Events

The Espacio Gallery Events Programme aims to inform, inspire and stimulate as well as to encourage enjoyment and exploration of a series of subject matters.

Our Talks & Lectures relate to exhibitions along with a variety of other subjects and are delivered by curators, guest lecturers, academics, artists, scientists and writers. Espacio also hosts a number of Poetry and Art Performance evenings throughout the year.

Past events

​heavy weather
Thirty Minutes & Kai Labs
Friday 2 July 2021 7:15-8pm
Saturday 3 July2021 7:15-8pm

​This is going to be super exciting!
Thirty Minutes @thirty_mins
Aliayta Foon-Dancoes @aliaytafoon
Liam Ross Gibson @apparentlyiexist
Paul Macintyre @pauldmacintyre

Kai Lab and thirtyminutes present “Heavy Weather”, an immersive musical performance as part of Degrees of Freedom’s the playful turn at Espacio Gallery on the 2nd and 3rd July, 7:15pm-8pm. Featuring our wireless 12 channel audio system Field of Sounds, live performers will jostle for position within a unique musical environment where the gallery becomes an arena for improvisation and play—a celebration of physicality within a digital web.

This event does not require tickets, but capacity is limited so please arrive early. We encourage the audience to make themselves comfortable on the floor or to stand.

​@catherine5524  @jonathan_kelham  @aliciacorbett_artist
@paddyodonnell4d  @frances.willoughby.art  @callytrench
@daviesmonaghanklein  @DysonAsbury  @rgb20twenty
@hyunsunyoo_artist  @tomhackettsculptor  @agnieszka_synak_art
@elizabethhaybrown  @SullenRiotPhotography  @lalianab
@playsetstudio  @shahartuchner  @mpieregonczuk  @benwilsonartist
@daviddunnico  @doctor_lovey  @thirty_mins  @aliaytafoon
@apparentlyiexist  @pauldmacintyre  @sylvain.souklaye
@rosina.godwin  @juwo68  @simonkennedyarts  @cbrueton
@caroline_younger  @juliebrixeywilliams  @kunfangart  @ahmedfqi
@espaciogallery  @Kunfangart  @vinayhathi  @kapadia.bharati

Curated by Ahmed Farooqui & Degrees of Freedom

​Tom Hackett & Woodcock’s
Sunday 4 July 2021 1-5pm

​Performance schedule for Tom Hackett @tomhackettsculptor & Woodcock’s @juwo68

​@catherine5524  @jonathan_kelham  @aliciacorbett_artist
@paddyodonnell4d  @frances.willoughby.art  @callytrench
@daviesmonaghanklein  @DysonAsbury  @rgb20twenty
@hyunsunyoo_artist  @tomhackettsculptor  @agnieszka_synak_art
@elizabethhaybrown  @SullenRiotPhotography  @lalianab
@playsetstudio  @shahartuchner  @mpieregonczuk  @benwilsonartist
@daviddunnico  @doctor_lovey  @thirty_mins  @aliaytafoon
@apparentlyiexist  @pauldmacintyre  @sylvain.souklaye
@rosina.godwin  @juwo68  @simonkennedyarts  @cbrueton
@caroline_younger  @juliebrixeywilliams  @kunfangart  @ahmedfqi
@espaciogallery  @Kunfangart  @vinayhathi  @kapadia.bharati

Curated by Ahmed Farooqui & Degrees of Freedom

​Andrea Arnold
Wednesday 30 June 2021 3.30pm, 4.30pm, 5.30pm
Saturday 3 July 2021 ​3.30pm, 4.30pm, 5.30pm

