Richard Wentworth’s 'Concertina' launches arebyte’s new space at London City Island

Opening on 4 October to coincide with Frieze Week, Concertina, a new construction by Richard Wentworth launches arebyte's new space at London City Island, home to the future arebyte Gallery, artist studios and a dedicated co-working space.

Wentworth's Concertina, in collaboration with architectural practice APPARATA, explores the social potential of art spaces and transforms the gallery into an environment for openness and discussion. The space is comprised of two free-standing and one wall-erected companionways. The staircases, built of plywood, stand suggestively in the space, creating various focal points alluding to an event waiting to happen. Whether it be a series of talks and workshops, a board meeting or a friendly lunch between friends, the stairs are there to allow for social interactions to occur.

As a continuation of Wentworth’s 2013 work Black Maria, the constructed interferences highlight the mundanity of everyday architecture – or that which we take for granted – and asks the viewer to look at our everyday interactions with fresh eyes and to reexamine the world around us. With Concertina, Wentworth lays the foundations on which a heavily prescribed gallery space can become a social sphere but also highlights the point at which a city becomes a communal environment – a place for ideas and creation, both physically and figuratively, within and beyond the gallery.

Concertina opens on Wednesday 4 October and runs until 31 December 2017. For more information, please visit www.arebyte.com.

Photo credit: APPARATA.