Drag star Bimini to host after-hours party at the National Gallery

The National Gallery is set to swap hushed corridors for club beats as drag queen, musician and activist Bimini hosts a landmark after-hours party at the Trafalgar Square institution on Thursday, 5 February.

Bimini, who rose to prominence on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, will be joined by emerging DJ and musician Mia Lily for PARTY After Dark, the first-ever Art After Dark x National Gallery late-night event.

For one night only, London’s club culture will take over one of its most iconic cultural spaces, with guests invited to dance beneath the same roof as masterpieces including Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Leonardo da Vinci’s The Virgin of the Rocks.

The event forms part of Art of London’s Art After Dark, a week-long festival running from 3–10 February that transforms the West End with late-night gallery openings, free public art, live performances and immersive experiences. Festival highlights include Rise & Shine, a seven-metre light installation by Lakwena Maciver in Piccadilly Circus, celebrating 1980s and 1990s London nightlife with a soundtrack inspired by the era.

At the National Gallery, PARTY After Dark will give visitors a rare opportunity to experience the Sainsbury Wing after hours. The space reopened last year following a major redevelopment as part of the Gallery’s bicentenary celebrations (NG200), and will now be reimagined as a dancefloor for the evening.

Bimini will headline with an eclectic mix of electronic, pop and club sounds, while Mia Lily will open the night with a bass-driven, genre-bending DJ set.

Speaking about the event, Bimini said: “The idea of performing in The National Gallery feels a bit surreal in the best way. I grew up thinking galleries were these quiet, untouchable spaces, so to walk in as a queer artist and get to make noise, take up space, and be fully myself feels really special.

"Art isn’t meant to sit still, it’s meant to start conversations - and if that conversation involves dancing in the same building as a Van Gogh, I’m fully here for it.”