“35 artists and art groups are staging a takeover of the Espacio Gallery in January 2015 to turn it into a demonstration site, an encounter space and an ideas laboratory.” – from Espacio Gallery website
The art in this exhibition needs YOU!
Rejecting the expectations and pristine white wall set-up of the usual art exhibition, “The Anti-Gallery Gallery Show” at Espacio Gallery in Bethnal Green, London, throws away decorum and begs the viewer not just to look at what a group of artists have made, but to join in. In this unusual and enticing show, all the artworks have necessarily been created on site, and/or require participation of visitors in order to be resolved.
For most of the month of January 2015, Espacio Gallery has been taken over by 35 makers and art collectives, providing a refreshing daily programme of “installations, performances, constructed situations, encounters and happenings that challenge the values, rituals, practices and conventions of the gallery culture”.
“The Anti-Gallery Gallery Show” is produced by an artist collective, called Degrees of Freedom, and seeks to allow room for experimentation for both artists and audience, “finding ways for artists to change their relationship with each other, their artworks and the public within a traditional gallery space so as to subvert its governing ethos- competitive individualism within a consumerist culture.”
I went along to Espacio Gallery a few days ago, and had the chance to play Hopscotch that started on the sidewalk and meandered to the back of the gallery, make up a game to play with a stranger, have my fortune told in the bottom of a cup of Greek coffee, throw away some feelings that I’d been hanging onto, exchange art for words, see with my hands, and experience the artist soul of James Franco. And that wasn’t the half of it; there’s something new to see every day at the Anti-Gallery Gallery Show, which is again part of the point of an exhibition that opposes conventions.
It’s been a while since I’ve such fun at an art gallery, where these artists take play very seriously, and allow for such universal human experiences as curiosity, emotion, nostalgia, and personal expression. Recommend highly a visit before The Anti-Gallery Gallery Show is over on 29th of January 2015!
Participating artist include: Andrea Artz, Graham Asker, Bodo Jackson artist collaboration, Liana Bortolozzo, Consuelo Celluzi, Cluster Bomb (Collective), Stephanie Conway, Marta Daeuble, Naya Eleftheriou, Fans of Feminism, Ahmed Farooqui, Livia Garcia, Esperanza Gomez-Carrera, Hysterical Women, Miguel Ivorra, Ellen Jewell, Graham Johnston, Matthew Kay, Dan Kennedy, Jeanette Abi Khalil, Chloë Louise Lawrence, John Ledger & John Wright, Claire Nelmes, Naomi Oduse (Na Adu Ola), John O’Hare, Elspeth Penfold, Klaus Pinter, Natasha Sabatini, Mario Sanchez Varas, Diana Scarborough & Lorelei Lodestar, S.R.Jimmy, Tree Players, Jones Tensini, Monika Tobel, Kate Walters, Women’s Rhythm Tap Collective, Morwenna Lake, Lila-Spe (Esperanza Gomez), Rocío Temboury
The Anti-Gallery Gallery Show is produced by Degrees of Freedom artist collective.
More links and information
- Find out more about the “Anti-Gallery Show” at Espacio on Facebook
- Read about Degrees of Freedom artist collective – “working in sculpture, video and installations…our interventions aim to investigate, make conscious and challenge the contours of freedom in specific situations.”
- View/download “Anti-Gallery Gallery Show”_Press_release [PDF]
- View/download “Anti-Gallery Gallery Show”_Calendar of Events [PDF]
Exhibition details: “The Anti-Gallery Gallery Show” is on at Espacio Gallery, 159 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 7DG from 8-29 January 2015. Free admission, step-free access.
Opening hours:
- Tuesday & Wednesday: 3pm-8pm
- Thursday through Saturday: 1pm-8pm
- Sunday: 11am-6pm
- Monday: CLOSED
The programme of events and activities changes daily.
kelise soixante-douze 
Reblogged this on Esperanza Gómez-Carrera.