![]() It’s surprising that in somewhere as obviously multicultural as London there are so few art venues that truly go beyond the Westernized ideals of aesthetics and display. It has championed the Transvangarde movement, and has a radical way of thinking about which artists to show, and how. The way October Gallery has been run since it opened in 1979 has also been something of an anomaly in the context of the UK’s commercial art capital. Then there are the staff-many of whom have been with the gallery since the very beginning, and remain loyal-and who act like a madcap sort of family rather than bloodthirsty business people. Housed at Ludonia House, the space feels more like a community centre sprawling over three floors, a homey meeting place with its cafe and slightly disheveled look-the kind of place you might discover something, rather than see what’s already been plucked and polished for the art market. October has remained maverick because it isn’t run like most slick, commercial London galleries. The group Beats of Polynesia performing a Cook Island Drum Dance at the opening of ethKnowcentrix, October Gallery Courtyard, 2009. A self-portrait unfolds through its founders, long-serving staff members, exhibiting artists, friends and “fellow travellers”, as well as plenty of images documenting the radical events, exhibitions and performances that have taken place at the gallery over the years. ![]() As the gallery’s director Chili Hawes and artistic director Elisabeth Lalouschek write in a new book that celebrates its fortieth birthday year, people often ask: “ What exactly is this place?”ĭream No Small Dream, Celebrating 40 Years of October Gallery documents the colourful four-decade-long history of this somewhat eccentric institution. It’s been going for forty years and has done many significant things in those four decades, yet somehow it’s a place that many miss. It’s located in a quiet spot in Bloomsbury, tucked behind Russell Square. ![]() (Jane was one of the eight biospherians inside Biosphere 2 from 1991-93). Chili Hawes and Jane Poynter, October Gallery Courtyard, 1982. ![]()
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