Acme Studios
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Acme, also styled ACME, is a charity based in London, England which provides affordable studio and living space, residencies and awards for visual artists. Its studios are known as Acme Studios. It formerly provided two gallery spaces, first the Acme Gallery and later the Acme Project Space.
The Acme Gallery
Acme was founded in 1972 by Jonathan Harvey and David Panton, who both received an OBE for services to the arts in 2014.[1] Harvey and Panton led a group of London graduates, finding at that time there were empty factories, warehouses and other properties available to provide cheap spaces for artists to work and live in, albeit temporarily.[2]
From 1976 to 1981 Acme ran The Acme Gallery, a contemporary art space and former disused banana warehouse in Covent Garden.[3] The gallery focused on showcasing installation and performance art which was difficult to exhibit elsewhere, and between 1976 and 1981 featured artists such as Stephen Cripps, Jock McFadyen, Helen Chadwick, Stuart Brisley and Frank Bowling.[4] Alongside Camden Arts Centre, The Acme Gallery was one of the venues to host the New Contemporaries Live Show.[5]
Acme Project Space
From June 2009 to December 2015,[6] the Acme Project Space provided both UK-based and international artists on Acme's Residencies & Awards programme with a project and exhibition space, to show new work and engage in a critical dialogue with a wider audience.[7] The Project Space featured artists such as David Blandy, Vishwa Shroff, Luke McCreadie, Clare Price, and Marianna Simnett.[6] (The space is now the home of Auto Italia South East.)
Today
Acme provides studio and living space, residencies and awards for visual artists.[8]
As of 2022[update] Acme supports 800 artists with affordable studio space across 15 sites in Greater London (within Bethnal Green, Bow, Deptford, Elephant & Castle, Homerton, Kensal Green, Peckham, Poplar, Stockwell, Stratford, as well as Carshalton and Purfleet).[9] It also provides space for Auto Italia South East, East London Printmakers, Kinetika, Fieldnotes, and the Central Saint Martins Associate Studio Programme.[10]