GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
GWY: Why did you want to open a gallery in Lewisham?
Kineret: We've been living around here, and I used to run a project space ‘Superfluous’ on Old Kent Road: a residency space I started during the pandemic. And I also work at Goldsmiths University, so our community is based in the South. This particular space happened by accident and the spot was great: in front of Aladdin’s Cave [an antiques yard] and everyone knows where it is. There are lots of students, a lot of creatives, and yet - there's not a lot going on around here. Peckham or Deptford is a bit more established already like that.
Ariel: We were thinking of starting a gallery and we were looking to move to a new place. We like this area, so we knew we wanted to stay and anchor ourselves here and this property came up.
GWY: Did you always imagine that you would live and run the gallery in the same space?
Kineret: No, it happened by chance. The property was a mixed space and cheaper to buy because it's on a high street, and we saw it and thought that's kind of possible actually! We could see ourselves living here and doing this thing. Since we have opened, the response we have had has affirmed that hunch a bit: people come in off the street if they see the sign.
GWY: Do you have a specific mission with this gallery?
Ariel: We want exhibitions that focus on sound, video, performance, installation. And to show work with a social and political direction. But in a broad sense we’re not interested in one subject or one specific political issue. We want to work with people whose work we like, and we want to use the gallery as a hub, a space from which things can grow.
Kineret: I think there’s a few things. One is to have a space to promote works that have a longer development time. Because I feel that there are emerging artists - I don't like these terms – but, you know, artists in London who are struggling to show work with a longer brewing time. And I want to work with them on that; working at Goldsmiths, I see art students who have a few years to develop something, and they have so much support and a community and then they don't have it anymore after they graduate. And we really want to create a community around the work, to support the artist when they are producing new work.
Another aim is to be less commercial, or actually not commercial at all! At the moment, we’re figuring out the funding as we go along. It’s my ambition to give people artistic freedom to really develop something and mainly platform practices that have fewer commercial outlets.
And then yes, in a broad sense we want to have the political social aspect too. Between exhibitions we are going to host specific events that are more connected to research issues. We have already programmed until late November!
Ariel: We're still figuring everything out. So, we have the program but we're constantly negotiating amongst ourselves and trying to understand what it really means for us to actually do this. I have never done this before. Kineret has some experience, but it's our first time doing it together. It’s fun to have it develop as it goes: the openness is exciting.
GWY: Why did you choose to work with Seren Metcalfe and Martina O’Shea for the exhibition Hard Drives, Soft Walks?
Kineret: I co-curated the show with the artist Ross Hammond and we started putting it together more than six months ago.
I came across Seren's work at her Slade Degree show in 2021. As an installation for a BA student, it was very original and bold. It felt like someone who was making the sort of work that's kind of hard to pin down, because it centres on something that happens within the space and installation. So, Ross and I knew that we wanted to work with Seren. Ross came across Martina’s work at her MA degree show at City and Guilds in 2021. He then had a studio visit with her and was super impressed with the way she works and her openness.
We started planning a group show, but then we felt that Martina and Seren’s work had a lot of overlap theme-wise. It was going to make more sense to do a two-person show: it would be more cohesive. We didn't want it to feel like ‘I'm bringing my things’ and ‘you're bringing your things’.
Ariel: It felt like a more cohesive exhibition to start with, rather than a group show.
Kineret: That's it - it feels like one installation but coming from two artists. I think that we've managed to retain two distinct voices and they did an amazing job with the soundtrack: there are two voices but the show still feels very cohesive. And I also wanted to open with two female artists.
GWY: Did you encourage them to collaborate?
Kineret: Yes, another thing that is important for us is to promote more collaboration: to create a support network for artists as well and explore more collaborative practices. I feel that this is what is missing in London: the idea of peer-to-peer support. After graduating, most artists find themselves in this vast space without that.
Ariel: Actually, throughout your career. It’s not something that ends. Once you’re not in your framework of study, you're on your own basically unless you form your own groups of support.
Kineret: As an artist, I was looking for collaborations all the time. So, now I’ve found that running these kinds of spaces is, for me, a collaboration: a way of extending my practice. In the end it is more curation and organising, but I’m still figuring that out.
GWY: The word community comes back to mind. Collaboration is like a community practice. For a new gallery to foster this level of collaboration feels very refreshing.
Kineret: It was a bit of a risk, but we wanted to take this risk. It's a statement because collaborative work comes with the more experimental. It can be something a bit looser. And we wanted to say: it's experimental, it's collaborative. But we also put a lot of effort into bringing together something that feels complete. It was only possible because there were so many people working on it around the clock.
Ariel: Yeah, definitely - Seren and Martina were completely committed to making it work for them both and really invested a lot towards the production.
Kineret: The sense of commitment is important as well. Because in this sort of field, it's not for the money: it’s all a passion. So for them both to collaborate was a struggle from time to time, but they were open enough and it has turned out super successful. We knew that both Martina and Seren were working with writing and sound so a collaboration could work.
Ariel: But also it could go horribly wrong! It’s not a guaranteed success.
Kineret: We have to put a lot of trust in people. But I think both Seren and Martina just felt like good choices for this sort of process.
From July we started to meet regularly, and they had this Google Doc which is amazing: they had a super-rich long conversation, like 50 pages, back and forth with ideas and thoughts. Now, when I look back at the Google Doc, I see everything in the installation. The dialogue between them is amazing. You can see at the beginning of the document they say ‘oh I like that in your work… I like that in your work’ and they’re trying to get to know each other.
And quite late in the process, they were still trying to figure out how to work together. So it was trust from us, trust from them. I think when you have more trust, you're more open and it kind of just happens, you know?
GWY: What do you see as the challenges of opening this kind of gallery now?
Kineret: There’s so many. There's the money thing. Our strategy now is to apply for funding for specific projects, rather than apply for the whole gallery but we will have to do it at some point. One of the key challenges is how to make it sustainable, maybe sustainable-ish! I'm hopeful that through building a community, it will allow us in the future to justify sustainability in terms of funding from arts council etc.
We need to make ourselves known first. Just by displaying pretty good work. And word of mouth; I want people to really be attracted to this place because they will see good work, and because it’s a hub we want to position ourselves in the area and give an opportunity to really good work that doesn't have a place.
I feel like I'm just saying like these big words and maybe it sounds a bit idealistic! Our strategy was to engage as many people as we could beforehand. So, we programmed things a while ago. Just to make it real for us. And now we have this commitment, we're doing this, and we are working towards it and this is happening. And you have to direct it, you have to feed it and everything, but also it starts to develop its own life.
And it’s not all this serious – it’s all fun! It’s like a playground downstairs!
Hard Drives, Soft Walks runs until 19th February at Chemist Gallery, 57 Loampit Hill, SE13 7SZ.
There will be a special performance to mark the final weekend on Saturday 18th February at 5pm and 5:45pm. More info on Instagram @chemist.gallery
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
