City Racing 'Life / Live', U.K art-scene survey

untitled group exhibition, curated by City Racing 'Life / Live', U.K art-scene survey, curated by Hans-Ulrich Obrist etc, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, touring to Centro Culturelle de Belem, Lisbon, 1996-’97

'City Racing 1988-’98: A Partial Account', curated by Matthew Higgs and others, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 2001

'City Racing - The Life and Times of an Artist-Run Gallery', John Burgess,Keith Coventry, Matt Hale, Paul Noble and Peter Owen (the former City Racing directors), Black Dog Publishing London, 2002


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Racing

City Racing was an artist-run space in Kennington, South London which was active between 1988 and 1998. It was a cooperative by five artists Matt Hale,Paul Noble, John Burgess, Keith Coventry and Peter Owen. They set up the gallery in a former betting shop near the Oval cricket ground, hence the derivation of the gallery name.^[1] City Racing became an important and renowned exhibition space; its openings provided a networking opportunity for many artists.

History

A show was organised by Keith Coventry and Peter Owen as a way to show their work without having to court commercial West End galleries, which could be difficult and intimidating to approach without a reputation. Matt Hale became involved in the second show, which was the derelict betting shop which Coventry was using as his studio. Matt Hale said "We tried to make it as white-cube like as possible, as gallery-like as possible."^[2]

Artists who had early exhibitions at City Racing include Sarah Lucas, Fiona Banner, Lucy Gunning, Ceal Floyer and Gillian Wearing. In 1993 the space received some funding from the London Arts Board.

[edit]Influence

In its later years, City Racing was accepted to some extent by the art establishment, and was viewed by some as a route for artists to other more commercial and established galleries. It was featured inTime Out and City Limits as part of a new alternative art scene happening in London. This led to a benefit for the gallery organised by Karsten Schubert. David Burrows wrote that "in one sense, City Racing refused to be marginalised from the mainstream and had conventional career aspirations."^[2]

A retrospective book was published by Black Dog, called City Racing, The Life and Times of an artist Run Gallery. In 2001 the Institute of Contemporary Arts presented a retrospective of work exhibited at City Racing, entitled City Racing 1988-98: a Partial Account.^[3]


David Shrigley David ShrigleyDavid Shrigley represented Mustafa Hulusi Mustafa Hulusi's 50 caledonian road space as a snail, in this "map of london showing artist-run projects past & present (indicated by presence of strange beasts)", on the cover of 1 volume in the 2 volume catalog / book for HANS ULRICH OBRIST Hans-Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist & co's 'life / live' 1996-'97 blokbusta u.k art scene survey show (paris & lisbon).
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=959429597458036&set=gm.10152985657125047&type=1&theater