Two years ago a cheeky front man playing a set on a makeshift stage in a garage wedged between the Vilma Gold Gallery (as was then - now its changed hands as the Nettie Horn) and the Vine Space quipped that ‘Vyner Street is the new Rivington Street’ (the latter being the centre of the trendy East London art scene at the time). Though perhaps more pathetic than prophetic the statement held to be more than true: Bewildered art scene regulars stumbled from the newly opened huge Antony Wilkinson space bemoaning that the street had gone to the dogs just last winter upon its Champagne fuelled opening - ‘there’s just too many people’. True, half of the European cultural intelligentsia had decided to descend at once on street which had coincided the opening of around 15 galleries, as part of Time Out’s ‘First Thursday’ campaign. It was in equal measures exciting, infuriating (come on, no one wants to see that high concentration of beautiful trendy people in one place, even when you are one of them!).
Things have calmed down now, the scene migrating and becoming more gritty, more political, but the first Thursday of every month (and some other opening nights besides) still provides a great opportunity to meet people and to drink free beer. The crowd is self assured, sometimes cock-sure even, sure - but popularity is often a mark of success and confident people tend to choose wisely, so if you can’t beat them, join them !