​Performance schedule for Andrea Arnold @rgb20twenty

​@catherine5524  @jonathan_kelham  @aliciacorbett_artist
@paddyodonnell4d  @frances.willoughby.art  @callytrench
@daviesmonaghanklein  @DysonAsbury  @rgb20twenty
@hyunsunyoo_artist  @tomhackettsculptor  @agnieszka_synak_art
@elizabethhaybrown  @SullenRiotPhotography  @lalianab
@playsetstudio  @shahartuchner  @mpieregonczuk  @benwilsonartist
@daviddunnico  @doctor_lovey  @thirty_mins  @aliaytafoon
@apparentlyiexist  @pauldmacintyre  @sylvain.souklaye
@rosina.godwin  @juwo68  @simonkennedyarts  @cbrueton
@caroline_younger  @juliebrixeywilliams  @kunfangart  @ahmedfqi
@espaciogallery  @Kunfangart  @vinayhathi  @kapadia.bharati

Curated by Ahmed Farooqui & Degrees of Freedom

Christina Lovey
Thursday 1 July 2021 3-7pm
Friday 2 July 2021 3-7pm
Saturday 3 July 2021 3-7pm
Sunday 4 July 2021 3-5pm

​Performance schedule for Christina Lovey @doctor_lovey

@catherine5524  @jonathan_kelham  @aliciacorbett_artist
@paddyodonnell4d  @frances.willoughby.art  @callytrench
@daviesmonaghanklein  @DysonAsbury  @rgb20twenty
@hyunsunyoo_artist  @tomhackettsculptor  @agnieszka_synak_art
@elizabethhaybrown  @SullenRiotPhotography  @lalianab
@playsetstudio  @shahartuchner  @mpieregonczuk  @benwilsonartist
@daviddunnico  @doctor_lovey  @thirty_mins  @aliaytafoon
@apparentlyiexist  @pauldmacintyre  @sylvain.souklaye
@rosina.godwin  @juwo68  @simonkennedyarts  @cbrueton
@caroline_younger  @juliebrixeywilliams  @kunfangart  @ahmedfqi
@espaciogallery  @Kunfangart  @vinayhathi  @kapadia.bharati

Curated by Ahmed Farooqui & Degrees of Freedom

​Pygmalion 
Giacomo Pini
In collaboration with Daniel Thomson and Toby Carr
Thursday 5 December 2019 8:30pm

​Inspired by ancient Greek mythology and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Pygmalion is a queer reinterpretation of the story of a sculptor who falls in love with the fruits of his labour. 
When his statue is blessed (or cursed?) from the Gods with a beating heart, Pygmalion thinks he can finally fulfill his love for it. 
But how will the two find a way to communicate? 

Pygmalion is a short live installation, a dialogue between two worlds: dance and music, a statue and its creator, the body, exposed in its nakedness, and the raw emotion of the singing voice. This piece combines live performance, dance and music into a unique and captivating experience; a sensory feast that will keep eyes and ears peeled and hearts open. 

This piece is a collaboration between Giacomo Pini, tenor Daniel Thomson and lutenist and guitarist Toby Carr. Special thanks to choreographer Livia Massarelli for her artistic support and mentorship throughout the creation of the piece. 

Giacomo Pini is a London-based dancer and movement artist, working across the fields of performance art, contemporary dance and yoga.

Looking at life from a queer perspective, his pieces transform the human body into a poetic vehicle, a place for reflection where the audience is encouraged to question established norms of gender and sexuality and conventional definitions of beauty. 

​A Little Caterpillar Movement
Thiru Seelan
Thursday 5 December 2019 8pm

​Thiru Seelan, refugee from Sri Lanka, is a trained Indian classical dancer, choreographer, performer and authentic movement trainer, currently living in the UK and studying at Goldsmiths University (MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy).

“My mother taught me how to move and my sister taught me how hold the hand gestures (mudras) and body movements, my dad never stopped my thoughts. I knew that there was something growing inside me that was vulnerable and afraid of the outside world. I let it grow freely, I loved it so much. I never let down that divine feeling until it was snatched under the military boots. I saw it outside of me, naked. I kissed it with my bleeding lips and here I am - the person that I am”.

