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Haunch moves to roomier gallery
Louise Jury11.03.09
A commercial art gallery is moving into one of the biggest vacant museum spaces in central London.
Haunch of Venison has taken a three-year lease on what was for 30 years the British Museum's ethnographical departments - the Museum of Mankind in Burlington Gardens.
When the departments returned to Bloomsbury, the Royal Academy, which is adjacent, needed a new tenant for the 21,500sq ft space. Haunch of Venison will open its first exhibition, Mythologies, in its new space tomorrow as its gallery near Oxford Street begins an 18-month refurbishment.
The gallery will run two spaces simultaneously for the second half of its tenancy but co-founder Harry Blain said of the new gallery: "It's just the most spectacular space an almost unheard-of opportunity."
Mythologies, which runs until 25 April, will show about 40 artists including Damien Hirst, Bill Viola and Tony Cragg.
