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| curated by the Centre of Attention (Pierre Coinde and Gary O'Dwyer) |
We decided to look into our past and look at other radical, interesting,
avant-garde spaces and endeavours in London in the last 50 years or so. What
we found was fascinating and inspiring and what amounts to a secret history of
the London Art world.
Our exercise in Ancestor Worship is aimed at drawing attention to these virtually
undocumented endeavours and at creating a total art work using these art
interfaces/spaces as the material.
We have focused on the entities that share with us a curatorial quality and come
some way as exemplifying the gallery as producer, the space as the author,
which is to say that the space can be the artist. And like the artist it manifests its
own tropes, its own sensibilities and styles, and its own identity and life.
While very different, these spaces share a few characteristics. Against the
prevailing orthodoxies of their time either in subject, form, content or materials,
they all existed in an underground relation to the cultural mainstream. As
pioneers looking for a greater freedom, many were vociferous in their criticism
of the art worlds they were finding themselves in.
Powered by Idealistic impulses transformed into pragmatic forces, they set to
present work outside the established structures and create vital nexus with new
peer groups.
And yet it would seem that they all failed, in that they no longer exist.
But to us, they are an Injunction to FAIL AGAIN. FAIL BETTER.
With fast and loose (my dead gallery), we bring back to you:
avant-garde spaces and endeavours in London in the last 50 years or so. What
we found was fascinating and inspiring and what amounts to a secret history of
the London Art world.
Our exercise in Ancestor Worship is aimed at drawing attention to these virtually
undocumented endeavours and at creating a total art work using these art
interfaces/spaces as the material.
We have focused on the entities that share with us a curatorial quality and come
some way as exemplifying the gallery as producer, the space as the author,
which is to say that the space can be the artist. And like the artist it manifests its
own tropes, its own sensibilities and styles, and its own identity and life.
While very different, these spaces share a few characteristics. Against the
prevailing orthodoxies of their time either in subject, form, content or materials,
they all existed in an underground relation to the cultural mainstream. As
pioneers looking for a greater freedom, many were vociferous in their criticism
of the art worlds they were finding themselves in.
Powered by Idealistic impulses transformed into pragmatic forces, they set to
present work outside the established structures and create vital nexus with new
peer groups.
And yet it would seem that they all failed, in that they no longer exist.
But to us, they are an Injunction to FAIL AGAIN. FAIL BETTER.
With fast and loose (my dead gallery), we bring back to you:
 | the New Vision Centre (1956-65) | |
| Signals (64-66) | |
| London Free School (66) | |
| Indica (65-67) | |
| Arts Lab (67-69) | |
| Gallery House (72-73) | |
| The Gallery (73-78) | |
| 2B Butler's Wharf (75-78) | |
| Fantasy Factory (75-93) | |
| Art Meeting Place | |
| B2 (80-82) | |
| Network 21 (86) | |
| Women Art Slides Library Journal | |
| (Women's Art Magazine / Make) (85-2002) | ||
| Bank (91-99) | |
| Workfortheeyetodo (93-98) | |
| ... | |
| also featuring works from the neo- | |
| naturists, Rita Donagh, Stuart Brisley, Liz Finch, John Hopkins and Sue Hall, Susan Hiller, David Critchley, Alison Winckle ... |
| Signals: Friday 13th at 8pm performance by David Medalla Friday 13th: performance from Tina Keane London Free School: artists meeting: Saturday 14th, 4pm. to give a talk / have a meeting just email (on@thecentreofattention.org) or book a slot in the schedule at the gallery Art Meeting Place: open for 3 artist shows. Add your name to the book in the AMP space. |
Full programme details: www.thecentreofattention.org opening party: Friday, 13 October 2006 6-9 pm exhibition dates: 13 October - 5 November 2006 gallery open: Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 1-6 pm |
| following exhibition: |