Space Station Sixty-Five

Space Station Sixty-Five

“Space Station Sixty-Five (SS65) is an artist-run space based in South-East London. Co-directed by Rachael House and Jo David, SS65 has been running since July 2002.

At artist-led Space Station Sixty-Five, we continue to curate the contemporary art we love in accessible venues, unswayed by fashion, trends and the whims of government funding.

The project involves ongoing research into the placing of contemporary art, it’s audiences and it’s relationship to the everyday. We place great emphasis on location, based in shop-front premises, with an open door policy. Our mission is to place new works of contemporary art in a high street location. We foster a large and diverse audience, which comes from a wide range of backgrounds.

We encourage local people to engage with the work of the artists, and artists to engage with the community. The gallery has a healthy local following as well as a wider contemporary art audience.

Window exhibitions engage with the street when there are not shows open to the public. We experiment with the way the building is used and explore the nature of an art space and how to use it.

Over 3000 people visited the space and even more enjoyed the window exhibitions during the first year.

Recent projects include The Marquis of Camberwell, part of Live on Stage at a Camberwell pub, Carney Town at The Portman Gallery, Peckham Pet-Tastic 3, our second window installation at The Waterloo Health Centre (a working GP surgery, Lower Marsh) and The Peckham Experiment at Camberwell Space, Camberwell School of Art.
After six years of curation, our East Dulwich shop front gallery and project space has become a base from which to re-launch as an expanded organisation.

Recently the organisation has begun supporting other arts initiatives with which we share similar aims..” (Space Station 65 website – About us)

Space Station 65 has generously supported  a number of counterproductions projects as well as participating in Pavilion/Pavilionesque, Basecampment and Grunts for the Arts Second Sports Day.

Carny Town

Dominic Allan, Zoë Brown, Marisa Carnesky, Jo David, Charlie Fox, Rachael House, Tim Hunkin, Sarah Jones, Lady Lucy, Mark McGowan, Alex Michon, Cathie Pilkington and WebsterGotts. Curated by Rachael House and Jo David

10-19 July 2008, opening event 4-8pm 10th July
with performances, vegetarian hot dogs and vintage fairground organ. All welcome.
Thursdays & Fridays 4-7pm Saturdays 1-6pm
Portman Gallery
Morpeth Secondary School
Portman Place
London E2 0PX

‘Nothing turns heads quite like a funfair. Whether you spy the procession of lorries and caravans arriving in town or simply stumble across the riggers setting up on the common you are compelled to stop and stare. Once the fair is operating the desire to look is even stronger. The strange extreme architecture and that special glow from the lights draws you closer, to where the sounds and smells hit you. Rock ‘n’ roll and fried onions, screaming girls and diesel fumes.
The basics have really not changed in generations, but they don’t need to. The fairground plays with every sense, as the rides turn your stomach and the unusual landscape overwhelms you with a mix of excitement, fear and notions of romance. Nowhere else can we expect the chance of a quick snog, a mouthful of candy floss and the real danger of fisticuffs for some perceived minor infraction. The thrill of the ride is just a bonus.
Bringing all the fun of the fair (as well as some of the darkness) to this gallery within an east London school, Space Station Sixty-Five have picked the finest freaks, carnies and ride operators in the UK art world to spin the Waltzers and run the sideshows. Ghost Train doyenne Marisa Carnesky is on hand with the plans for her dark ride and Tim Hunkin transports the mundane to new heights for his Ride of Life, which posits the domestic setting as theme park. Alex Michon hails Billy Fury’s fleeting appearance in funfair movie That’ll Be The Day for her film loop piece Stormy’s Temporal Tempest.
Zoë Brown’s study of acrobats brings the circus sideshow into the equation, as does Charlie Fox’s bear performances, while Mark McGowan’s attempt to break a world record brings to mind that carny standard, the freak show. Both Jo David and WebsterGotts show video work that reflects the sense of fun to be had in the ridiculous and overblown atmosphere of the fairground. Meanwhile, Dominic Allan brings playful interaction to the school environment by making a model of a googly-eyed child in the Morpeth School uniform.
No trip to the fair is complete without shooting, throwing or kicking your way to some kind of sideshow prize, with the sculpture of Cathie Pilkington and Sarah Jones reflecting the bizarre items you may take home. Lady Lucy takes the role of the sideshow sketch artist and Rachael House invites visitors to sketch a clown, with both sets of work making up part of the exhibition.’ Iain Aitch

This slideshow requires JavaScript.