Chisenhale Art Place

This looked closed last time I passed which was just this week but hopefully it’s just having an olympic sabbatical or something. I’ve been to a few good shows here in the past as it is just around the corner from me.

The Chisenhale came to life as a place to put artists who were being evicted from the low-​cost temporary space they had found themselves in at some point in the 70s. A non-​profit centre featuring studios for residents and a generous gallery space on the ground floor, as well as a dance school/​studio occupying separate (and separately listed) premises next door, The Chisenhale was a precursor to many other likeminded ventures in this ferociously expensive city.
One of its chief virtues is that, being a community venture, it is open to collaboration. Recently, after nearly writing the space off on account of a particularly abysmal show, I attended a screening of STAR SPANGLED TO DEATH, presented by Mark Webber of Secret Cinema and Whitechapel Gallery. Clocking in over six hours and shown free of charge, this is the kind of art event that cannot be achieved in this city without places like Chisenhale.