Project Space Leeds is a gallery space occupying the ground floor of a high rise office block on Leeds city water front.I went to the closing party for the '195 miles' exhibition last Saturday - are closing parties a new thing ?. Anyway it was a clever marketing ploy to grab audience attention a second time. Worked on me because I missed the opening and although I promised myself a visit before it ended I hadn't and it would probably passed me by had another party not been in the offering.
Office block as a gallery space - does it work ?
In this case, yes. Situated on the ground floor ( handy for the smokers to pop in and out), the space is wide and high and two walls are top to bottom glass letting in plenty of natural light. Situated in a white collar area of the city the PSL is within easy walking distance of the train station and buses and has ample parking.
Having never been to an opening party let alone a closing one, I took my lad 'J' along. Up till now his only experiance of an alternative gallery space has been a Graff wall so I thought it an ideal opportunity to gauge his virgin reaction.
His first responce was to the laid back atmosphere, kids running about, artists still putting finishing touches to work etc...
The second suprised him -' people here aren't at all pretentious' (cheers son).
The third also suprised him - 'You mean I dont have to pay for this drink ?'.
Forthly he liked the overall space and site.
Concluding he wondered whether the first and second had been influenced by the third - he has a point there. You would be reluctant to revisit a place with bad vibes, or worse, no vibes so atmosphere is very important and if it takes a few glasses of wine to achieve then so be it.
We both enjoyed the interaction with Pippa Halles piece - swopping a personal item of your own for anything Halle had on display - I did particulary well out of that one and exchanged my business card for a £20 'T' shirt (Bridget would be proud).
Got chatting to a playwrite who was admiring a collaborative piece in action, by Matt + Ross and Dave Ronalds ( see photos above). He'd come with friends but they had taken one look at Matt, Ross and Ronalds work - which I admit, wasn't very appealing when not up and running - thought it a pretentious pile of wires and left. What a pity they didnt hang around to see it working, it was quite hypnotic.
We were still chatting as gallery staff ushered us out at close ( never been thrown out of a gallery before ) so the lad and I wobbled off home contemplating the pleasant afternoon we'd spent - the lad still amazed at how laid back it was.
Conversation overheard during the party as A and B inspect a sculpture -
A - What is it ?
B - What do you want it to be ?
A - I dont know but I think every modern kitchen should have one.
Good to see the nest in place and the idea of following what happens to stuff as it gets removed is a good one. Every bit could have contact details engraved on it.
ReplyDeleteAs to other work, perhaps collages of your doors etc could be inserted into photos of particular sites/gallery interiors and then commented on.