Alight here: Aldwych Tube Station
James Lindon, co-curator of Alight here at Aldwych Tube Station
MyVillage caught up with James Lindon, co-curator of Alight here to find out about how the exhibition came about.
Why Aldwych Tube Station?
For years I’ve been walking past Aldwych tube and have always been fascinated by it; this unused empty building in the middle of the busy city street. When I finally got the opportunity to go inside I was amazed. Just stepping through the door, the private nature of the space was so apparent. It has a very unique atmosphere.
Over the last couple of years, my curating partner Hannah and I, have organised a number of shows in traditional gallery spaces. With this project we just decided we wanted to tackle something different.
How did you select the artists involved?
It’s a group show of artists, some of whom we’ve worked with before and some whose work we’ve just come across and liked. For this show we mainly chose the artists and asked them to respond to the space. Only 25% of the work was pre-selected. There’s a huge range of different types of work on show, from portrait paintings to installations and films.
What are the challenges of using this kind of space to show art?
It’s a huge visual challenge. The space itself is so haunting and enigmatic that we needed to find work that was going to fit into this building well. Luckily, the building holds a number of different and often quite private spaces. This allow different work to find its own relationship to the space it’s situated in.
The challenge is also to respect the history and the otherness of the spaces as they exist. The tube station was shut down in three different periods, 1915, 1960 and 1994, so that when you walk through the building the experience is of encountering different periods of history. There are so many more variables when you are curating a show in a place like this, compared to organising a show in a pristine gallery space.
How have the artists responded to working in this space?
We’ve encouraged many of the artists to work in a site-specific way so that they can fully integrate their work into the space. We also have a lighting technician who is able to use light to dramatise each space, often heightening the haunting atmosphere of the space. This also helps the artists to take ownership of the space. The intention is that the work feeds off the space and the space gains something from the work.
Our aim is to produce a show that’s both exciting and involving for all those who step through the doors.
Alight here
18th March - 30th March 2003
Aldwych Tube Station
The Strand WC2
Open Monday-Sunday 10am-6pm
Alight here will be exported to Engine 39 in New York in the fall of 2003
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