It was impressive. In addition to the large gallery space, they had built offices, artist studios, a woodcutting room, and a spray booth and resin room. The warehouse had been transformed.

 

At the opening, you could buy a plastic cup of craft beer for a fiver from a pop up van that had a regular spot outside the warehouse complex. Spritely graduates and emerging artists milled around in the courtyard self-consciously eyeing each other up. Alongside the usual schmoozing that takes place at these events, a new energy and sense of possibility vibrated in between sound waves full of gossip.

 

The previous year, the owners of this complex had failed in their attempt to rent it out as ‘creative office spaces’. This presented an opportunity for an ambitious lot of young creatives, who go by the name ‘Collective Ending’, to take over the space as their new headquarters in Deptford. On the basis they would make the space profitable, the collective were offered a large sum to refurbish it and free rent until completion. With a mix of a heck of a lot of good faith and hard unpaid labour the thirteen members banded together after their respective 9-5’s to strip the space and rebuild it.

 

The opening night was meant to take place several months ago but as coronavirus instigated national lockdowns the exhibition was postponed. In the months leading up to the new date, the pandemic exposed the precarity of employment in an arts sector that unashamedly pays artists in ‘experience’ or ‘visibility’. While museum directors were grappling with how to display, receive and engage with art when we couldn’t leave our homes, the rest of us were forced to rethink the sort of art world we want to have. In the midst of this unravelling and reimagining, and once the country began to open again, the ‘Collective Ending’ Headquarters opened their doors.

 

Although the shape of this new grassroots art institution is still being felt out, each member has brought with them a specific skill, ranging from the administrative knowledge of running a gallery to the technical skills used in construction. At this early stage, by pooling together their knowledge and resources, they have allowed the Collective Ending HQ to organically take form. As I awed at a second floor office they had built, I was told that the most expensive artwork had already been sold. This left a sour taste in my mouth. For now, the collective were imitating the usual model of a commercial gallery and financing themselves through the sales of artworks, while also relying on grants and external funding; becoming a hybrid of the two.

 

The curatorial theme of the exhibition also mirrored this state of ‘being in formulation’. Titled ‘A Land of Incomparable Beauty’ and organised by ‘Collective Ending’ members Alia Hamaoui, Byzantia Harlow and Charlie Mills, the group show featured thirteen London-based artists traversing the eldritch underbelly of the English landscape. With Brexit looming and the Black Lives Matter movement drawing attention to racism and class division in the UK, it was a timely concept. The works were situated within a generic ‘white cube’ exhibition format, traditionally intended to allow the artworks to ‘speak for themselves’. In this context however, the works got lost in a white abyss, and neutrality appeared apolitical and even vacant. As empty walls became empty space, the gap between the artworks and thematic framework widened. Blank spaces grew where title cards were absent, and there was no handout with a floor plan or description to refer to as I ambled around the exhibition. Art objects and images sprouted like wildflower without identification. I went back to the entrance and queued to check the floor plan and read the only available exhibition text which was mounted on the wall. Laminated and typed up in size 12 font, the beautifully written text however made no mention of the artists or artworks in the exhibition.

 

Even with the gaps and cracks in the curatorial terrain, there remains a sense that this is the start of something new. Just as post-pandemic-Brexit-Britain is still being felt out, the ‘Collective Ending’ Headquarters are only just taking form. While I cannot expect a young institution to lead the future, I hope that the gumption they showed building the gallery complex is carried through to develop their public programme, evolve their curatorial direction, and clarify their institutional objectives. I hope too, that they are bold enough to do this in line with a vision of a more inclusive art world.

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Collective Ending is an artist-led initiative. Their headquarters, ‘Collective Ending HQ’ is a collectively run studio and gallery complex in Deptford, South East London. The exhibition, ‘A Land of Incomparable Beauty’ opened on 11.07.20 - 22.08.20.