Setting Up Art-Shop with SoShow

In homage to familial ties forged at college, artists Emma Hunt and Trevor Kiernander have rounded up ten of their creative siblings and spearheaded the takeover of an Edwardian building in Covent Garden. After a month of hard graft it’s been christened ShopAt34 and filled with spirited new work driven by the site to create soSHOW! We talked shop with Emma and fellow German/Iranian artist Claudia Djabbari.

Dazed Digital: Who set up and runs ShopAt34?
Emma Hunt: I set up the shop with Trevor Kiernander and we’ve both just graduated from the MFA at Goldsmiths. It used to be occupied by a sporting memorabilia shop and is owned by the Freemasons who very generously let us use the space for free.

DD: How did you come to collaborate with the artists in soShow!?
EH: It was very indulgent really, we picked artists and work that we liked and thought would work well in the space. During college we became quite a close-knit group, so a natural progression was to find spaces to work in and set up shows together. Obviously the recession helped enormously to provide a space, which would otherwise be completely inaccessible.
Claudia Djabbari: Having graduated with Emma and Trevor, they picked out one of my pieces they liked for the show.

DD: What was your experience of the collaboration process like?
EH: It really was a team effort to get the space up and running. We didn't want to be to heavy handed, curatorially speaking. The artists for soSHOW! were chosen because we knew they would respond well to the space and bring their own ideas.

DD: What specific ideas did you have for the exhibition?
EH: When I saw the space I knew instantly what would work well for my piece. It really lends itself to the installation of my prints, which are a series of laser jet prints of horizons. They make this really trippy pattern and completely take your vision away from the idea of the image as a horizon.
CD: I wanted to adjust the work originally chosen. Instead of using a vitrine I have placed some of my objects on a shelf. Made especially made for the space, it reacts with the architecture on site.

DD: From one shop to another, what was it like working on an art-production line in Stephanie Syjuco’s Frieze Art Fair 2009 commissioned project Copystand?
CD: It was a great experience. It was interesting how artists and gallery owners reacted as they saw their works copied in a cheap and quick version, where some even wanted to buy the version. It was also really interesting for my own work as I work a lot with copies and quotes, and the difference between high-end and low-end commodities.

DD: What do you have planned next for 2010?
EH: We hope to keep the space open into 2010 and have accepted proposals. I moved into a new studio project this week in Bermondsey called The Woodmill, set up by fellow artists and curators from Goldsmiths.
CD: First I’ll move to my new studio for the The Woodmill and early next year we’ll have our first exhibition. I’m also organising the show Diving for Pearls for April with a group of English and German artists, to take place at the Städtische Kunsthalle München/Lothringer 13 in Munich.

soSHow! is on at ShopAt34 in Covent Garden until December 19th