Past Exhibition
This exhibition is on level 1B and is lift accessible.
Parts of this exhibition are free to touch/interact with. Please ask a member of the Visitor Services team for more information.
Whitechapel Gallery is committed to making all of our exhibitions as accessible as possible for every visitor. Please contact access@whitechapelgallery.org if you would like to discuss a particular request and we will gladly discuss with you the best way to accommodate it.
For complete access information about the gallery, please visit https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/visit/access/.
13 January – 6 August 2023
What should public space feel like? How do we find comfort, character and community in it?
These questions underpin an immersive environment created by Duchamp & Sons, Whitechapel Gallery’s youth collective, and London-based artist Gaby Sahhar.
Over a period of four months of workshops, walks, and conversations, the collective has examined the immediate environment around Whitechapel Gallery, considering the value systems local public spaces are built upon, and asking questions about access, affordability and the lack of spaces for young people to hang out and express themselves.
You are invited to take a seat in this space, which rejects the slickness and polish of modern architecture, and instead embraces comfort and self-expression, blurring the lines between public and private space.
Contribute to our community notice board, chat to a friend, make a new one, think about what public space means to you, or simply take a moment to pause.
Duchamp & Sons is a collective of 15-24 year olds from across London who meet regularly to experiment with art, curate exhibitions and events, and share space for food and conversation.
Escape the Slick was collaboratively curated by D&S Members Amir, Cartier, Constança, Danielle, Elizabeth, Elliott, Emily, Erika, Freya, Georgie, Iarla, Jasmine D-C, Jasmine S-A, Jemila, Joshua, Josserose, Michael, Miranda, Ruth, Shannay, Shree, and Yulin.
Gaby Sahhar is a French-Palestinian artist based in London, working across painting, film and installation. Their work deconstructs the representation of queerness within public spheres to understand its wider impacts on queer consciousness and communities. Drawing on language and vulnerability as tools, their work aims to generate conversations around value systems, affordability and access within inner city cultures. They employ speculative storytelling to outline the different ways in which cities serve the interests of patriarchal capitalist identities to the detriment of others.
Solo exhibitions include MAC VAL, Paris / The Kooples Art Prize (2023); PAGE (NYC), New York (2022); and group exhibitions include Fragment Gallery, New York (2022); Sadie Coles HQ, London (2022).
Gaby is also an alum of Duchamp & Sons.
Iwona Blazwick Artistic Ambition Fund