​BURNING PRICKS
Riccardo Tarocco & Antonio Branco
Thursday 5 December 2019 7pm

​In an iconoclastic performance two individuals interact from image to image in a flow of pain, truth, and hypocrisy. While enacting violent and sexual acts they read statements of political and philosophical nature shaping the surreal performance into a radical lecture on virility, femininity, contemporary sexuality, porn consumption, cybersex, polyamory and gender norms. Both performers are naked and holding candles moulded from their own erect penises. They burn slowly and melt over their bodies. The performance functions through a conceptual script, it's never rehearsed and it's allowed to change constantly, with different spaces and contexts, and to respond to the site in which is set.
Sat 30 Nov 
​5 – 7pm 
Writing your truth (Poetry Workshop) 
Find out more
Sat 30 Nov 
​3:30 – 4:30pm 
Tea/coffee With The Artists 
Find out more
Sat 30 Nov 
1 – 3pm 
Photo Walk 
Find out more
Fri 29th Nov 
6:30 – 9:00pm 
Light Painting (Photography Workshop) 
Find out more
Thu 28th Nov 
6 – 9pm 
PRIVATE VIEW 
Find out more
Wed 27th Nov 
4 – 7pm 
Creative Portraits (Photo Shoot) 
Find out more
Tue 26th Nov 
6:30 – 9pm 
Reconnect With Your Creativity (Talk) 
Find out more

​Esperanza Gómez Carrera
ARTE EN MOVIMIENTO (ART IN MOTION)
6 November 2019, 8pm

​Short film about the life and work of the London-Malaga based Spanish sculptress and artist Esperanza Gómez Carrera.

Esperanza Gómez Carrera: 
http://www.esperanzagomezcarrera.com

Twitter: @AndeFilms
E-mail: films.ande@gmail.com

​Reconnect with Your Creativity
Free Talk by Juliana Lauletta
Friday 5 July 6:30 - 8pm
Espacio Gallery
Admission free

​Creativity is not a gift that you are born with and either have it or not. Creativity can be practiced. It's like a muscle that gets stronger if you exercise. Also, there are a lot of techniques you can learn to do that.

Juliana will be talking about one of her favourite subjects: Creativity! And how to reconnect with yours.

She will be sharing a lot of ways you can get your creative juices flowing. She is so passionate about the subject that we are sure she'll empower you to dive deeper into your creative journey. Let's call it contagious creativity!

Come and join us. We'd love to see you there. 

​​Le Guerrier, Call for Change
22 January - 03 February 2019
Daily 1-7pm

​A film by Ola Klebanska, Mathilde Dauguet, and Jean Garcin
Music: Wojtek Sobolewski
Admission free.

Naked Nature Project
Friday 1 February 8pm

As part of the Roots & Rifts exhibition, the Naked Nature Project will be offering to the public a "first view" of their upcoming book Are You Mental.
The program includes an art video and a presentation of photos and other contents of the book.
Admission free.

​Chega de Fiu Fiu (Film screening)
Brazilian Women Against Fascism
Saturday 2 February 7:30pm

​BWAF (Brazilian Women Against Fascism) and Arts for Democracy present a screening of the Brazilian documentary Chega de Fiu Fiu, which translates roughly to Enough With Catcalling.

Filmmakers Amanda Kamanchek and Fernanda Frazão use the documentary to explore sexual harassment and catcalling in the streets of Brazil, and the film interweaves the stories of three Brazilian women, including a trans woman, who share their versions of the female experience. 

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A. The panelists are Gabriela Loureiro and Minerwa Tahir.

Part of the Roots & Rifts exhibition.

The Gronthee International Poetry Festival
26 & 27 January 7:30pm

Curated by Bengali Poet Ahmed Kaysher and the editor of the Gronthee Poet Shamim Shahan, the festival features some of the accomplished and new voices from South Asian, Latin American, European and Persian poetry.

Organised by The Gronthee Literary Platform.
Admission free.

ESPACIO CHRISTMAS PARTY 2018
Friday 7 December from 6pm till late

You're invited to our Christmas Party on Friday 7 December from 6pm till late.

