentary by the artist himself, Hockney reveals his process to us. His voice is in our ears as we watch him experimenting with perspective, using photography as a way of 'drawing with a camera', capturing the passing of time in his polaroid collages and the joy of spring on his iPad, and showing us why only paint can properly convey the hugeness of the Grand Canyon. We join him on his audio-visual Wagner Drive, roaring up into the San Gabriel Mountains, and into the opera house by means of animated re-creations of his stage designs.

From LA to Yorkshire, and up to the present day in Normandy, the show is an unprecedented opportunity to spend time in the presence of one of the great popular geniuses of the art world still innovating, still creating beauty and awe.

"The world is very very beautiful if you look at it, but most people don't look very much. They scan the ground in front of them so they can walk, they don't really look at things incredibly well, with an intensity. I do."

David Hockney, from the soundtrack of 'Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away)'

The show is the result of three years' close collaboration between David Hockney and the creators of Lightroom. It will be the first in a repertoire of original shows, made with leading artists and innovators, aspiring to be visually astonishing, alive with sound and rich in new perspectives.

The show's director, Mark Grimmer of 59 Productions: "We have worked with David to bring together large-scale projected images, animation, archival and bespoke interviews and a commissioned score to create a new kind of show which owes as much to Hockney's theatrical design as to his painting, drawing and photography. It's been thrilling to work with David over the last three years and we hope the show will introduce a whole new audience to his art."

Nicholas Hytner, executive producer: "What's so exciting about this show is how authentically Hockney it is. Listening to his voice in this astonishing new space while seeing his artworks unfurl around the four walls is going to be both an experience and an education. It suggests how potent this medium will be for the other creators and artists with whom we will make new and original Lightroom shows in the years to come."

Lightroom is a joint venture between 59 Productions and London Theatre Company, backed by a senior group of investors led by Sir Leonard Blavatnik who is represented by Danny Cohen, President of Access Entertainment; and Michael Sherwood, former co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International. Its CEO is Richard Slaney formerly of 59 Productions and its executive chair is Nick Starr, co-founder with Nicholas Hytner of London Theatre Company.

Danny Cohen, Access Entertainment: "Lightroom is a new home for the world's great artistic innovators. It's an opportunity for them to think and create in new and spatially ambitious ways using the latest digital technology. David Hockney's new show will delight and amaze audiences - we can't wait to open the doors to Lightroom in January 2023."

Richard Slaney, Lightroom's CEO: "We're inviting the world's leading creative minds to collaborate with us to use Lightroom's epic scale, cutting-edge projection and revolutionary sound technology to create something completely new."

Lightroom is located in King's Cross on Lewis Cubitt Square, adjacent to Coal Drops Yard and Central St Martin's. It was designed by Haworth Tompkins as a sister space to the award-winning Bridge Theatre in SE1. The generous foyer will contain a café/bar run in collaboration with St John, a gift shop and seating in the foyer and outside on the square. The venue will be open seven days a week throughout the day and on most evenings.

Notes for editors:

59 Productions is an award-winning design studio and production company based in London and New York. Our focus is on 'story driven design' - finding new ways of telling original stories through innovative design. The company's designers, writers, directors, architects, animators, visual artists, producers and technologists work together to produce artistic work in a range of disciplines. From architectural projection mapping to exhibition design; from VR experiences to events; from stage design to artistic installations, 59's team uses design to tell memorable stories.

London Theatre Company was founded by Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr and opened the award-winning Bridge Theatre -- London's first new commercial theatre of scale in fifty years -- five years ago in October 2017. LTC commissions and produces new plays and musicals alongside classic revivals. From March 2023, Nicholas Hytner's production of Guys and Dolls will open at the Bridge Theatre in its highly popular '360°' format in which Hytner's Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night's Dream were staged to great success.

Access Entertainment is owned by Sir Leonard Blavatnik and led by Danny Cohen. It invests globally in high-quality film, television, theatre and digital content. Amongst its current investments are a slate of seven feature films in production with stars including Florence Pugh, Joaquin Phoenix and Ralph Fiennes; international television series; ownership of the Theatre Royal Haymarket and investments in plays and musicals on Broadway and the West End; and investments in a range of digital businesses across the new creator economy, mobile games and digital art.

Haworth Tompkins is a Stirling Prize-winning architectural studio with an international reputation for re-imagining the nature of public cultural spaces. Previous work includes the Bridge Theatre, the Liverpool Everyman, the Young Vic, the Royal Court, Battersea Arts Centre, NT Future and the Bristol Old Vic. Named AJ100 UK Practice of the Year in 2020 and 2022, the studio is working on new cultural projects in the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia. Director Roger Watts has led the Lightroom design team.

About King's Cross

King's Cross is London's creative neighbourhood: 67 acres of inspiring businesses, outstanding architecture, destination retail and dining, and a vibrant cultural scene. The area's industrial past has inspired the 50 new and repurposed buildings, including the iconic Gasholders London and the Granary Building. The estate also has 27 acres of public space, a mix of parks, streets, squares, and gardens, with Granary Square and its iconic fountains as a heart. When complete, King's Cross will have over 1,700 homes, a mix of private, rental and affordable housing, plus accommodation for 750 students. More than 18,000 people now work in the neighbourhood. King's Cross is home to leading international and UK companies including Google, Facebook, Sony Music, Nike, Havas, The Office Group, Autotrader and Universal Music. Already known as a foodie hotspot, King's Cross is now an established retail destination with Coal Drops Yard offering 100,000 sq ft of shops, bars and restaurants within a pair of reimagined Victorian coal buildings. The King's Cross Estate is owned by the King's Cross Central Limited Partnership (KCCLP), made up of pension fund AustralianSuper, clients of the international business of Federated Hermes and Argent investors. AustralianSuper owns a 70% stake in KCCLP. AustralianSuper manages more than AUD$233 billion of members' retirement savings on behalf of more than 2.4 million members from around 360,000 businesses. One in 10 working Australians is a member of AustralianSuper, the nation's largest and best performing pension fund over the long term.

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