East London based gallery Banner Repeater has secured its long-term future after agreeing a new partnership with Transport for London (TfL) and Arriva Rail. The unusually sited space, which is located on platform 1 at Hackney Downs overground station, has signed a lease protecting it until 2020.
The news comes at a time when several other local spaces, including Vilma Gold and Limoncello, have closed due to commercial and development pressures. However, the new deal recognises the crucial role Banner Repeater plays in the local community, as well as its value as an important art gallery and public library of artist books.
Banner Repeated has been in discussion with leaseholders TfL and the new operators of Hackney Downs station, Arriva Rail, for the last 16 months. With assistance from the culture team at City Hall, an agreement was struck, with the gallery paying a new peppercorn rent.
Deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries, Justine Simons OBE, said: “Banner Repeater is a great example of how a creative community can bring a location to life. It is a small but ambitious and highly visible gallery that plays a vital role in the ecology of London’s world-renowned arts scene, bringing contemporary art and culture to commuters at Hackney Downs station.”
Artist and poet Heather Phillipson, whose upcoming projects include the Trafalgar Square fourth plinth commission in 2020, said: “Banner Repeater redefines what galleries can do. Nurturing the quieter parts, the riskier parts, the parts in-between and what’s missing, it’s not only an art-place, it’s also a conversational and social nerve centre.”
The gallery was founded in 2010 by the artist Ami Clarke with support from a local government funding scheme, the Empty Shop Fund. A not-for-profit Community Interest Company, it has since worked with hundreds of artist.
This week, the gallery celebrated its seventh anniversary with a fundraising event at Somerset House Studios. It is raising funds through Local Giving to directly support new commissions of works of art and artists publishing, as well as a series of public talks.
The event saw a prize draw to win works by artists Jacolby Satterwhite (‘Electronic Superhighway’, Whitechapel gallery), Yuri Pattison (Chisenhale gallery), Jenna Sutela (Serpentine Marathon), Melanie Jackson (Matts Gallery), Zarina Muhammad (New Contemporaries), and Anne de Boer (ICA).
Images:
1. Banner Repeater, platform 1, Hackney Downs train station
2. Melanie Jackson, Deeper into the Pyramid, production still
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