Having graduated from University of the Arts London last year, a duo of artists and a duo of curators got together and combined their talents to form what is now an art collective based in London. Composed of curators Victoria Genzini and Polly Wright, and artists Jean Feline and Edouard Burgeat, the collective of four calls themselves One Night Stand. Their aim is to communicate with their audience through site specific work by installing it in completely unconventional locations, challenging the way we respond to art. These interventionist exhibitions take place over twenty four hours at a time around various parts of London, contributing to the collective’s name.
One Night Stand’s first exhibition in June 2012 resulted in the collective inhabiting “Robi’s off license”, a corner shop on Brick Lane. One of London’s typical cultural features, the corner shop is normally utilized as a pit-stop for food or alcohol before/after a night out, rarely a place for purchasing weekly groceries. By filling the shop with quirky pieces of art discreetly installed to blend in with the surroundings, the
Two nights ago in Whitechapel the collective made a reappearance, this time to occupy Fakruddin Biryani & Grill chicken shop, another cultural symbol of London and consumerist location that, combined with some tongue in cheek artworks, created an interesting reciprocity. One Night Stand’s approach is to always invite a third artist to join them: this time the two collective artist members were joined by young artist Charlotte J Ward, her photographs covering the shop window. A brightly coloured table accompanied by some kitschy stools was placed both outside and inside the shop; right at the entrance was a glass cabinet containing a whole gold painted chicken, propped up on a bottle of cognac with eggs surrounding it.
During my time at the shop, I immediately noticed how differently the space was being used; many were present simply to grab a bite to eat after a day’s work and entirely unaware of the project taking place, some left quickly without paying any attention to the surroundings, others stayed and had a look around and talked to members of the collective. Groups of people braved the cold weather and used the seating area outside, especially the smokers. Ultimately, whether they lingered or left as quickly as they had entered, everyone caught a glimpse of the surroundings, making the interaction with art different to the usual “Today I’m going to the following gallery to see an exhibition” kind.
Below are some images by Charlotte Ward (http://www.charlottejward.com/) who also photographed the event, documenting the atmosphere in the shop throughout the evening.
For more information on each individual member of the collective, and to keep up to date with what One Night Stand may have in mind next, visit: http://www.1night-stand.com/
