An innovative new creative project space, called Elephant West will launch next month with the mission to showcase the very best in emerging artistic talent through an ambitious and exciting programme of immersive cultural experiences.
Elephant West is a physical manifestation of the print and online visual-culture publication Elephant – and will bring together exciting makers of all stripes to carry out ‘environmental takeovers’ that break down the traditional barriers of the typical white-cube gallery and transform the space to embody a chosen theme.
Designed by the multi-award-winning architecture studio Liddicoat and Goldhill, Elephant West will occupy a disused petrol station adjacent to the iconic Television Centre, the BBC’s former Headquarters. The space has undergone a transformation from abandoned ubiquitous facility into a thriving cultural environment.
The resulting space will house the main project space, spanning the height of the original petrol station as well as café and bar, workstation hub, and shop.
Elephant West is spearheaded by Robert Shore, Creative Director of Elephant, and Head Curator Becca Pelly-Fry. Of the space, Robert comments that
“Elephant’s tagline is ‘Life Through Art’ and, in keeping with that, the work produced at Elephant West will resonate thematically with the concerns of the wider world rather than the narrower interests of the ‘art world’. Elephant West will turn ordinary life into cutting-edge art.”
Elephant West will open in London’s White City district, an area that in the last two years has seen a surge of regeneration with a wave of new tech, scientific, and entrepreneurial companies moving in.
More recently, creative and educational institutions such as the RCA and ICL have opened White City campuses, signalling the area as a new educational centre of excellence. Elephant West aims to inspire and collaborate with this burgeoning community,
White City is undergoing a £8 billion ten-year regeneration that will form a new hub of activity, creativity and academia in west London. A thriving neighbourhood will see the arrival of new shops, restaurants and educational facilities, as well as the creation of 4,000 new homes, over two million square feet of office space and 20,000 new jobs.
Elephant x Griffin Art Prize
To coincide with the launch of the new space, Elephant West will announce the 10 artists short-listed for the first Elephant x Griffin Art Prize.
The new prize is a collaboration between the visual-culture publication, Elephant and the UK’s premier art prize for recent graduates. The prize, open to artists across all mediums, will reveal today’s outstanding and emerging talent and offer the winning artist a unique platform from which to build their career, along with a financial investment of £10,000 and professional advice and mentoring from the Elephant team.
Opening Solo Project by Maisie Cousins
Elephant West will launch with a solo project by the young West London based photographer, Maisie Cousins. Themed on our relationship with food and consumption, the project, will feature hyper-saturated macro imagery of food, insects, plants and nostalgic objects related to the experience of eating. Cousins’ style is bright, colourful and playful, where she explores, in this newly commissioned series, the joy and ceremony of eating. Her work treads a carefully balanced line between the beautiful and the disgusting, the attractive and the repulsive. “Dipping Sauce” will be interspersed with talks, workshops and other special events.
Elephant West will officially open its doors to the public on Saturday 10th November 2018.
Elephant West, 62 Wood Lane, London, W12 7RH elephant.art/west
