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My number-one recommendation is to visit the Institute of Contemporary Arts. This month's not-to-miss exhibit is "The Secret Public" (through May 6), about the underground London scene of the late 70's and 80's.
• The Hayward Gallery is the space to watch. Ralph Rugoff, the American director, is one of the most interesting curators around.
• A lot of important artists started off at the Showroom: Eva Rothschild, Jim Lambie, Simon Starling.
• Hotel is a great gallery with young, interesting talent. The Chisenhale is a little out of the way in East London, but worth the effort. The vast space is well suited for larger installations.
• There's also Bistrotheque, an industrial raw space where we do most of our after-parties.
• "Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design" at the V&A (through July 22) is the first show to examine how Surrealism evolved from a politically radical avant-garde art movement to become a cultural phenomenon. We've recreated Peggy Guggenheim's gallery, which uses sound and light to create a disconcerting effect, and the set of Serge Diaghilev's 1929 production of Le Bal, with costumes by Giorgio de Chirico.
• A great hidden treasure at the V&A is the Cast Courts. Not many people know that casts of several of Michelangelo's works are there.
• It's certainly a classic, but the Michelin House is a fantastic affair, with beautiful Art Deco stained glass. I love its coffee shop on the ground floor and the wonderful restaurant, Bibendum, upstairs.
• All the major galleries and museums now plan their show of the year around Frieze, held in October in Regent's Park. This year Tate Britain will showcase 23 years of the Turner Prize exhibition, so we will see every artist who has been shortlisted. That will be amazing: the best of British art for the past two decades.
• During Frieze, the most interesting satellite fair is the cutting-edge Zoo, which actually takes place in the London Zoo. Some of the galleries are more like artist-run spaces in people's front rooms.
• Scott's, a restaurant that has been taken over by the Ivy-Caprice people, is fantastic for the art alone, like a big fish-and-crustaceans display by Martin Brudnizki. Then there is St. John in Clerkenwell. That is a real art-world favorite. It's known for offbeat offerings like tripe, pigs' trotters, and offal, but I've been there loads and I've never had any of the really scary stuff. If you want a nice meal with a view of London, book a table at the top-floor Tate Modern Restaurant.
• To see the grittier side of the London art scene, go to the East End, around Herald Street, Bethnal Green, and Vyner Street, where most of the artists live and a lot of the younger galleries are located. Book a car and driver for the day through Addison Lee, which only charges $60 an hour. You can pick up a great map of the area's galleries at the Whitechapel Gallery.
• I'm based in Germany, but I opened a gallery here because the focus of the art scene in Europe has shifted to London. There are a huge number of new artists working in the U.K. who are expressing the spirit of the time.
• Many collectors stay at Brown's Hotel and so do I—it is my second home. Don't miss the lovely high tea.
• Everyone from the art scene goes to Dover Street Market, the department store owned by Rei Kawakubo, of Comme des Garçons. She has the greatest things: furniture custom-designed by Hedi Slimane, vintage clothing, and the top-floor Rose Bakery, which serves my favorite dish, steamed vegetables with soy earth sesame sauce.
• Apart from visiting Frieze in October, late June is the best time to come to London. The galleries put on shows timed to the European art fairs like Art Basel, so everyone comes through. But book a hotel early.
Interviews by David Vincent
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