LONDON, ENGLAND.-On Wednesday 19 October, at a Groundbreaking Ceremony on the Rivington Place site, Professor Stuart Hall, Chair of inIVA and Autograph ABP and the project champion says: “inIVA (Institute of International Visual Arts) and Autograph ABP are delighted to announce Barclays as Rivington Place founding corporate partner. Their £1million support for this important new building will bring visibility to the work of culturally diverse artists, whose work is rarely seen in the UK.”

The building project is led by inIVA and Autograph ABP, two organisations dedicated to showcasing the work of both emerging and established international artists and curators. The vision is to create a new kind of visual arts space, at the heart of London, dedicated to the work of artists, photographers and curators from a variety of different cultural backgrounds.

Designed by leading architect David Adjaye, the 15,000 sq foot building will house an exhibition and installation space, seminar and screening space (Barclays Project Space), multimedia lab, library, photography archive, an interactive learning space, SME workspaces and a café/bar. It will be a centre of excellence for the presentation and dissemination of those ideas and practices in the contemporary visual arts, which have been consistently marginalized by mainstream cultural institutions, nationally and internationally.

David Lammy, Minister for Culture says of the new building: “Rivington Place is in an ideal location, in the heart of a thriving, dynamic and culturally rich area - both in terms of the diversity of the communities living there and the thousands of artists who work there. This is a wonderful project which will make a significant contribution to raising the profile of and providing access to art created by artists from diverse cultural backgrounds. I am delighted that it also offers artists the things they have been telling me they need - the opportunity to exhibit, research and develop their art. “

Tiku Patel, Managing Director, Barclays Premier Banking says: "This innovative partnership reflects Barclays history of supporting positive social change and investing in the diverse communities in which it operates. In many ways Rivington Place will connect the local with the global - which demonstrates both Barclays global perspective and also its support for the local culturally diverse communities of East London where its new headquarters is based."

inIVA and Autograph ABP have international reputations for covering uncharted territory in contemporary visual arts and taking risks on new ideas. The art installation, Invisible Man, curated by Mark Sealy, Director Autograph ABP, is also unveiled on the Rivington Place site on 19 October, to mark the fact that the building is breaking ground. The Installation speaks directly to the core function of Rivington Place as a new space for visibility – by asking critical questions about the nature of visibility.

Mark Sealy, Director Autograph ABP explains further: “The Invisible Man installation encourages audiences to have a dialogue with the past through the classic photograph Emerging Man by Gordon Parks and the celebrated novel by Ralph Ellison Invisible Man – two seminal international artists who over 50 years ago collaborated to produce an image that addressed directly the issue of visibility. The audience is simply being invited to consider what it means to be made invisible. The fact that Barclays are not only supporting Rivington Place financially, but also so enthusiastically supporting this kind of work is innovative and refreshing.”

Rivington Place is also supported by a £5million Arts Council England Lottery Capital 2 Programme grant, making it the first new visual arts project to be built in London with public funding for 40 years, the last being the Hayward Gallery.

Sarah Weir, Executive Director, Arts Council England, London says: “The creative dynamism of London, with its centuries-old cultural heritage and diverse contemporary energy, is known to be one of the main reasons people want to visit, live and work in the capital. We are both proud and delighted to be adding to this dynamism as the key investor in Rivington Place. We firmly believe this new space will quickly become a key landmark on the artistic landscape of the capital”

The project has London Development Agency, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and Hackney Council funding for SME workspace for cultural/creative industries in the building. It has also received access funding from Bridge House Trust.