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ABOUT KUNSTRAUM

Kunstraum is a non-profit art space in the London borough of Islington which first opened its doors in September 2012. Since August 2020 Kunstraum has dedicated itself to primarily supporting artists with origins in the African & Caribbean Diasporas and People of Colour of the world, a commitment formalised in 2020 with the formation of a new legal structure under which our activities will go forward – Studio Roscoe CIC – a Community Interest Company collectively owned by members of the Kunstraum community. Kunstraum provides our space for discounted rates or for free to those who need it most – through asking for a contribution from those who can afford to pay – for exhibitions, performance and live music events, live-streams, film and photo shoots, workshops, talks, film screenings and community events. We actively encourage proposals, please drop us an email or message on any of our platforms to start a conversation before sending us a detailed proposal.

Our programme is multi-disciplinary with the intention to work towards a creative future in which today’s hierarchies and boundaries between the creative disciplines are no longer relevant. Over the years we have worked with visual art, dance, theatre, poetry, fashion, music, and many more disciplines and fusions – we believe that all forms of creativity are valuable and of equal worth.

Kunstraum, started out on Cremer Street, E2 where we produced 4 exhibitions per year, primarily with artists from across Europe who had previously rarely shown their work in London. In May 2016, Kunstraum moved to its Roscoe Street building, a former church hall by the Whitecross Street market in London EC1. This new expanded space allowed us to focus our activities on performing art practices, with around 20 live events per year since 2017. For 5+ years we focused our exhibition and performance programme on supporting female artists and members of the LGBTQ+ communities. In 2018 we launched our Friends & Neighbours programme, a series of artist-led projects working with communities and organisations outside of the art scene – leading us to develop some amazing projects with Whitecross Street Festival, City YMCA, Quaker Court Tennant Management Organisation, Soapbox Youth Centre, Toffee Park Adventure Playground and Wesley’s Chapel & Leysian Mission. Coronavirus forced us to innovate and to think how we could best support creative communities – through lockdown we functioned primarily as a film studio for performance to camera, particularly dedicated to work with live music artists.  From June-November 2020 Kunstraum supported the Black Lives Matter and Trans rights movements through running a mobile sound system – we had the privilege to support and amplify an inspirational group of activists through the year. In September 2020 we launched Soundscapes in partnership with Soapbox Youth Centre, a sound and art project with people up to the age of 25. Soundscapes also produces a monthly radio show which airs on the first Tuesday of the month on Soho Radio.

 

Kunstraum’s community contract:

Kunstraum is an open space for artists to come together and create, collaborate and develop their craft. This space prioritises people from African & Caribbean Diasporas, People of Colour of the world and LGBTQ+ people.

To join our community you must respect all of its members; this community rejects all forms of discrimination, including racism, sexism/misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and discrimination of class, religion, belief or age.

CONTACT

email: info@kunstraum.org.uk

address: 21 Roscoe St, London EC1Y 8PT