Hidden Art unveils birthday plans

London’s Geffrye Museum is to present an exhibition celebrating ten years of Hidden Art, as organiser Mazorca Projects plans to extend the initiative by opening franchised shops for the first time.

Mazorca founder and director Dieneke Ferguson says the exhibition is a retrospective aiming to show the variety of work by Hidden Art members. The project has been promoting east London designer-makers since its inception in Hackney in 1994.

The exhibition will comprise two elements – an installation area entitled Them Indoors and a display of 70 pieces under the heading Hidden Art Revealed.

Richard Greenwood Partnership will handle exhibition design for Hidden Art Revealed, with graphics by freelance designer Sally McIntosh.

For Them Indoors, Geffrye Museum assistant curator Annabelle Campbell briefed three Hidden Art designers – Carl Clerkin, Gitta Gschwendtner and William Warren – to create an installation on the theme of the domestic environment.

‘We wanted to look at the idea of domestic interiors from the designers’ point of view; to look at what makes a space a home,’ explains Campbell. ‘This [theme] relates to the museum’s collections as well as the designers’ work.’

Them Indoors will be divided into four areas, one for each designer’s installation and an entranceway. Graphics will be created by the designers themselves.

Over the past decade Hidden Art has grown in popularity, resulting in organisational difficulties, according to Ferguson. In response, she says, ‘We decided it would be very good to have a base that visitors can easily find and so we are in the process of creating franchise shops.’

A pilot Hidden Art shop will open for six weeks in central London from 6 November. Further franchises around the country are anticipated.

The exhibition runs at the Geffrye Museum from 23 September to 16 January 2005.

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