London's Art-Squatting Culture
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/apr/12/artists-collectives-squats
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- St_Alia_10191
- added this
"From empty Mayfair mansions to derelict high-street shops, art squats are the latest habitat for young creative people - providing home, studio space or both - at minimum cost.
Over the past few years an "art squat" subculture has been quietly growing in the UK to include not just opportunists, but creative and ambitious groups for whom the decision to squat - for working or living or both - comes as much from an idealistic, DIY ethos as it does from financial expediency. Few young artists can afford to pay rent on housing and studio space at the same time. Fewer still can afford the luxury of a vast exhibition space they can do what they want with. Straitened times call for ever greater resourcefulness. They also - luckily for artists if not the former occupants - mean more empty buildings than ever. According to England's Empty Homes Agency, 784,495 are unoccupied, and the number rises each day. Taking their cue from similar movements in Berlin and Amsterdam, artists in this country are realising that squatting provides not just freedom from paying rent but also extraordinary creative freedom. The chance to make large-scale work, to put on frequent, artist-curated exhibitions and to form collaborative relationships based on sharing a space, has made squatting more than simply a housing solution."
Over the past few years an "art squat" subculture has been quietly growing in the UK to include not just opportunists, but creative and ambitious groups for whom the decision to squat - for working or living or both - comes as much from an idealistic, DIY ethos as it does from financial expediency. Few young artists can afford to pay rent on housing and studio space at the same time. Fewer still can afford the luxury of a vast exhibition space they can do what they want with. Straitened times call for ever greater resourcefulness. They also - luckily for artists if not the former occupants - mean more empty buildings than ever. According to England's Empty Homes Agency, 784,495 are unoccupied, and the number rises each day. Taking their cue from similar movements in Berlin and Amsterdam, artists in this country are realising that squatting provides not just freedom from paying rent but also extraordinary creative freedom. The chance to make large-scale work, to put on frequent, artist-curated exhibitions and to form collaborative relationships based on sharing a space, has made squatting more than simply a housing solution."
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- groups:
- Entertainment, Art and Style, Lifestyle
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- tags:
- Entertainment, Art and Style, UK, London, 9 more
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malathion
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how about this : the art of my boot intersecting the trajectory of , and colliding into , your ass while you're running out of my property .
- 3 years ago
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malathion
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blaino
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malathion:
Heres the beautiful thing, It wouldnt be your property!
Sweet right!
- 3 years ago
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blaino
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artemis6
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Looks fun and practical .
- 3 years ago
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artemis6
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nursediesel
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I'd love to do this. I'm not sure the codes would allow it in my area.
I'd gladly allow art students to 'fix up' my building to use as an art studio, but with PA being 'the land of litigation' I'd be hesitant.
In fact I'd love to have my own studio and would have loved to do this. - 3 years ago
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nursediesel
