What it was
Held in Common was a group exhibition about the objects we keep for other people: the borrowed, the inherited, the thing a friend left at your house in 2014 and never asked for again.
Four artists made new work in response to a single prompt, and we showed it on and around one twelve-metre table that ran the length of the gallery. Visitors could sit at it. Some of them stayed for an hour.
It ran for six weeks in the autumn of 2025 and was seen by around 2,400 people, which for a small gallery on a side street is a great many people.
Who was in it
- Artist one — one line on the work they made
- Artist two — one line on the work they made
- Artist three — one line on the work they made
- Artist four — one line on the work they made
How I approached it
The prompt came first, then the artists, then the table. I'm wary of group shows that are really four solo shows sharing a room, so the brief to everyone was that their work had to be able to touch someone else's. The table made that literal.
I wrote the wall texts as short letters addressed to the visitor rather than as labels. That was a risk. It's the thing people mentioned most.
What came of it
Two of the works were acquired by private collectors I introduced to the artists. One of the artists has since been offered a solo show elsewhere. Reviews and installation photographs are collected here as they come in.
- Publication, month 2025 — review, link to come