Asides from its Turkish supermarkets, drive-by-shootings and art student hang outs, Dalston is also home to a disused WWII bunker which lurks inconspicuously off the High Street. Art’s collective ‘Space In Between’ have installed their latest exhibition ‘Where Beats This Human Heart’ into the space and Mooks went along to the private view last night.
Once your eyes adjust to the darkness, a series of chambers and narrow doorways reveal themselves, each crevice holding some form of multimedia marvel. Ultraviolet washing power falls, egg-timer-like from the ceiling in one clean-smelling room, while a large fabric balloon is inflated by a gas burner in another. Elsewhere light installations pierce the pitch-black ambience and a video by Nelly Ben Hayoun features excerpts from interviews with military aviators. It’s a modest but impressive installation, an adventurous experience in its own right.
Space In Between is run by Hannah Hooks, Laura McFarlane and Ida Champion, three school friends who have dedicated themselves to showcasing work by up-and-coming artists in unique spaces. The artists in this exhibition include Nelly Ben Hayoun, Sandy Smith, Luke Montgomery, Xavier Poultney and Will Mackeral, all of whom produced their pieces as a direct response to the bunker space and the powerful emotions its history evokes.
The exhibition runs 19 June – June 23, open daily from 2-6pm
The Bunker @ The Print House
18 Ashwin Street
London E8 3DL
www.spaceinbetween.co.uk
Tags: Dalston, installation, London, Luke Montgomery, Nelly Ben Hayoun, private view, Sandy Smith, site specific, Space In Between, The Bunker, The Print House, Will Mackeral, Xavier Poultney