The party is free and open to all - just bring a bottle of wine ; )

It would be nice to see you there.
Picture
Beatriz Acevedo

​Celebration International Women's Day
Thursday 8 March 2-7pm

turing Workshop, Performance, Talks, and Puppets

3:00 pm: Workshop - Beatriz Acevedo
5:00 pm: Performance - Yuliya Krylova
6:00 pm: Puppet - Tareshvari Robinson

Drop in anytime and join us. Tea, cakes, and snacks served.

Curated by Renee Rilexie & Tomas Amare
Picture
Yuliya Krylova
Picture
Wyllie O'Hagan

Book Launch by Wyllie O Hagan
Saturday 10th March 5-7pm

The book contains almost 100 beautiful photographs of contemporary whitework textiles and their creators, accompanied by insightful commentaries.

This unique book has the power to do many things: to bring comfort to those who face fear; to show a way to travel towards a calmer normality; to inspire creativity; to enjoy uplifting artworks; to send good intentions to those who need love; to donate to Cancer Communities, Nursing and Hospice Care.

Nonsensability
An Evening of Performance Art
Saturday 17 March 8-10pm


Featuring:
Jones Tensini & Peter Phillips (guitar)
Giulia Vitiello
Marcia Mar
Lizy Bending
Lawrence Mathias and Bethan Mathias (vocals), Mike Blakeney (bass), and
Megs Slark (dancing)
Jonathan Graham & Sara Paganetto (co-performer)

Curated by Ana Cockerill and Jonathan Graham

A History in 40 Postcards
Inauguration: Friday 8 December 2017 7-9pm


You are invited to attend the inauguration of A History in 40 Postcards, a continuing exhibition about Espacio at Espacio.

Organised by Esperanza Gomez Carrera, Ahmed Farooqui & Alan Swann

Poetry in 3D
Saturday 9 December 2017 8-10pm


You are invited to join us for an informal evening of poetry - readers, listeners & poets alike. Admission is free but please bring a bottle of wine ; )

Some of the readers who will celebrate poetry with us in this special evening are:

Patrick Blum - Teacher, journalist, writer
Kanwal Dhaliwal - Painter, sculptor, social activist
Julia Spatuzzi Felmanas - Writer, poet, translator & interpreter
Jonathan Graham - Fine artist, poet, art performance artist
Ahmed Kaysher - Poet, director at Saudha Society of Poetry & Indian Music
Leslie Lismore - Fine artist and writer
Marcia Mar - Multimedia artist, performance artist and poet
Lawrence Mathias - Visual artist, musician, poet and teacher
Hector Natamba (Brother Natamba) - Poet, poetry reader, spoken word performer
Ana Rojas - Photographer, tourist guide and former journalist
Ajit Satnam Kaur - Poet, writer
Giulia Vitiello - Art performance artist

Curated by Ana Cockerill

Poetry in 3D
Saturday 21 October 7:30pm

You are invited to join us for an informal evening of poetry - readers, listeners & poets alike, on Saturday 21 October at 7:30pm at Espacio Gallery.

If you wish to read a poem please bring your poem and a found object that relates to your poem, or any object that holds some other special meaning to you.

If you're just coming as a listener please feel free to bring an object as well. These objects will be used to construct a 3D installation. They will be handed back to you at the end of the evening.

Admission is free but please bring a bottle of wine ; )

Some of the readers who will celebrate poetry with us in this special evening are:

Ana Rojas - photographer, tourist guide and former journalist
Carolina Cal Angrisani - speech & drama student, performance artist
Dalvir Kaur - Punjabi poet from Wolverhampton
Julia Spatuzzi Felmanas - translator & interpreter, writer and poet
Lawrence Mathias - multimedia artist , musician, poet and teacher
Leslie Lismore - fine artist and writer
Marcia Mar - multimedia artist, performance artist and poet
Patrick Blum - teacher, journalist and writer
Seema Gill - poet, writer and artist  from London
Tereza Briggs - playwright, director, actor and teacher

You are very welcome to join us. Just bring a poem and/or your poetic enthusiasm!

Organised by Ana Cockerill

Jenny Judova
How to approach a Gallery

Friday 5 February 2016 7-9pm

Please join us on Friday the 5th of February, for a talk by Jenny Judova on How to approach a Gallery.

