Curated London meets LoVArts
LoVArts - London Visual Arts - a non-profit promotional and networking platform, is planning a highly ambitious exhibition this October, the likes of which have never been seen before. Editor Rob Kidd met LoVArts cofounder Aleksandra Karpowicz to find out more.
LoVArts is a promotional and networking platform for visual artists based in London. We mainly focus on emerging artists. We have two main objectives: we organise networking meetings to help people to collaborate and exchange experiences. We also organise events, which we hope will provide great opportunities for artists and even be turning points for them. We therefore aim to organise these events to the highest professional level.
Your next big show will be Infinite London. What was the inspiration?
The show is inspired by Peter Ackroyd’s book London: The Biography, in which he describes London as being like a human body, so we built our brief around that concept. London is the living organism and artists are like its organs - we can’t live without each other. We draw inspiration from the city we live in, but this isn’t a show about London - it’s a show about the emotions we experience because we live here. Those emotions are visible in the artworks produced by London based artists, even if they are sometimes not aware how the city influences them.
What can visitors expect?
The show is at The Vaults, which are 30,000 square feet of iconic tunnels underneath Waterloo Station. Visitors can expect a whole experience, not just a visual arts exhibition. They can enter this underground world where they can see, they can smell, they can feel the city through the art and its environment.
What drew you to the space?
As soon as we entered the space, we knew our show had to be there. There are a number of incredible rooms, each with their own character, including two wet ones, which have amazing dripping walls. These might be a challenge, but they are the most interesting ones. The venue is huge and unique so it offers the opportunity to showcase works of different mediums and sizes. The different spaces are suitable for different works, like installation, sculpture, paintings… We can play with the atmosphere.
What other events has LoVArts organised?
Last year we organised a group show called Chaos Control. We wanted to gauge the response from the artistic community to this kind of initiative. We organised the event in Brick Lane’s Cafe 1001, with no budget at all. We wanted to see how much we could do without money, so we just asked artists for minimal small submission fees to cover admin costs.
It was a great success. We had 800 people attend over just a few hours, and we got some great media coverage. We had amazing feedback. Cafe 1001, which hosts art and music events regularly, said that it was one of the best they have held. What we learned was that there was an appetite for this kind of artist-led event. Now we want to make the next one even more spectacular so that it can get as much exposure as possible for the artists involved. To do that, we need a bigger budget and more people, and that’s what we’re doing with Infinite London.
It’s going to be massive. Previously we had 30 artists, for this show we plan on featuring 50, but with the scope of the space in The Vaults we can feature much bigger works. We’re spending much more money and putting much more effort into marketing and PR this time around. The biggest cost is the venue, lighting, and marketing as well as a lot of additional costs that we didn’t have previously.
What sort of artists will be featured?
London-based artists: they have to live here and create their work here. A lot of artists don’t even realise that what they produce comes as a result of living in the city, even if London isn’t the subject of their work. When I look at the submissions that have come in already, it’s amazing what people have created and how they have interpreted the brief. They display the whole range of emotions - some are dark, some bright, some a bit disturbing… but it all fits in the brief.
How can artists get involved? And who decides what gets featured?
We have a panel of professional curators who will decide which artists will be featured. They come from different backgrounds and areas of speciality. For example, we have a curator from the Royal Academy specialising in Old Masters, and another one who curated at the V&A and Science Museum specialising in contemporary art. The exhibition is open to anyone, although it is aimed at emerging artists as we think they’re the ones who would most benefit.
We wanted to make sure the cost to artists of submitting artworks and exhibiting in Infinite London were kept to a minimum. The opportunities artists have to expose their work should be based on their wealth of talent, not their financial situation. We therefore offer a number of tickets to any artist selected to exhibit – so that they can sell them on and earn back their submission fee. Art is at the heart of what we do, and we wanted involvement in Infinite London to be accessible to all.
Infinite London runs at the same time as the Frieze Art Fair. Is that a risk or an opportunity?
It’s a very special week in the London art calendar and we wanted to be part of that. There will be lots of people in town to see art so it seems like a good opportunity to show them other work from less well-known artists. This isn’t a competition - we want to encourage people to explore London and see as many shows as possible.
The next Infinite London! We would like to organise another one next year, and to take it abroad to cities like New York and Dubai to promote London’s artists.
Submissions are now open for Infinite London, which will run from 15 - 19 October 2014. Tickets cost £5. You can find out more about the exhibition, and buy your tickets, here.
