In 2019, Rebecca Moss was commissioned by PEER Gallery in East London to work with their ‘PEER Ambassadors,’ a group of young people from the Hoxton area, from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Alongside working as paid gallery assistants, they work with artists commissioned by PEER. Moss worked with the group to respond to the local east London context, exploring a 'zero budget' approach to making, and thinking about how art practice could be intensified by limited economic circumstances. The project was supported by Alice White, Curator for Local Audiences.
PEER was a featured gallery for Open House London’s architecture weekend. As a group exhibition, Moss proposed an exhibition of front door proposals, moving away from formal and possibly intimidating gallery doors with buzzers. Each gallery assistant was given a door, which was sourced locally from the East London area, and encouraged to think about accessibility of art institutions, approachability and the presence of the gallery in Hoxton Street.
What insights might these gallery assistants, who spend hours invigilating art exhibitions and introducing visitors to the work, have around the symbolic function of the door, and making the gallery as open and inclusive as possible? How and why could a formal gallery door pose a barrier to accessing art?
Featuring the work of: Aantu Waday, Naile Karavil, Gideon Owusu, Fatim Kamara, Amida Deen, Iarla Prendergast Knight, Devinya Thomas and Ellise Johnson.
