Independent curator Nick Aikens is curating an exhibition at Wandsworth Council’s Pump House Gallery and he needs input from the borough’s residents.

The exhibition, A Future Pump House: Ideas, Thoughts and Plans, will run from 28th July – 25th September 2011. It takes as its starting point the position the gallery - and public galleries across the country - finds itself in following significant national spending reviews.  
 
Within this period of change, galleries must hone their remit and answer such questions about their role, function and their future. Aikens is interested in exploring these questions via a set of creative responses, so he is asking a range of artists and audiences for 'ideas, thoughts and plans'.  
 
He is inviting artists who have previously exhibited in the gallery, students from the nearby Royal College of Art and residents from the borough to take part. These groups represent three key audiences for the gallery and the future direction it might take.
 
HOW TO GET INVOLVED:
If you are a Wandsworth resident and would like to be considered for inclusion, please submit a text of no more than 300 words that offers 'ideas, thoughts and plans' for the future of the Pump House Gallery. This can be in email or letter format and you may wish to illustrate ideas with photos or drawings if it is easier to convey your thoughts this way. You are encouraged to think laterally - we are looking for everything from absurd ideas, critical thoughts to practical plans - or any combination of these.
 
All work must be received by 13th May 2011 and should be sent to: Pump House Gallery, Arts Team, Staff Yard, Battersea Park, London SW11 4NJ or info@pumphousegallery.org.uk. Terms and conditions apply, visit www.pumphousegallery.org.uk/aboutus/opportunities for more info.
 
Nick Aikens is currently Associate Director of Outset Contemporary Art Fund. In 2010 he graduated from the Courtauld Institute of Art where he completed the MA: 'Aestheticising Politics? The Political in Globalised Contemporary Art'. Nick completed his BA from the Courtauld in 2004. He was gallery director of Allsopp Contemporary from 2005 - 08. In 2008 he curated an exhibition of work by Alex Hoda at the University of the Arts gallery in Davies Street, London. He is also a writer; contributing to a number of publications on emerging artists and, more recently, Frieze magazine.

 
April 18th, 2011