TIM BOWDITCH/COURTESY VI, VII, OSLO
In a post today on the blog Artmirror, London’s Arcadia Missa gallery revealed that it will be moving to the British capital’s Soho neighborhood. It is currently located in the Peckham neighborhood, where it has been based since it opened as a project space in 2011.
Rósza Farkas, the gallery’s founding director, explained that the decision to move was spurred on by concerns over gentrification. “Having grown up in Peckham I have witnessed massive changes, in particular in recent years,” Farkas wrote. “Although it’s sentimental to be spending less time in the area, for reasons beyond how much more accessible central London is for many visitors, it is time to go. I am against gentrification, and this has left me constantly conflicted in my position as a gallery owner.”
Ever since it opened in 2011, Arcadia Missa has been mindful of its status as an art space. (In 2014, Arcadia Missa, which began as an arts venue, transformed itself into a commercial gallery. Briefly, the gallery also had a satellite space in New York’s Chinatown neighborhood.) On its website, the gallery has listed community restaurants, food trucks, and markets that visitors could support. It is an approach that has been mirrored by galleries around the world, including Housing, the Brooklyn space that has set out with the goal of “de-gentrifying” a lot formerly occupied by gallery American Medium, which has since moved to Chelsea.
For its first show in Soho, Arcadia Missa will stage a solo exhibition by the duo New Noveta that is expected to open in April. Currently listed on its roster are Amalia Ulman, Jesse Darling, Hannah Black, Ann Hirsch, and Phoebe Collings-James, among others.
“I think that less of a presence in an area that many people are hell bent on turning into one big boxpark will also be positive,” Farkas wrote. “I’d like to encourage everyone to resist.”