Originally published on Tuesday, 6th October 2009

Behind Closed Doors

There you go again, o filthy reader.

You catch the title and immediately it's head-in-the-gutter. Spy ring scandals; depraved acts of auto-asphyxiation involving a Dyson; that nameless music big-wig who (allegedly) flooded his London hotel suite under the drug-addled assumption that he was a beaver trying to build a dam.

Well, behave children. We're talking art here.

More than a mere haven of perversity and information-trading, closed doors also conceal a thousand creative types beavering away in secret. But no longer.

Officially launching next week, the new Museum of Everything's inaugural exhibition is out to focus on exactly this: "secret art". Selected by the likes of Jarvis Cocker and the Serpentine's Hans Ulrich Obrist, it promises to unveil some of the greatest artistic secrets and secret artists of the contemporary world.

If that tickles your fancy, then make time for The Shandy Show. With its secret collector, top artists (Sarah Lucas, Mark Titchner, etc.), and a more-than-mysterious method (all the works were purchased not with cash but skilled labour) it's set to be a bit of a revelation.

While over in Wandsworth, 200 artists are unveiling both their works and studios as part of the borough's Artists' Open House. Featuring small-scale artisans and lauded artists alike, this is a rare chance to find out what those creative types really do get up to behind closed doors (just don't touch the Dyson: God knows where it's been).

INFO/LINKS
Museum of Everything
Corner of Regents Park Road & Sharpleshall St, NW1
10am-6pm daily

The Shandy Show
Arts Gallery, 65 Davies St, W1K 5DA
Oct 9-Dec 7, Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 11am-4pm

Wandsworth Artists' Open House 2009
runs Oct 10-11
11am-6pm