The Elephant Rooms

The Elephant Rooms

15 May, 2009
by: Tom Jeffreys

I'm sitting on the floor of a disused shop in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre, dictaphone in front of me, chatting about Gerhard Richter to two female artists. Periodically people walk past and laugh. At one point it looks like a man is about to pull his trousers down in front of us. It wouldn't be the first time. What on earth am I doing here?

Well, I reckon I must get about 10 press releases a day about new galleries opening up all over town. But occasionally one stands out. When I heard about something called The Elephant Rooms I was intrigued. An art gallery in a shopping centre? In Elephant and Castle? It'll never catch on...

The whole thing is the brainchild of the pair behind local arts/music space Corsica Studios, Amanda Moss and Adrian Jones. I arranged to meet up with Amanda and co-curator Kerry Brewer to find out a bit more about the project and the state of the art world, and also to learn about this strange thing called, apparently, South London.

Corsica Studios was first established almost ten years ago in Kings Cross before moving to Elephant and Castle in 2003. As Amanda explains, 'we were part of that DIY generation and we weren't just going to wait around for funding. When we left college we were looking for studio spaces along with lots of our friends. We got involved in a project in Kings Cross and we were given a space in the short term. It began to grow from there but unfortunately we got developed out, which often happens. So we moved here to Elephant and Castle in 2003 and set up a building where we had artists' studios and people making art. But for it to become sustainable, the parts of the building that were used to support other activities became more prominent. And that brought in money to support the art.'

In a city where everything is heavily branded – O2 Wireless Festival, HMV Forum, the Red Stripe St Paul's Cathedral... – such financial independence is important. According to Amanda: 'There's a whole generation of people who will align themselves with anything that will give them money. But where Adrian and I are coming from requires a bit more integrity - we'll never be rich but at least we're not going to align ourselves with some big corporation. I think that's important.'

In the same way, the Elephant Rooms is about providing a space to put on interesting shows rather than making money. Amanda and Adrian have managed to secure the space – for the time-being at least – rent-free, thanks to the co-operation of the local council and developers St Modwen. I'm intrigued to see whether there is something deliberately ironic about placing a gallery whose aims are far from commercial slap-bang in the middle of a shopping centre. Is this a comment on market-obsessed artists? 'I think it's a bit of a comment but it's also a social experiment as well,' says Amanda. 'It'll be interesting to get some of the serious art buying public to come and see art in a place like this.'

But Kerry has a slightly different view: 'There's a terrific amount of cliquiness, which has always been the case in the art world: if you know the right people, then fine, you can get your shit work in fantastic galleries. A 'comment' might be too strong a word, but I like the fact that this will not be a cliquey thing. It'll consist of genuine shows of work that is good. And bugger everyone else!'

I think this shows one of the potential strengths of The Elephant Rooms: Amanda and Kerry obviously agree on many things, but their tastes and attitudes differ sufficiently so that nothing will ever become too comfortable. At one point Kerry argues that 'as soon as painting becomes formulaic then it dies. You have to keep it fresh the whole time' and I think exactly the same could be said for running a gallery. The moment you stand still, it's over.

To this end, it's good to see The Elephant Rooms is opening with a show by South London art/music collective Off Modern. Although Amanda and Kerry have not had too much involvement, they're looking forward to the show and Amanda predicts a wide range of work on show: 'painting, installation, a DJ set up… and they make resin casts out of vinyl and you can play the resin. They do little blippy sound noise things. It's a young show, made up of graduates and ex-graduates mostly.'

This is one of the other strengths of a place like The Elephant Rooms. Exhibitions curated by Amanda and Kerry will take place only every three months, leaving the gaps in the schedule open for talented local artists. For their own shows, they're only looking for the very best. As Kerry puts it: 'Lots of art and music is just so incredibly linear that it can't actually say anything. Life is the darkest dark and the lightest light and it's about including all of that – that's what's brilliant about art. You can say everything.' 'And often at the same time,' I suggest. 'Exactly. So when you ask what we are sourcing, I'd quite like the dog's bollocks, and it's got to be out there somewhere.' 

It's clear then that both Kerry and Amanda are people with strong views and exceptionally high standards. Perhaps putting a gallery in a shopping centre in Elephant and Castle isn't such a silly idea after all. It just takes the right kind of people to make it work.

Frontiers by Off Modern is at The Elephant Rooms 22-28th May 2009.
The Elephant Rooms
Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre
SE1 6TE

Click here to see all London exhibitions.
Click here to see all London art.
Click here for things to do in Elephant and Castle.

Tom Jeffreys