Lakeside Arts is to reopen on Saturday 17 October after closing its doors in March due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, the Djanogly Gallery will welcome visitors to enjoy an exhibition featuring works by Nottingham-born artist Mat Collishaw. The show is Mat’s first major solo exhibition in the city of his birth who since graduating from Goldsmith’s College in the late 1980s has established an international reputation.

Mat rose to prominence in the 1990s as one of the defining generation of Young British Artists alongside his contemporaries Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas. Often drawing on subjects from the history of art and photography, his works play with opposites, revealing the compelling power of imagery to attract and repel as well as to deceive us.

To ensure an enjoyable and safe experience for all, and in order to comply with the latest Government guidelines, Lakeside is limiting visits to one household per 30-minute timeslot. This means that audiences can pre-book safe in the knowledge that the gallery will be dedicated to them and others in their household – allowing visitors to enjoy their very own private tour of this fabulous exhibition.

The opening of the Djanogly Gallery is the first phase of a gradual reopening that will see the return of performances, workshops and other gallery and museum experiences across Lakeside’s multiple venues with a series of outdoor and online workshops for families delivered during October half-term.

Following this, the University of Nottingham Museum and the Weston Gallery will welcome back heritage loving visitors from the end of October. The Museum has twice won Museum of the Year in the Nottinghamshire Heritage Awards and features archaeological artefacts from Nottinghamshire and the wider East Midlands. The Weston Gallery reopens with a much-awaited display honouring Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday, celebrating the founder of modern nursing. This exhibition sheds new light on the Lady with the Lamp, exploring her family roots in Derbyshire, and her work after the Crimean War to improve sanitary conditions in homes. Again, online advanced booking for designated timeslots will be required.

The Pavilion Café is already open with a take-away service, as are the externally accessed public toilets. The Djanogly Theatre, Djanogly Recital Hall, Box Office and other facilities remain closed for now.

Lakeside Arts is planning on presenting a limited number of performances, with socially-distanced audiences, from mid-November. Further details will be released in due course.

For more information, visit the Lakeside Arts website.