Website for young artists creates a stir

An art website created by and for young people has been inundated with thousands of hits days after going live.

Leading artists including Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller launched Recreative on Thursday.
The website features an interview with Tracey Emin and is offering young artists the chance to visit Fiona Banner's studio by uploading their work, or to have it critiqued by the Evening Standard's Ben Luke.

Recreative is part of the Louis Vuitton Young Arts Project - a £1 million initiative by the luxury goods brand to engage 13- to 25-year-old Londoners in contemporary art, in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts and the Tate, Hayward, Whitechapel and South London galleries.

Margot Heller, director of the South London Gallery, said: "It's had nearly 8,000 visitors from over 100 countries. Lots of people are signing up so it's quite exciting."

Fifteen youngsters, drawn from a group of 150 associated with the institutions taking part, worked for the past year on the website. www.recreativeuk.com