Beaconsfield (gallery)

Beaconsfield is an artist-run non-profit art space situated in South London's gallery district, Vauxhall, England]. Spread over two large spaces encompassing a railway arch tunnel and the former Lambeth ragged school, the organisation run a yearly programme of exhibitions. The central focus of the gallery is to "provide a critical space for creative enquiry", additionally acting as a testbed and primary research vehicle informing theories of curatorial practice and the practice of making art.

History

The project was founded in 1994 by David Crawforth, Angus Neill and Naomi Siderfin. Originally designed to "fill a niche between the institution, the commercial and the 'alternative'", and provide a resource for the development and presentation of contemporary art. The Beaconsfield project was named for audiences to experience high quality ('beacon'), challenging, new art works in a wide range ('field') of contemporary visual art media.

In 1995 Beaconsfield leased the derelict former Lambeth Ragged School site in Newport Street, Vauxhall and the trio set about refurbishing the building to art centre standards. In September of that year they opened ''Plein Air'' to the public; an exhibition-residency with German artist and stonemason Matthias Jackisch performing in the company of a 19th century oil painting by Felix Ziem.

In 1997 Neill left the trio to open Felder Fine Art. Since then the creative partnership of Siderfin and Crawforth has delivered the artistic programme. Crawforth and Siderfin were listed in the Artlyst Power 100 List in 2012 and 2013.

Prior to establishing Beaconsfield, Siderfin and Crawforth started Nosepaint, an organization that presented interdisciplinary art events involving artists, writers, film makers and musicians between 1991 and 1994.  Since 1994 they've collaborated together, and with occasional others, on art projects under the moniker Beaconsfield Art Works or BAW.

Commissions programme

The Beaconsfield project involves the commissioning of interdisciplinary visual art exhibitions supported by artist residencies that are open to the public. It has been awarded public funding from Arts Council England from 1996. As a non-profit and registered charity Beaconsfield is reliant on trusts, private individuals and foundation funding.

Past commissions and collaborations have included: Sonia Boyce, Franko B, Deborah Levy, Bruce Gilbert, Fiona Banner, Hayley Newman, Bob and Roberta Smith, Susan Collis, Tomomi Adachi, Tamsyn Challenger, Mark Fell, Tracey Emin, Mark Wallinger, Keith Piper

Exhibitions

Notable exhibitions include:

* 1994 – 'The Lisson Gallery' produced by Nosepaint/Beaconsfield; Matthew Arnatt, David Crawforth, David Mollin
* 1994 – Beaconsfield at Ministry of Sound presents Nosepaint with Bluff, David Crawforth, Robert Ellis, DJ Fuckwit, Bruce Gilchrist, David Gilchrist, Sue Hart, Ian Hinchliffe, Lindsay John, Niki Jewett, Loophole Cinema, Karen malarky, Angus Neill, Andrew Wilkey, Seven Sisters Group, Naomi Siderfin, Dr Rapakini with Eli, Eastern Sound System, Hugh Harris, Judge Jules, LMC, Graham Massey, Skip McDonald, Billy Nasty, Pure Silver, Talvin Singh, Doug Wimbish, Hariharan Zuveya
* 1995 – A Public Work of Art, Beaconsfield ArtWorks (BAW), sound sculpture (Royal Festival Hall). Accompanying Dialogues, BAW with Nicholas Logsdail, Greg Hilty and Ministry of Sound, Artifice CD-ROm article
* 1995 – Sonja Boyce, Kate Bush, Mikey Cuddihy, Siobhan Davies, Elsie Mitchell, Claire Palmier, Naomi Siderfin
* 1996 – Jo Stockham and Deborah Levy, BAW, Chris Ofili, Alistair Raphael, Jo Stockham, Anne Tallentire
* 1996 – Uli Aigner, Keith Arnatt, BAW, Debbie Booth, Wayne Lloyd and Laurence Harvey, Ronald Fraser Munro and Jeremy Blank, O(rphan) d(rift>), Polskadavians, PuT PuT, Patricia Scanlan, Trebor Scholtz, Julian Stallabrass, Strike, Verso 12 hour book launch
* 1996 – Kirsty Alexander and Paul Burwell, BAW, Anne Bean, John Carson, Sarah Cole, David Cunningham, Bruce Gilchrist and Nick Rogers, Matthias Jackisch, Michal Klega, Rona Lee, Alastair Maclennan, Guillaume Paris, Sonja Zelic
* 1996 – Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Andy Best and Merja Puustinen, Pia Lindman, Pekka Niskanen, Roi Vaara, first UK exhibition of contemporary Finnish art curated by Andy Best and Merja Puustinen, co-produced with MUU ry
* 1996 – David Crawforth, Hayley Newman and Pan Sonic with David Cunningham, Robert Ellis, Bruce Gilbert, David Gilchrist, Alison Goldfrapp, Tiina Huczkowski, Kaffe Matthews

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