Acme, also styled ACME, is a charity based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England which provides affordable studio and living space, residencies and awards for

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

s. Its studios are known as Acme Studios. It formerly provided two gallery spaces, first the Acme Gallery and later the Acme Project Space.

History

Acme was founded in 1972 by Jonathan Harvey and David Panton, who both received an OBE for services to the arts in 2014. Harvey and Pandon led a group of London graduates, finding at that time there were empty factories, warehouses and other properties available to provide cheap spaces for artists to work and live in, albeit temporary.

The Acme Gallery

From 1976 to 1981 Acme ran The Acme Gallery, a contemporary art space and former disused banana warehouse in

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

. The gallery focused on showcasing installation and performance art which was difficult to exhibit elsewhere, and between 1976 and 1981 featured artists such as Stephen Cripps,

Jock McFadyen Jock McFadyen (born 18 September 1950) is a contemporary British painter. Biography McFadyen was born 18 September 1950 in Paisley, Scotland. As a teenager he attended Saturday morning classes at Glasgow School of Art. McFadyen moved to Engl ...

Helen Chadwick Helen Chadwick (18 May 1953 – 15 March 1996) was a British sculptor, photographer and installation artist. In 1987, she became one of the first women artists to be nominated for the Turner Prize. Chadwick was known for "challenging stereotypic ...

Stuart Brisley Stuart Brisley (born 1933) is a British artist. Education Brisley studied at Guildford School of Art from 1949 to 1954 and at the Royal College of Art from 1956 to 1959. In 1959–60 he attended the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich, G ...

and

Frank Bowling Sir Richard Sheridan Patrick Michael Aloysius Franklin Bowling (born 26 February 1934, Bartica, British Guiana), known as Frank Bowling, is a Guyana-born British artist. His paintings relate to Abstract expressionism, Color Field painting, and ...

. Alongside

Camden Arts Centre Camden Art Centre (formerly known as Hampstead Arts Centre until 1967 and Camden Arts Centre until 2020) is a contemporary art gallery in the London Borough of Camden, England that hosts temporary exhibitions and educational outreach projects. T ...

, The Acme Gallery was one of the venues to host the New Contemporaries Live Show.

Acme Project Space

From June 2009 to December 2015, the Acme Project Space provided both UK-based and international artists on Acme's Residencies & Awards programme with a project and exhibition space, to show new work and engage in a critical dialogue with a wider audience. The Project Space featured artists such as

David Blandy David Blandy (born 1976) is a British artist. He was educated at the Slade School of Fine Art and the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. Blandy produces video, performances and comics that deal with his problematic relationship with p ...

, Vishwa Shroff, Luke McCreadie, Clare Price, and

Marianna Simnett Marianna Simnett (born 1986) is a Berlin-based multi-disciplinary artist who works with film, installation, drawing, and sculpture. She is best known for her large-scale video installations. Early life and education Simnett studied at a musical th ...

. (The space is now the home of

Auto Italia South East Auto Italia is an artist-run project and studio in Bethnal Green, London, England. It commissions and produces new artwork, collaborating directly with emerging artists. Throughout its history, Auto Italia’s work has taken many forms, ranging ...

Today

Acme provides studio and living space, residencies and awards for

s. Acme supports 800 artists with affordable studio space across 16 sites in Greater London (within

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in the East End of London northeast of Charing Cross. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the Green, much of which survives today as Bethnal Green Gardens, beside Cambridge Heath Road. By ...

, Bow,

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

Elephant & Castle The Elephant and Castle is an area around a major road junction in London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground stati ...

Homerton Homerton ( ) is an area in London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south. In 2019, i ...

Kensal Green Kensal Green is an area in north-west London. It lies mainly in the London Borough of Brent, with a small part to the south within Kensington and Chelsea. Kensal Green is located on the Harrow Road, about miles from Charing Cross. To the w ...

Peckham Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vil ...

