Venue
Space 36
Starts
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Ends
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Address
36, Ashley Road, N19 3AF
Location
London
Organiser
Space36

Space36 is an occasional arts space based in an inhabited house in a residential street (Ashley Road) in Stroud Green, North London.
The residents of Space36 have invited seven artists to spend four months rummaging through the space, its history and the lives of its past and present inhabitants to fill the space with their “take” on anything they find. The results will be on show over the weekends of 11/12 and 18/19 June (12-6pm) as an exhibition the Secret Life of no:36, as part of the Crouch End Festival.
For the inhabitants of Space36 it has been a suspenseful and scary prospect, giving up notions of privacy and personal space and allowing outsiders into their lives. For artists and hosts like, it’s been a unique opportunity to explore the boundaries of what private really means – a minefield of implied permissions, really personal spaces, forgotten histories, implicit tastes and beliefs.
The artists taking part are: Roan Allen, Liz Brown, Esperanza Gomez Carrera, Stephanie Conway, Livia Garcia, Jeannette Abi Khalil, and Ahmed Farooqui. Roan Allen has eavesdropped on intimate conversations between the current inhabitants of the house; Livia Garcia has reconnected two historic reclusive occupants of no:36 with the local neighbourhood through placing giant posters in front of the house. Liz Brown has resurrected an early Victorian photographic technique to produce stunning records of the plants found in the garden of no:36; Esperanza Gomez Carrera has made a playful and poetic intervention in the library while Stephanie Conway has taken a speculative approach to linking no:36 architecturally with the local church, St Mary’s. Jeannette Abi Khalil’s subtle work reflects on issues of taste and the unintended consequences of admitting outsiders into our lives, while Ahmed Farooqui has stitched a narrative for the house spanning the 140 years of its life.
During the course of the exhibition there will be opportunities for visitors to talk to the artists and the hosts in the relaxed setting of a garden “Cafe” serving homemade cakes.
Image credit: Undercover Mr & Mrs Gue, Livia Garcia, 2016