Jenny Judova is the director of Art Map London and the co-director of Tom’s Etching Studio. She will be speaking about the complicated relationship between artists and galleries and how artists can bypass the gallery system to do it on their own. An artist really does not need gallery representation to have a successful career in the arts.

The talk is based on Jenny Judova's recent book How to Approach a Gallery and attendees will receive a 20% discount off the book.

Women’s International Day
Sunday 8th March

2:30 - 3:30pm 
Tiny Acts of Care 
Ruth Jones will be performing tiny acts of care to individuals.
Visitors will be able to choose between 4 different acts of care they would like performed to them:
  • 5 minutes of being read to
  • 5 minutes of being listened to
  • 5 minutes of playing
  • 5 minutes of portrait drawing

4:00 - 4:45pm
Singing Workshop by Madeline Shrimpton

A playful singing workshop designed to celebrate the International Women’s Day. Come and sing through the moon cycle and feel empowered and energized. This workshop focuses around collective engagement and collective creative processes, so the only thing we need from you is the desire to feel heart warming, to have fun and to be part of a group.
 
5:00pm – Late
  • Poetry to Honour Maya Angelou
  • Chat Circle 
For additional information, please contact Renee  Rilexie:  rilexie@gmail.com

Be Smart About Art
Peer Networking Event

Friday 6 March 2015 7-9pm

This is a monthly opportunity for BSAA Members and one-time Guests (non-Members) that enables you to:
  • Develop your peer network;
  • Meet fellow professionals in the art world;
  • Discover exhibition spaces around the cultural capital;
  • Meet gallery curators and artists;
  • Expand your skills in networking for your art practice.

BSAA Founder Susan Mumford provides 3 top networking tips each month.

Not keen on 'networking'? Consider this question: Do you enjoy meeting people and talking about art?

If your answer is 'Yes', you will thrive on art world networking, for the benefit of developing your creative and professional practice!

And, if you are still not keen... BSAA will gladly help you develop the confidence and skills you need to go out into the world and meet people, which helps support your creative career.

BSAA Members: Admission Free | Guests: £15

For further information and booking a space

Professor Derek Matravers

Wednesday 12 November 2014 6-8pm
Admission Free

Professor and philosopher Derek Matravers will discuss the exhibition Edge of Ordinary at the Espacio Gallery in the presence of the artists and the public.

Professor Matravers will take up the themes of pre-modernity, modernity and post-historical art-making in the context of Edge of Ordinary, thereby plaiting philosophy, art theory and art criticism together.

Matravers’ two most recent works are Fiction and Narrative (OUP, 2014) and a co-edited (with Damien Freeman) collection of essays entitled, Figuring Out Figurative Art: Contemporary Philosophers on Contemporary Paintings (Routledge, 2014).

Illustrated Talks About The East End of London

Thursday 25 September 2014 7pm
Speakers: Alan Gilbey, Roger Mills and Zena Sullivan
Admission Free

The artists in the exhibition have researched ideas about the neighbourhood that surrounds Espacio Gallery. To add to this there will be a series of short talks about the local area and its history by this great line-up of speakers:
 
► Alan Gilbey of East End Backpassages tours and book fame will give an illustrated talk of the real stories about the area.
 
“Backpassage Walks are a hilarious alternative to the normal blue badge tours around East London, whilst remaining historically accurate and extremely informative. Alan Gilbey is the real thing, a genuine Eastender who knows his material intimately and an extraordinary performer and writer. I cannot recommend his walks too highly.” -Rachel Lichtenstein, author of Diamond Street, On Brick Lane and Rodinski’s Room with Iain Sinclair.
 
► Roger Mills, author of the book Everything Happens in Cable Street.
 
► Zena Sullivan, an official City of London guide.

Duality Expanded
Video Screening

Friday 25 July 2014 7-10pm
Admission Free

Duality Expanded focuses on the works of 5 artists from the current Duality exhibition. Each artist offers a different and unique interpretation around the concept of Duality. Each artist will present slides and/or videos and talk about their work.

