LONDON, ENGLAND.- Jeremy Rees, the founder of the Arnolfini arts center in Bristol, died in London after a car accident. Jeremy Rees founded the Arnolfini in 1961 and directed the center for 25 years.

Arnolfini is one of Europe’s leading centers for the contemporary arts. Arnolfini’s international artistic program presents new, progressive and experimental visual arts, live art and performance, dance, cinema, literary readings and a busy education program of tours, talks and events. There are also occasional music events, design and architecture lectures.

Arnolfini’s premises are temporarily closed to the public while major building works take place. For full details of the development project click here. An Interlude program of events continues during the building works and the artistic programme.

Until the building works began, Arnolfini was open seven days a week with free admission to the building, exhibitions and café bar. It occupied two floors of Bush House, an impressive Grade II listed waterfront warehouse, and attracting over 400,000 visits a year. Arnolfini boasted one of the best arts bookshops in the country and a stylish, lively café bar. A full artistic program will resume when the building re-opens in May 2005, but here is a flavor of the work Arnolfini presents:

In the visual art program Arnolfini presents international developments and emerging trends through one-person and group exhibitions, commissions and projects. The program draws attention to important British artists at an early stage of their career and presents timely exhibitions by major international artists.

Arnolfini celebrated its 40th birthday in 2001. It was established in 1961 by Jeremy and Annabel Rees above a bookshop on the Triangle in central Bristol. Its policy then is still relevant today: "to seek out challenging, often controversial and sometimes relatively unknown artists and performers and to provide a vital showcase for their work." Arnolfini’s move to Narrow Quay in 1975 proved a catalyst in attracting other businesses to the then neglected dockside; the revitalised waterfront is now a focal point for Bristol’s social and cultural life.