Virginia Damtsa, our Director of Visual Art, grew up between the Pompidou and the Louvre, learning from a great uncle’s collection. She believes spaces built with grandeur demand minds both entrepreneurial and restless.
Art here is not decoration. It is provocation, transformation, conversation unfolding across walls and within minds.
An introduction
by Virginia Damtsa, Director of Visual Art
At Town Hall, art is not confined to exhibitions. It is a living force — transforming spaces, sparking dialogue, challenging perspectives, and uniting people across disciplines. I see it as the heartbeat of our cultural life. It shapes Town Hall as a forum where creativity, ideas, and community converge.
As Director of Visual Art, I curate four exhibitions each year. Each season introduces a new theme, bringing together emerging voices and established masters. From unseen discoveries to iconic names in contemporary art, every exhibition is designed as an encounter with creativity — fresh, thought-provoking, and alive.
My own journey has always been about pushing boundaries and opening doors. At Riflemaker Gallery in Soho, I staged groundbreaking exhibitions — from Yoko Ono’s performances to Judy Chicago’s pioneering feminist art — and collaborated with artists across disciplines: Peter Gabriel, Ai Weiwei, Olafur Eliasson, Cornelia Parker, Nick Cave, and more. These experiences shaped my conviction in the transformative power of art, a belief that guides me here at Town Hall.
What excites me most is not simply presenting art, but creating opportunities to engage with it. Exhibitions extend into previews, walk-throughs, talks, salons, workshops and performances — moments where audiences don’t just observe, but participate, debate, and share in its energy.
Town Hall is a place where art speaks to the present and invites us to imagine futures yet to be created.
Behind you, darling, by Barry Yusfusu
Cypsela by Richard Wathen
HER STORIES UNTOLD
Our inaugural exhibition, Her Stories Untold, honours the creative force of women in the arts. It is both a celebration and an exploration — a testament to the richness of female expression across generations.
The exhibition brings together artists whose work spans disciplines and perspectives. Jonathan Yeo’s portraits — from writer and activist Malala Yousafzai to artist Grayson Perry, actor and activist Lily Cole, and ballet dancer and former English National Ballet artistic director Tamara Rojo — capture resilience with striking immediacy. Wen Wu’s poetic canvases and Carolina Mazzolari’s embroidered landscapes reveal the intimate and the profound. Rebecca Fontaine-Wolf blurs the line between physical and digital, while Poppy de Havilland offers the lens of a new generation. Richard Wathen’s psychologically charged paintings add another dimension to the dialogue.
Yet Her Stories Untold is more than an exhibition. It is a conversation. Through salons, talks, and immersive experiences, we extend its themes to our audiences, connecting them to Town Halls wider cultural programme through music, philosophy, performance, and science. Here, stories are not only shared — they are challenged, reimagined, and carried forward.
I chose to begin our journey at Town Hall with these voices because they matter. They shape not only art, but the way we see the world. Her Stories Untold is the first step in a programme that will continue to ask questions, celebrate creativity, and bring people together through the power of art.
Colossus Reimagined by Poppy De Havilland
Girl Reading (Malala Yousafzai) by Jonathan Yeo
MEET THE ARTISTS
Our art programme begins in early 2026 with an invite only gathering that brings leading voices into conversation around Mirror Mirror, Michael Petry’s major publication from Thames & Hudson.
The book explores the fascination with reflective surfaces in contemporary art, from mirrors and polished metal to glass and digital screens, and how artists use reflection to probe identity, perception, and the encounter between viewer and work.
We will welcome Gavin Turk, Angela de la Cruz, Abigail Lane, Turner Prize winner Mark Titchner, and others as we open a bold new cultural chapter at Town Hall. Sign up below for updates to request an invitation.
Michael Petry’s book, Mirror Mirror published by Thames & Hudson
Rapunzel – Tangled no more by Wen Wu, one of the artists behind the deeply poetic work that features in the upcoming programme