Carla Fleck, Lawrence Mathias, Nicholas Peart, Silvio Severino, Terryfy

Organised by Ana Cockerill

Performance Poetry
Andra Simons

Thursday 13 March 2014 7:45pm
Admission Free

Despite decades of progress, sexuality and the body are still at the heart of attacks on women, who are frequently invalidated for their looks or, conversely, valued only for their sexual desirability. Just recently a Sun journalist drew attention to the outfit worn by a female MP who was calling for an end to Page 3, with the implication that there was  an irony in dressing attractively whilst campaigning against naked women in his newspaper. It is here that Time = Change, 6-18 March 2014 at Espacio Gallery, looks to the future, considering the pitfalls of sexting and online dating, and the perilous yet seductive mainstreaming of plastic surgery, a topic also explored in Jamie McCartney’s Great Wall of Vagina installation.

With the ‘fourth wave’ of feminism now underway, at least in the UK, it’s hard to predict what the future will bring, except one thing’s for sure, and that’s change.

Chat Circle & Poetry

Saturday 8 March 2014 3-6pm
Performance Artist: Agnieszka Niklewska 5pm
Admission Free

Time = Change, 6-18 March 2014 at Espacio Gallery, takes a sweeping historical perspective on women’s struggle for social, sexual, political and cultural equality, acknowledging the remarkable accomplishments which early feminists might not have dreamed of, whilst confronting the darker realities of the many battles not yet won.

Throughout history it has always been popular to despair at the state of contemporary society and to insist, as some politicians and newspapers still do, that ‘things can only get worse’, or at the very least that progress cannot be achieved and the status quo is somehow pre-ordained. But the pessimism of the naysayers is ill-founded. Even a cursory glance at history shows the astonishing achievements of liberation movements which have ended slavery, won votes and many other rights for women and ethnic minorities and have now brought marriage rights to same-sex couples in many Western nations.
Picture
Agnieszka Niklewska
Event organised by Renee Rilexie

Lecture by Dr David S Berman
Quantum, A journey through The Standard Model

Thursday 14 November 2013 7.30pm
Admission Free

Dr David S Berman is currently a Reader in Theoretical Physics at Queen Mary College, University of London. After completing a MPhys. from Manchester and the premier licence at the the Universite Libre de Brussels, he obtained a PhD. from Durham (with a years sejourn at CERN) after which he completed post-doctoral work in Utrecht, Groningen, Jerusalem and Cambridge (He is a member of Clare Hall College). For five years (2002-2007) he was an EPSRC advanced fellow working on the project "Aspects of M-theory Interactions".

Dr Berman main research interests are in M-theory, the nonperturbative version of string theory. The extended objects in M-theory are membranes and five-branes. They are related to strings and D-branes in string theory via dimensional reduction. Over the last few years his research has been devoted to understanding the interactions of these branes. Mainly this is through the studying how membranes end on fivebranes. He has over a period of years built up a portfolio of activities, built around the interface of art and physics.

11 artists have grappled with the mind-bending ideas behind modern physics with some unexpected outcomes. The exhibition Quantum, A journey through The Standard Model is a visual conversation between the participating artists about The Standard Model of Particle Physics through a diversity of disciplines.

Using their works they raise a fundamental question posed by those who look in at this field from the outside. How do we connect with a subject, on a human level, that can at times be so alien and so far removed from common sense?

Organised by Roan Allen

Performance Poetry

Saturday 8 June 2013 3-5pm
Admission Free

Blending the literal and metaphorical, this event will explore the promises, possibilities and hidden depths of layers.

Organised by Renee Rilexie

Women's History Month / Renee Rilexie

Saturday 9 March 2013 2-4pm
Admission Free

Renee Rilexie invites you to celebrate Women's History Month with a Poetry Posse. Bring and share your favourite poems by women.

Rilexie is a painter, film-maker and multi-media artist with special interests in meditation, the practice of silence and the power of art to promote personal transformation.

Organised by Renee Rilexie