Independent & Emerging Galleries London
Six artist-run and independent galleries, from Bethnal Green to Clapham, that back contemporary artists early — often years before an institution or a bigger commercial gallery does.
Contemporary Art London gathers the venues with institutional weight already behind them. This collection is the opposite kind of confidence: rooms in Bethnal Green, Mile End, Clapham, Vauxhall and Soho that find and back artists before the market has finished deciding what it thinks. Some are genuinely artist-run. None of them are chasing footfall. What they share is a willingness to show new or unfamiliar work — and, in one case, to treat photography as a serious medium in its own right — before anyone else has made the case for it.
6 venues
Studio Voltaire
An artist-run space in Clapham running exhibitions alongside free improvisation and critical discourse, closer to a laboratory than a conventional gallery.
Explore venue →Gasworks
A Vauxhall gallery built around artist residencies as much as exhibitions, giving international artists time in London before the show goes up.
Explore venue →The Photographers' Gallery
A Soho gallery devoted entirely to photography, treating the medium as a serious critical practice rather than an adjunct to painting and sculpture.
Explore venue →Soft Opening
Soft Opening in Bethnal Green has built its reputation on giving emerging artists, UK and international, their first solo show in London, since 2018.
Soft Opening is a contemporary art gallery founded in 2018, presenting UK-based and international emerging artists — often their first solo presentations in London — across exhibit…
Explore venue →Carlos/Ishikawa
A Mile End gallery founded in 2011, built around international artists working across multidisciplinary and experimental practice rather than a single medium.
Carlos/Ishikawa is a contemporary art gallery founded in the East End in 2011, focusing on international artists with wide-ranging multidisciplinary and experimental practices.
Explore venue →Herald St
Herald St has represented international artists from its Bethnal Green space since 2005, with a second London gallery on Museum Street.
Herald St is a contemporary art gallery founded in 2005, representing international artists from its Bethnal Green space, with a second London gallery on Museum Street.
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