The Lightbox sits on Chobham Road in the centre of Woking, on the banks of the Basingstoke Canal. It is a gallery, a museum and a creative space run by an award-winning charity, and it is the most serious cultural address in this part of Surrey. It suits anyone who wants a good afternoon indoors, families included, and it is worth planning around the opening days.
The building
The project began in 1993, when local volunteers set out to create a cultural centre. Marks Barfield Architects, who also designed the London Eye, won the design competition in 2002, and the doors opened on 14 September 2007. It was Woking's first museum and gallery.
The idea behind the design is a jewellery box holding cultural treasures. Anodised aluminium panels in five shades of gold and silver spiral up and around the outside, while the canal side is clad in cedar. It won the Art Fund Prize in 2008.
Three collections under one roof
The Lightbox cares for three collections, set out on its collections page.
The Ingram Collection. A private collection of modern and contemporary British art, on loan to the Lightbox, which describes it as one of the largest and most significant publicly accessible collections of its kind in the UK. Works appear in an annual exhibition programme, in the Ingram Sculpture Gallery, in the courtyard and in other public areas. Art Fund names sculptors including Anthony Caro, Eduardo Paolozzi, Elisabeth Frink and Barbara Hepworth. Chris Ingram is from Woking, and Apollo magazine has written of his wish to give back.
The Joan Hurst Collection. Seventeen modern sculptures, including works by Jacob Epstein and Elisabeth Frink, given through the Art Fund. It was the first major gift the Lightbox received.
Woking's heritage collection. Thousands of local historical objects make up the permanent museum, Woking's Story. It is interactive and family friendly, with a dress-up box for children.
What is on now
Two exhibitions are open at the moment, and they could hardly be more different.
Howard Hodgkin: In a Public Garden opened on 28 March in the Floor One Gallery. It brings together more than forty prints made between 1966 and 2016, among them cityscapes, works inspired by India and prints made for the 2012 London Olympics. It is included with the Day Pass.
Everything We Love We Will Lose, by YARA + DAVINA, opened with a private view on 22 April. It is commissioned by the Lightbox and National Trust Clandon Park, and explores the contemporary and historic art of grieving. It is made with women who have experienced pregnancy and baby loss, through embroidery, conversation and shared making, and it forms part of the W for Woking partnership between the two organisations. Woking News and Mail covered it in its report on the gallery's programme. It is a quiet, serious show and deserves unhurried time.
The Lightbox puts on about 20 temporary exhibitions a year, most devised in-house. Next in the programme is Animal Encounters, drawn from the Ingram Collection with works by Roger Hilton, Elisabeth Frink and John Craxton, followed by Philip Colbert's The Lost Gardens of Lobsteropolis and the tenth anniversary of the Ingram Prize for emerging UK artists.
Opening hours and what it costs
The Lightbox is closed every Monday and Tuesday and on bank holidays, so plan for Wednesday to Sunday. The official visit page gives the hours:
Ground floor, café and shop: Wednesday to Saturday 10:00 to 17:00, Sunday 10:00 to 16:00. The café closes 30 minutes earlier.
Floors 1 and 2, the galleries and Woking's Story: Wednesday to Saturday 10:30 to 17:00, Sunday 10:30 to 16:00.
The ground floor is free, including the courtyard café, the shop and the ground-floor gallery. The upper galleries and Woking's Story have admission fees, so check the visit page for the current Day Pass price before you go. Wednesday mornings, from 10:30 to 12:30, entry to all gallery spaces is pay what you wish, which makes it the easiest time to try it.
Coffee and the courtyard
The ground floor has a café, a shop, an Art Cart corner and a courtyard overlooking the Basingstoke Canal. The Lightbox says the café has reopened under a new arrangement. Sculptures from the Ingram Collection have stood in the courtyard, so a coffee outside can double as part of the visit, and the free ground floor means you can do this without buying a gallery ticket.
Who it suits
Families get Woking's Story and the dress-up box. Art lovers get a genuine national-level collection of British sculpture and prints. Newcomers to Surrey weighing up Woking will find a town centre with a real cultural anchor. The Lightbox also takes school and group bookings.
