pop-up culture

they say that in tough times, creativity blossoms.

as money is scarce in the arts, innovative thinking comes into major play and one key movement has been the 'pop-up' exhibition space. landlords and estate agents are clocking the advantages of offering empty shops to curators and artists to set up for days /weeks / months. fashion brands have been doing this for ages (comme des garcons the most obvious), banksy has done it, so it was only time until the flow reached others.

san francisco has a programme 'art in storefronts' up and running, backed by the Mayor (article here http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=35742 (thanks to curating.info)), new york has a 'no longer empty' initiative, numerous pop-ups in london and interestingly, salon gallery of london have just released details of a competition they are running for young curators to win the chance to put on a show - 'london's next top curator'. check out http://www.salongallery.co.uk/ for details on how to apply. crap title but a great chance for young graduates which is very much needed.

from personal experience, it's pretty difficult to find landlords open enough for suggestions on this, but i'm sure that says more about here and anything. ho hum. although there has been one - the 'aaaaart shop' in the main shopping centre here. so hopeful signs that it'll catch on. i do hope so.

time to get self-motivated to fill the empty with the full.

p.s. interesting article on this subject here (another favourite blog worth keeping an eye on) - http://newcurator.com/2009/02/slack-space-empty-shops-as-exhibition-space/