, Poplar,

Stockwell Stockwell is a district in south west London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. It is situated south of Charing Cross. Battersea, Brixton, Clapham, South Lambeth, Oval and Kennington all border Stockwell. History The name ...

, Stratford,

West Norwood West Norwood is a largely residential area of south London within the London Borough of Lambeth, located 5.4 miles (8.7 km) south south-east of Charing Cross. The centre of West Norwood sits in a bowl surrounded by hillsides on its east, ...

, as well as

Carshalton Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalto ...

and

Purfleet Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater Lon ...

). It also provides space for

, East London Printmakers, Kinetika, not/nowhere, and the

Central Saint Martins Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of shor ...

Associate Studio Programme.

Residencies and awards

As well as artist studio provision, Acme also offers artist support, and hundreds of artists have benefited from its programme since 1982. In 2014, Australian artist

Tom Polo __NOTOC__ Tom Polo (born 1985) is an Australian artist based in Sydney, New South Wales. His work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in several capital cities of Australia as well as in London, England. He holds a Bachelor of Fine ...

took up an associate artist residency with Acme. Acme runs a number of residencies and awards in collaboration with partners, including

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised a ...

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the ...

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) is a public agency founded in 1994 by the government of Quebec. CALQ offers support and funding for art projects in the performing arts, multidisciplinary arts, circus arts, visual arts, med ...

, and

Khazanah Nasional Khazanah Nasional Berhad is the sovereign wealth fund of the Government of Malaysia, entrusted with growing the nation's long-term wealth via distinct commercial and strategic objectives. Khazanah's commercial objective is to grow financial ...

, catered for emerging Malaysian artists. The Khazanah Nasional Associate Artist Residency Programme (KAAR) has invited renowned industry professionals such as

Vanessa Murrell Vanessa may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Vanessa'' (Millais painting), an 1868 painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais * ''Vanessa'', a 1933 novel by Hugh Walpole * ''Vanessa'', a 1952 instrumental song written by Bernie W ...

to help develop and prepare young artists for the next growth phase in their professional careers. The programme also includes Acme's five-year Fire Station Residency, established in 1997, whose previous recipients include

Martin Creed Martin Creed (born 21 October 1968) is a British artist, composer and performer. He won the Turner Prize in 2001 for exhibitions during the preceding year, with the jury praising his audacity for exhibiting a single installation, ''Work No. 22 ...

, Lindsay Seers, Erika Tan,

Haroon Mirza Haroon Mirza (born 1977) is a British contemporary visual artist, of Pakistani descent. He is best known for sculptural installations that generate audio compositions. Early life and education Mirza was born in 1977 in London, England. He is ...

, Jonathan Baldock,

Samson Kambalu Samson Kambalu (born 1975) is a Malawi-born artist, academic and author who trained as a fine artist and ethnomusicologist at the University of Malawi's Chancellor College. He is a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Life and work Kambalu was ...

and George Charman.

Publications

* ''Studios for Artists: Concepts and Concrete'', ed. Jonathan Harvey, Graham Ellard, 2015. () * ''72-82'', William Raban, 2015. (co-published by

LUX The lux (symbol: lx) is the unit of illuminance, or luminous flux per unit area, in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to one lumen per square metre. In photometry, this is used as a measure of the intensity, as perceived by ...

) * ''"Are we there yet?" Duncan Pickstock, Paintings 2014-2015 at The Acme Project Space'', text by Paul O’Kane, 2015. () * ''I Killed a Viper'', Clare Price, text by Keran James, 2014. () * ''The Fire Station Project, Acme Studios' Work/Live Residency Programme, 1997-2013'', ed. Jonathan Harvey, Julia Lancaster, 2013. () * ''Time and Vision, Australia Council for the Arts London Residencies Hosted by Acme Studios'', 1992-2012, 2012. () * ''Roger Kite, Pathways'', 2012. () * ''25 Years – Hosting International Artists’ Residencies in London'', 2012. ()

References

{{reflist Charities based in London Artists' studios in London Arts in London