Little Victories

Yesterday, I came across this new gallery in Shanghai…well it can go pretty much anywhere in China to be honest…called ‘Little Victories’….a small transportable space that sits on the back of a Chinese waste collection tricycle.

It was founded by Katie Surridge (British-born artist, from London, b. 1985), Julian Palacz (from Wien Leopoldstadt & Mürzzuschlag, b. 1983) and Stefano Ogliari Badessi (Italian born) whom met during a current residency at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai…a great opportunity where I’ve met and supported many an international artist. I really miss visiting that space and studios near The Bund. A beautiful spot with a great rooftop.

‘Little Victories’ was established with the objective of “running a thought-provoking exhibition programme of dedicated group and solo shows…providing a platform to exhibit and support contemporary artists from around the world…acting as a mobile space in which to exhibit what and where ever you like , an interesting concept in a communist country where much creativity is heavily censored.” The latter part of this statement I would somewhat question as the issue of censorship is somewhat changing and also understood very differently once you have invested time in, and experienced, China through everyday life and work. You can get away with a great deal now in very broad terms.

“At the core of their ethos is bringing the art to the people and building a foundation for greater acceptance and accessibility of different creative practices.”

I like the vision of this gallery as to how they want to make art “move”, freely available to audiences, with a great sense of “the temporary”, which is very much what I am looking at in relation to the project I’m planning for 2013/14, where my PhD research is put into curatorial practice – ‘The Temporary: 01’ – which I am still yet to fill you in on. Watch this space. It’s very exciting. Until then, let’s see what ‘Little Victories’ has to offer in the coming months…