Midsummer Picnics

General Public Agency is developing the London picnic day, a series of events held on or near to the longest day of the year (21 June). The picnics will be free, open, family events, and a celebration of the spirit of public gathering. They offer a chance to enjoy, claim and contribute to the public realm of our city.

The first pilot picnic was delivered with the Wellcome Trust in June 2009
working in partnership with local organisation West Euston Time Bank. The
artists Juneau Projects conceived and delivered the programme for the
picnic, and Lady Lucy was commissioned to design temporary tattoos.

A key principal of the picnics is of reciprocity between the 'host' institutions and the public. Activities will allow the public to engage with the expertise of the institution in a way that is not normally possible. The institution must both give and receive from the picnic.

The picnics project was conceived as a response to a number of specific concerns: the under use of many public spaces, the commercialisation of public activity (even when notionally 'free') and the relationship cultural institutions such as museums and galleries have with nearby public space and their immediate neighbours.