LONDON.- GALERIE8 is a new art gallery that will be located within the Arthaus Project in London Fields, East London . Opening in July 2011, it will focus on site-specific installations and emerging international artists. The gallery atrium consists of 250 metres of floor space with an open-air ceiling spanning five floors allowing for natural light and large scale works. Not limited to an exhibition platform, the gallery will also provide a multi-use artistic venue and community space for art and socio-cultural discussions. To celebrate its opening, GALERIE8 will host a summer-long programme of creative endeavours including workshops, films screenings and artistic performances.

Prior to the gallery’s first official solo exhibition in September 2011, the gallery’s launch will initiate a number of individual projects and events. Firstly, the artist Mary Yacoob will be collaborating with GALERIE8 on a project to trace the creative activity of the Arthaus building, as well as imagining what it will become. Using a field guide of historical and architectural plans for the design of the building, archival data from the Metropolitan and Hackney Libraries, and participant observations from former tenants of the building (once Momart art storage and Flowers East gallery); artist Mary Yacoob will create a drawing that highlights these layers of archival material. Throughout the summer months a slide projection of Yacoob’s work will be exhibited in the gallery.

GALERIE8 will also host a unique art programme during the Little London Fields Festival, which will include an unusual schedule of activities organised by the Free @rt SCh001 (Free Art School), as well as a variety of poetry readings and workshops. The Free @rt SCh001 will dedicate a full weekend to the deconstruction of traditional schooling through creative writing, storytelling, puppetry and ‘monster-making’, culminating in a discussion about the monstrous state of education. The weekend organised by Free @rt SCh001 will promote the actions of play as a way of exploring and freeing modes of artistic production beyond regimented categories and purposeful aims. They aim to highlight the joy of learning and making artwork and hope to inspire others to do the same.

Tying in with the weekend’s monster theme is a fundraising initiative called ‘Sweet Savage Stew'. Guests invited for dinner will be asked to make a small donation of £5 towards the inception of a new artistic proposal created by one of the artists attending the dinner. Attendees are also encouraged to contribute a vote in the grant-giving process, and discussions will be initiated about grass-roots sustainability in the arts. The idea of a ‘soup grant’ was first derived in Chicago by InCUBATE (Institute for Community Understanding between Art and the Everyday) and has since become a popular form of art funding in the UK .

Running concurrently with the Little London Fields Festival, GALERIE8 will also host their first artist in residence, Jarek Piotrowski, a Munich-based artist who will be introducing his work during the opening week of the gallery. As artist in residence, Piotrowski will develop a large scale work at the GALERIE8 space in anticipation of his forthcoming exhibition in autumn 2011.

At the beginning of July 2011, the gallery will show a temporary exhibition curated by the Jerwood Prize winning artist, Adam Dant. Inspiration for this exhibition comes from the story of four individuals who found gold whilst digging up their garden in Hackney. Many believed that the owner of this fortune was still alive, given the coins were minted during the end of the 19th century. The coins were recently exhibited at the British Museum whilst an investigation into their ownership continued. A successful claimant has recently come forward, however, these 80 gold coins have still been the subject of much speculation and story telling. In a project initiated by Dant, GALERIE8 presents an exhibition which endeavours to trace the lesser known tales of the Hackney Hoard through the narratives of artists, illustrators and writers.