Project Space

Touch Glass

Touch Glass | Group Exhibition

Opening this September at Lewisham Arthouse, Touch Glass presents recent work and new commissions by Josh Wirz, Gabriela Avila Yiptong and Taro Qureshi in an exhibition organised and curated by Cameron McClellan.

Touch Glass’s title plays with the phrase “Touch Grass”, recently popularised as a playful insult online to encourage the target to go outside and regain touch with the natural world and their “common-sense” following too much time on social media. The exhibition instead encourages audiences to “lock in” with work exploring how technology mediates how we see the world and reflect on our place within it. Across the medium of photography, painting, performance and site-specific installation, the show addresses the “new normal” of the 2020s through a direct interrogation of ongoing crises around housing, artificial intelligence and social media content.

On the 24th of September, there will be a private view opening, open to all, with refreshments and a live activation of Josh Wirz’s “I’m Here, Soft & Haptic”, a new commission for the exhibition with Wirz appearing as a ghostly presence behind a two way mirror challenging audiences to look back. Vita Lerche will also present a live performance of “Scanner Backpack”, a project developed through her recent residency at Far Out East Gallery, documenting the world and visitors to the exhibition through the glass of the body-mounted scanner.

On Saturday the 5th of October, to mark the exhibition’s closing, R&DShow&Tell will invite artists and audience members alike to share the screen of their personal device and demonstrate how they conduct research and “waste time on the internet” in a guided question and answer session. There will also be a performance of “Filibuster” by Josh Wirz with the performer as a buttoned-up spokesperson reading from an autocue built on an endless automatically generated supply of corporate copywriting.

In addition, at 3pm on Sundays (29/9, 6/10), there will be a drop in guided tour of the exhibition and discussion led by the curator. Additional questions should be made to camcclellan8142@gmail.com

Queering the Ghost

Queering the Ghost artwork
Queering the Ghost

19th July-29th July

A collective group show reimagining/reclaiming queer memories.
Derived from a conversation between friends that spanned queer kinship, queer love,
censorship and the complexities of placing the queered individual within a temporal
space, ‘Queering The Ghost,’ is an opening for desire and play to interlink/fester. We
invite you to enter this space to contemplate the perspective of a lost lover, mourn the
consequences of late stage capitalism on the body, and explore hidden histories of the
past. Is the ghost an absence of meaningful connections in a hyper-individualised,
hyper-independent, and commodified world? When corporate interests bleed into our
most intimate spaces, turning our Pride into PR events for corporations, corrupting our
calls to protest, where can we turn but to each other (or behind our shoulders as we exit
the underworld?) In an era where we are turned into nonverbal, obedient
human-machines, we all become the ghosts.
We invite you to honour, and remember the lived experiences of our queer ancestors, as
well as reclaim and reimagine histories that excluded queer narratives.

Preview date time: July 19th 6-9pm
Opening times: 12-6pm
Lewisham Art House

140 Lewisham Way
SE14 6PD, London

From The Ground Up

From The Ground Up | Critical Edge Collective

For their third, upcoming show at Lewisham Art House, Critical Edge Collective perceives trust in information systems as eroded to the point that everything that we think we know must be set aside and new foundations for knowledge put in place.

Within this concept, the collective sets about building a new ‘library’ from the ground up, each artist bringing with them a small collection of research materials to share with the group that will act as the raw materials from which another artist will respond.

With the hope of encouraging collaboration and discussion with other artists and members of the public, the collective also encourages visitors to the show to make work in response, with resulting artworks being added to the show for some of its duration.

By making new works in response to the research of their peers, the collective undermines the individualism of the current art market and places its emphasis on trust, sharing, learning and enquiry. Through questioning their own working methods and challenging the rigidity of the group show hang, the collective demonstrates its commitment to remaining curious, critical and playful in the face of increasing polarisation and division in the post-truth era.

PV Thursday 10 October 2024. 18.00-21.00 hrs
Show opening times:
Tues-Sun 11th-20th October 11-00-17.00 hrs
Saturday 12 October 13.00-17.00 hrs

Proposals

The Project Space is run with the aim of providing affordable exhibition space and a platform for emerging artists, community groups and those who have been unable to find support/space through traditional gallery routes. In doing this we hope to provide a vibrant program of exhibitions for our local community, creating an opportunity for people to enjoy, discuss and engage with contemporary art in an informal and accessible setting. Alongside the program of hire shows we also facilitate larger projects and residencies that focus on our core aims of outreach and community engagement. We are always interested to hear from local artists, curators and community groups with proposals for larger projects or who are interested in forming creative partnerships with the Arthouse.
Lewisham Arthouse is committed to ensuring our Project Space is accessible for anyone to hire. We acknowledge that social barriers may influence participation in, and enjoyment of the arts. In an effort to address this in our local communities, our application process is open to everyone, regardless of age or educational background. We particularly welcome applications from non-white, Black, Asian and minority ethnicity individuals and groups.

View Project Space application form

Hire Terms and Conditions 2022

project[toggle]Image credit: photo Francesca Oldfield[/toggle]

Hire Fees – rates from May 2022 as follows:

2 weeks = £460 (Minimum booking)
3 weeks = £632.50
4 weeks = £782

Due to increased running costs and energy bills, hire fees have increased by 15% as of May 2022. This is inline with an increase in studio rent paid by Arthouse members and will be reviewed regularly.

Send your applications to:

Project Space
Lewisham Arthouse
140 Lewisham Way
London SE14 6PD

projectspace@lewishamarthouse.org.uk