Hotshoe Gallery opening night attracts many visitors

The new Hotshoe gallery opened to a large audience on the 8th of October for its inaugural show of Jim Naughten’s re-enactors.

“Every summer thousands of people from all over the world gather in a Kentish field and leave the present firmly behind. They step out of their routine daily lives and transform into historical characters from the First and Second World Wars, often with such vigour and obsessive attention to detail that it’s hard to imagine them in contemporary settings. Taking on a different name, identity and sometimes even a different tongue, the role players re-enact battles and drills from an imagined past. It is something more than acting, a collective fantasy played out on a massive scale.”

The gallery is managed by Daniel Campbell Blight who also built the space in East London with the help of a small team of technicians and friends. He wants the gallery to be a meeting point between the commercial and the public gallery forms. This means it will be a space where work can be sold so that the artist and the gallery can survive. These funds can then be used to develop other activities like seminars, readings and film screenings.

The gallery will predominantly show photography, film and video. There will also be some emphasis on three dimensional photographic objects. In order to keep the show stylisically wide ranging Daniel will co-operate with a handful of other curators. The next show in December will be curated with Marthe Fjellestad and in February it will be Louisa Adam who currentlyorganises talks at the Hayward. Furthermore Marcin Dudek will curate a series of artist’s films and video events. He will also assist with the day to day running of the space. 

There will be some room for representing artists and Daniel allready has one in mind. This does not mean that artists that are featured in the gallery are, or will be represented.  When they do represent an artist the gallery wants to work with artists that are serious about what they do, for whom it’s not merely a hobby. For now though they are concentrating on developing an identity for the space and creating a buzz around the gallery. Fast Media magazine will showcase the re-enactor show in the next edition.

Hotshoe gallery, 29-31 Saffron hill, London, EC1N 8SW, 0207 4216009

Mon-Sat 10 am to 5 pm | Jim Naughten re-anactors 8 oct-4 dec 2009

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