No hanging about…we’ve got five hours to hang an exhibition!

10 Jun

Friday (Day 6).

So, after five intense, but hugely enjoyable days creating new works from materials found or sourced in London, today is the day we need to break everything down and create a pop-up exhibition. We have just five hours to clear the room and get everything on the walls ready for a private view that opens at 7pm.

Some of the artists are working right up to the 1pm deadline for stopping working - clinging on to every creative minute they can get. But the deadline arrives and the tables have to be cleared.

I’ve assembled a crack curatorial team, with Debbie Danelley and Graham Moore joining me to get the exhibition sorted. We start by propping chosen works from each artists against various spaces around the room. The walls are a mixture of concrete, breezeblocks and wooden panels - a test for what resources I have in my toolbox.

The overall scheme comes together quite quickly and without hesitation, we start moving the works from the floor to the walls. Some of the artists have stuck around to input on the layout of their spaces, others have disappeared to give us some space, trusting in our judgment (dodgy!).

It’s a great team effort and by 5.30pm we’ve cracked it. And, if I say so myself, it looks great. For the first time we have a full view of all of the works created during the week which number over 200!

I have one more job to do before I can make it back to my Airbnb for a quick wash and brush up - I need to create a powerpoint presentation to project some of the artists works onto the white wall nearest the entrance. It’s a race against the deadline and I finish at 6.45pm - just fifteen minutes before the doors open.

It’s a mad dash back to my flat and when I arrive back, our invited guests have started to wander in.