«All artist are alike, they dream of doing something that’s more social, more collaborative, and more real than art». (Dan Graham)
Alter Peckham, “Everything Then is Now” exhibition, 2025, London, United Kingdom, courtesy Spira9
In recent years, the geography of contemporary art has become increasingly defined by a limited number of institutional venues. While major museums, galleries, and biennials continue to play an essential role in shaping artistic discourse, the concentration of exhibition opportunities within these structures has gradually narrowed the range of contexts through which art can appear and circulate. The curatorial platform Othering, initiated by SPIRA9 in London, emerges in response to this condition. It responds to the shrinking space for cultural access and the need to diversify exhibition models in the city, as exhibition opportunities become increasingly centralised.
Aida Pouryeganeh, “Hypoxia (Diptych)”, mixed media on canvas; Victoria Julia Valentine, “A Sense of Self”, acrylic and oil on wood; Sai Ma, “Beneath”, digital print; Lily Ziwen Li, “Fidelity”, rice paper, wood panel, oil paint, coffee, tea, leaves, courtesy Spira9
Rather than positioning itself in opposition to existing institutions, Othering proposes a redistribution of exhibition conditions. Its projects unfold across the city through site-responsive practices that engage with locations often overlooked by conventional exhibition frameworks. Within this approach, the city itself becomes an evolving exhibition structure. Artworks are not simply placed within neutral containers but are situated within environments that actively shape perception. Architecture, circulation, sound, and social context become part of the exhibition’s conditions, allowing meaning to emerge through movement, encounter, and spatial experience. By embracing spaces that are geographically, socially, or structurally marginalised, Othering expands where and how art becomes visible. In doing so, the platform gently challenges established norms of cultural authority – not through confrontation, but through the creation of new conditions for access, participation, and public encounter.
Lanyun Huang (Finch), “Rite in lingering ground”; Luca and Katrina Dayanc, “Soak”, installation, courtesy courtesy Spira9
The exhibition framework has been explored through a series of curatorial experiments across London. One project, Everything Then Is Now, examined how historical memory and contemporary artistic practice intersect within urban sites layered with architectural and cultural histories. Another exhibition, My Body is Dust, presented at Asylum Chapel in Peckham in February 2026, approached the building as both architecture and body. Through spatial interventions, redistributed seating structures, and live performances, the exhibition explored how space, material memory, and lived experience interact within a historically charged environment.
Lu Jin, “LockLoom”, installation, courtesy Spira9
Together, these projects function as experimental stages in the development of the Othering framework. The wider programme brings together more than one hundred artists working across diverse disciplines and cultural contexts, forming a distributed network of artistic practices across the city. A full list of participating artists can be found on the project website. By expanding the spatial contexts in which art can appear, Othering contributes to a broader rethinking of exhibition culture. It suggests that the future of curatorial practice may lie not only in new themes or media, but in the redistribution of where art becomes visible within the city itself. In this sense, Othering is not simply a series of exhibitions, but an ongoing experiment in reimagining the spatial conditions of contemporary art.
Info:
Artists: 13 God (Najah Westbrook) / Bailey The Illustrator / Eman Khalifa / 1e-43 / Blackout Collective / Eric A. Johnson / Valeriia Lakrisenko / Eva Alliner / & Alexander Belov / Eva Oleandr / Aida Pouryeganeh / Aisling Gallagher / Anastasia Neff / Canbin Liu / Federico Tejeda / Angelo Bartolome / Chaoming Zheng / FINA FERRARA / Ao Shen / Charlotte Saint Cullen / Francesca Tomlinson / Ariel Li & Peifeng Cai / Christopher Rodriguez / Asia Nowicki / Claudi Piripippi / Crimson DM Lily / Giulio Cusinato / Azize Sousami / Daria Koshkina / David L. Stewart / DI CAO / Diane Eagles / Doğan Ozdemir / Doupu / Grace Tenneh Kromah / Mega Geng / Katia Be / Meng Li / Kristina Rutar / Min Sui / Hannah Clarkson / Hanyu Wang / Helga Borbas / Lanyun Huang (Finch) / Niah McGiff / Lara Gallagher / Niamh Gallagher / Lexiong Ying / Nikki Allford / lola Hilliker / Lily Ziwen Li / Nuo Yang / Irena Paskali / Lisa Marty / Louis Loveless / Lu Jin / Olesia Kryvolapova / JAE-X / Lucy Havelock / Oyedeji Mohammed / James Shing Mu Cheng / Lu Meng (Lung Meng) / Jane Hatfield / Luca and Katrina Dayanc / Jelena Perisić / Peiyan Zou / Jie Huang / Po-Chien Huang / Joana Preira da Costa / Maksim Frolov / Judy Maxwell-McNicol / Mandy Lane / Juice Cui / Manlin Zhang / Qianru Yang / Junying Jiang / Martin Darbyshire / Jundai Lin / Mathijs Hunfeld / Renate Lurdesa Baumane / Roseline (Jingyuan) Zhang / Ruohong Chen / Sai Ma / Santi Lowe / Sarah Cherpreau / Saud Baloch / Sheena Bulpitt / Shelley Lafferty / Shuting Cui (Juice) / Silvia Braida / Siqi Chen / Siyuan Meng / Tianyu Zhang / Tingyan Luo / Tonghe Yang / Victoria Julia Valentine / Xingyi Qu / Xin Zhang / Xinyu Yan / Xinyue Liang / Xinyun Li / Yalu Zhao / Yana Dmitrieva / Yang Liu / Yeri Jun / Yifan Jing / Yi Ming Zhang / Yiwen Liang / Yiyi Song / Yixin Wang / Yudan Ding (Yuna) / Yujie Liu / Yuwan Zhang
Programme: otheringfestival.com
Contact: info@otheringfestival.com
Instagram: @spira9art
Related link: londondesignfestival.com; www.newexhibitions.com; www.spira9.art/othering
Future Opportunity: London Craft Week 2026 | WHISPERer
Time: 15–17 May 2026
Address: 1 Acorn Parade, London, United Kingdom
Contact: info@spira9.art
Actor and performer, he loves visual arts in all their manifestations.
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