Exhibiting innovative and ambitious artworks directly in the public realm, Gallery No.32 is bringing art to unexpected places, expanding the reach of culture through discovery & exploration.
Break it up, take it outside. We are swapping white walls and closed doors for blue skies and open terrains with the aim of expanding the reach of creativity. In offering free and unique exhibition space, Gallery No.32 provides an opportunity for artists to take creative risks, pushing their practice beyond the usual boundaries set by extortionate exhibition overheads. Set against the unaffordable premiums of the art scene, we are providing a valuable invitation for artists to actualise ambitious ideas. “Gallery No.32's ambition and determination to create spaces for artists to exhibit innovatively, explore new ideas and evolve an ever-growing supportive network of emerging and established practitioners is invaluable.” - Adrian Burnham, Buildhollywood. Creative exchange & creative communities. Beginning as a D-I-Y, zero-budget project, Gallery No.32 focused on the exchange of skill, heralding ‘creative exchange’ over financial focus. Placing value in the creative community connected through the exhibitions, projects and events it produces. "At Gallery No.32, we believe that true growth lies in shared experience, shared knowledge and shared support. Our curatorial approach centralises these values, bringing together artists from all stages of their careers to form cohorts that can strengthen each other. Across the past three years artists, creatives and organisations have connected via Gallery No.32, leading to authentic collaborations, friendships and professional growth." - Meg Stuart, co-director and curator. The Gallery No.32 network provides a supportive and encouraging space for artists to connect through and with creativity. From this structure, a wider creative community is becoming established. Alongside programmes and exhibitions Gallery No.32 facilitate peer-led clinics, field-trips, networking events and socials to nurture the ever-growing, proactive and supportive creative community. Our mission: free art and free opportunity. Gallery No.32’s early days truly reflected the pandemic world it came from. With walls, doors, and materials salvaged from local fly tipping spots and scrap yards, its unavoidable bricolage aesthetic was consistent with the self-sustaining and emancipatory nature of the project. Since day one our exhibitions have placed art outdoors, inviting the public to engage with artwork in a new way, far from the limiting experience of the institution. We wanted the open-air displays to encourage the public to wander freely, exploring the four acres of disused farmland in Bexley, South East London, where the gallery is sited. Three years on, the liquid times we are living in require the same fluid responses we utilised at the start of the project in order to preserve creative risk-taking and the continued liberation of everyday life. Which leads us back to these intentions from our original 2020 manifesto:
Evolution: the new abnormal. Co-Director’s of Gallery No.32, Meg Stuart and Kieran Idle are a curatorial duo combining their unique creative backgrounds for a mutual goal. Having bonded over a shared view of the absurdity of pandemic-life, and a desire to disrupt the everyday routine of lockdown, they joined forces in 2020 to build a new exhibition model centred around the unexpected. Initially conceived by Meg in response to the frustration felt by many artists like herself who had graduated into the pandemic, the gallery was born to quench a global creative thirst. The duo built upon the simplistic beginnings of the gallery, creating both the space and the opportunities available with an entirely D-I-Y mentality, learning through self-made experience. Their backgrounds of trying to gain access into the art world have fuelled their determination to build Gallery No.32 as a creative connector and opportunity provider for all. From this, they have up-turned the white-wall gallery trope, offering an entirely new model for exhibiting and viewing art. Gallery No.32 is digging the tracks for a new art world, growing from the [grass]roots. |
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Gallery No.32 is an independent art space with no major funders or institutional affiliations. Your support means we can continue to provide free and unique exhibition spaces for artists to work innovatively, explore daring and ambitious new ideas, and develop their practice with confidence alongside an ever-growing network of artists and creatives.
If you are able to, please donate, so that we can continue the work we are doing. Thank you. Your support means the world to us. xx |
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