Art Explora Foundation and V&A East today announce a new three-year partnership of special programmes to increase engagement with the arts in the four East London boroughs around V&A East Storehouse and V&A East Museum: Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest.
Frédéric Jousset, Founder Art Explora, said:
“We are very proud to work with V&A East who share our mission to reach new audiences and build new connections through the arts. We also believe in supporting artists, giving them the freedom to develop new work, as well as collaborate with local places and people. Jasleen Kaur is an exciting artist whose practice represents a real commitment to public engagement and I am looking forward to seeing the new work evolve.”
Sharing a mission to create art and culture with and for new audiences, the three-year partnership comprises of two elements: the annual Art Explora Art Commission at V&A East over three years – and the Art Explora Performing Arts Programme at V&A East. The partnership has been specially designed for different communities of East London to participate in bold and new contemporary artistic practices, in collaboration with emerging and established artists.
Gus Casely-Hayford, V&A East Director, said:
“We’re delighted to partner with Art Explora on these two ambitious programmes, bringing together and creating opportunities for artists, creatives and those living, working and studying in east London. At V&A East, we’re collaborating with creatives, young people and our local communities and East Bank partners to renegotiate what a museum might be, and dismantling barriers to welcome new audiences, including those who may not have felt museums were spaces for them before. We’re driven by the power of creativity to transform lives, drive change and create tangible opportunities for people to realise their own creative ambitions.”
The 2024 Turner Prize-winning artist Jasleen Kaur has been chosen for the inaugural Art Explora Art Commission at V&A East. To be unveiled in summer 2026, Kaur’s work will be taken beyond the walls of the museum and embedded in public spaces surrounding V&A East’s two sites. Kaur was one of 30 international artists nominated by cultural leaders and community practitioners working across the four East London boroughs – and ultimately chosen by a final jury that included Justine Simons OBE (Deputy Mayor of London for Culture and Creative Industries), James Lingwood (co-founder, Artangel), Zoé Whitley (art historian and curator), Jeremy Deller (artist), Art Explora founder Frédéric Jousset, and UK director Jemima Montagu, alongside V&A East Director Gus Casely-Hayford, V&A East Chief Curator, Brendan Cormier and V&A East Learning & Engagement colleagues.
Jasleen Kaur, said:
“I am often making work about how histories are managed and manufactured and in this commission, I’ve been drawn to the narratives and edges of life the museum is unable to contain, no matter its level of infrastructure or care.
“I am thinking about other ways of mapping place. Moving outwards from the museum archives into its surrounding neighbourhoods, working with communities to ask how sound can be a form of resistance in a city structured to manipulate who and what we see and hear. I’m really interested in how the city, the neighbourhood, the street, the pavement works. Together with local groups I will be producing a series of sculptural and sonic works that intervene in public infrastructure and that interrogate this problematic sense of place.”
The Art Explora Performing Arts Programme at V&A East, in partnership with Studio Wayne McGregor, engages 16–18-year-olds from four local further education colleges in East London in a new co-creative dance process responding to objects in the V&A collection. For the inaugural year, young participants will work directly with Studio Wayne McGregor to develop a new performance in response to Picasso’s iconic 1924 painted stage front cloth Le Train Bleu currently on display at V&A East Storehouse. The creative development process will culminate in a public performance in front of the stage cloth at V&A East Storehouse in February 2026. The programme will support local young people’s creativity and confidence, building connections with local cultural organisations, and increasing knowledge about creative career opportunities.
Odette Hughes, Associate Director, Studio Wayne McGregor, said:
“We are thrilled to announce a partnership with Art Explora x V&A East to lead the inaugural Performing Arts Programme for young adults. Learning and engagement projects have been central to Studio Wayne McGregor’s philosophy since Sir Wayne McGregor’s work as a dance animateur in East London at the very beginning of his career. We are deeply committed to engaging with the community and championing the next generation of young artists, and we are excited to see how they use this opportunity to hone and develop their individual voices through dance.”
MORE: vam.ac.uk/east / @art.explora
