Following 23 years at Copperfield Road in Bow, east London, Matt’s Gallery is relocating to a new temporary space in south London.
The new gallery on Decima Street, Bermondsey, will open its doors this summer. It is currently undergoing major construction and redevelopment works while the staff of Matt’s Gallery will work from an office nearby.
The gallery will then move to a permanent 9,000 sq ft, double-height gallery space in Nine Elms on the South Bank in 2019-20.
Artist and director Robin Klassnik, who opened Matt’s Gallery at a site on Martello Street in the East End in 1979, said: “It is gut wrenching to move but exciting at the same time. We won the Nine Elms space following an application to Wandsworth Council and it will provide us with greater stability moving into the future.”
The new permanent site will include space to make the gallery’s vast archive available to the public. “We have lots of plans in the pipeline, but our archive will be a focal point. So many artists have exhibited at the gallery including Susan Hiller, Richard Wilson, Jimmie Durham and Mike Nelson. We’re interested in preserving that legacy.”
New chapter
Explaining what the gallery’s temporary home will offer, Klassnik said: “We will occupy a central ground-floor space housed alongside an independent architectural practice and artist’s studio space. It is reminiscent of the first Matt’s Gallery I set up in my studio in 1979. However, it still feels like the beginning of a new chapter – one that will sustain the gallery even after I have gone.”
Ravi Govindia, leader of Wandsworth Council, said: “I’m delighted Matt’s Gallery is on course to make Nine Elms its new permanent home. They will be very welcome here in Wandsworth and another major attraction for this stretch of the South Bank as it becomes an exciting new centre for arts and culture in London.”
Matt’s Gallery moved to its current site on Copperfield Road in 1993. It features a unique space with two large rooms, custom-built with one containing the development of a new work whilst a finished project can be viewed in the neighbouring space.
To mark its last day at Copperfield Road, Matt’s Gallery will be hosting Artists Behind Bars on 23 April 2016, a leaving party featuring artist-built bars and artist-made drinks, as well as karaoke and live performance.
Image: Matt’s Gallery IS MOVING, 2016. Courtesy Matt’s Gallery, London.
