OUR HISTORY
Chisenhale Art Place (CAP) occupies a special position in London’s East End, providing valuable space for the production and experience of contemporary visual arts and dance – all under one roof.
EARLY HISTORY:
Chisenhale Art Place’s location has been occupied by factories for industrial manufacture since at least the mid-19th century, but the building’s precise origins are unclear. There are Tower Hamlets planning documents which point to operating factories on Chisenhale Road as early as the 1850s, and the site appears as ‘Pasteboard Works’ on a map surveyed in 1870. However, it is understood that the building as it exists today was built either partially or entirely at a later date.
Chisenhale Works was built between 1942 and 1943, purportedly in the rubble of houses destroyed during The Blitz. The most recent iteration of the factory was operated by the furniture-maker Morris Cohen, trading as CHN Veneers (per the historic plaque erected beside the Chisenhale Gallery entrance, along the Bow Heritage Trail). CHN Veneers specialised in the production of wood veneer, expanding during the Second World War to cockpit veneers and propeller production for RAF aeroplanes including Spitfires.
After the factory’s closure in 1972, the building was for some years unoccupied. The adjacent building, previously used as a brewery warehouse, remains derelict today. In 1980, a group of artists, evicted from their Thames-side studio spaces by property developers, negotiated a lease of the building with Tower Hamlets Council under the name “Arts Place Trust.” They proceeded to create studios on the floors upstairs and eventually put on exhibitions in the ground floor space, initially on a for hire basis.
ARCHITECTURE:
Chisenhale Works founder and Jewish businessman Morris Abraham Cohen (1897 - 1970) envisioned the factory having two wings either side of a central entrance. However, after the first building was erected, homeowners whose properties inhabited the intended footprint of the second, refused to move. The resulting factory only has one wing and the main entrance is situated at the end rather than in the middle. The unusual layout of the building is attributed to the founding artists who did all of the renovations themselves. ‘Building Manager’ Richard Wilson, one of the founding members, worked on the architectural plans for the renovation and acted as lead on the building works. There are 3 floors of studios, with approximately 12 spaces on each floor. The walls are made of cinder block and no two studios are the same. By design, each organisation has it’s own entrance. Chisenhale Studios is accessed via a black door framed by stone and was the first of the three intiatives to take form.
GHOST SIGNS:
Ghost signs are hand painted signs preserved on the side of a building, and provide important insight into architectural, cultural and social history of place. At Chisenhale, the reddish hue of the letters C, H and N, are still visible from Grove Road and across the canal where barges once transported veneers that the building manufactured.
CHN may have been an abbreviation for Cohen, the factory’s founder and businessman Morris Cohen, although this information is not verified.
A plaque on the outside states that the veneer once produced there was used to make Spitfires; the iconic and widely produced single seat fighter planes of World War II.
THE FORMATION OF C.A.P:
The factory closed in 1972 and was bought by Tower Hamlets Council. The derelict remains of Chisenhale Works provided unconventional hope for a
group of artists and dancers who were evicted from their former studios at Butlers Wharf in 1980. After negotiating a lease of the building under the banner of ‘Arts Place Trust’, the artists refurbished the building themselves over a period of 2 years. Rubbish and graffiti had to be removed, roofing, electrics, glazing, walls and doors all had to be installed. CAP was transformed from a filthy, empty shell of a building into a lively haven for creatives. A number of founding members hold studios to this day, and have been an integral part of shaping CAP’s legacy.
Today, Chisenhale Art Place thrives as a multi-purpose arts organisation home to three distinct initiatives – Chisenhale Dance Space, Chisenhale Gallery and Chisenhale Studios – each operating programmes that enable artists and dancers of all experiences to develop, experiment and create exceptional work. CAP creates extensive opportunities for communities and audiences to participate, learn and engage.
Chisenhale Gallery
Since the early 1980s, Chisenhale Gallery has gained a reputation for exhibiting UK and internationally-acclaimed artists early in their careers, offering many artists their first UK institutional solo show. The gallery’s present-day Commissions Programme is devised based on curatorial research worldwide, the result of which early to mid-career artists are invited to develop new artwork for public exhibition. The work in question is produced over a one- to two-year incubation period, culminating in an exhibition at Chisenhale Gallery. As both a non-profit organisation and a registered charity, Chisenhale Gallery’s ongoing programme is entirely funded through trusts, foundations and individuals.
Chisenhale Dance Space
Chisenhale Dance Space is a member-led charitable organisation, providing rehearsal and performance space for independent dancers. Founded in the early 1980s by members of the X6 Dance Collective who were originally housed in Butler’s Wharf, Chisenhale Dance Space officially opened as a public performance space in December 1984. Chisenhale Dance Space is part of the Tower Hamlets Dance Partnership.
Chisenhale Studios
Founding artists spent two years removing rubbish, installing walls and doors, glazing windows and adding electrics. They also took an outward looking approach, engaging with East End schools and residents and instilling art into community projects. As a result, the decision was made to establish themselves as an arts education charity from the very beginning and the Studios continue to operate through the charitable structure of Chisenhale Art Place. We welcome you to explore and participate in the exciting history and ongoing work of Chisenhale Art Place.
FOUNDING MEMBERS:
The founding artist members of Chisenhale Art Place were former studio residents at Butlers Wharf studios, a building which was mostly destroyed by an electrical fire in 1979. Out of the ashes a group of 35 artists plus 15 members of X6 Dance Studio formed ‘Art Place Trust’. The Trust set out to investigate new buildings to inhabit. Eventually they secured a deal with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to take a 25 year lease of a four storey 40,000 sq ft factory. This was CHN works. The artists completed all renovation work themselves and by September 1982 the studios were finished and fully occupied and the main gallery space on the ground floor was open.
Founding Members of C.A.P:
Maurice Agis, Tricia Austin, Den Beer, Keith Bowler, Ian Chapman, Fran Cottell, Lucy Crowley, Laird Davis, Dave Fairbairn, Maura Flatman, John Fuller, Jon George, Emma Gunningham, Kate Hardy, Denise Harris, Ron Haseldon, Steve Jepperson, Candy Kemp, Ingrid Kerma, Pete Lewis, Diana Livey, Lynette Lombard, Diane Martin, Chris Maynard, Vincent Milne, Christine Mortimer, Kathy Mulaniff, Nigel O’Neill, Jon Page, Alan Parsons, Rod Springett, Richard Swift, Dale Walker, Pete Webster, Richard Wilson, X6 Dance Space.
Of the 36 founding members, 7 artists still have studios in the building today. One of the founding members of Chisenhale Art Place, Nigel O’Neill (who still occupies studio no.10), remembers the early renovations:
“I remember the first meeting we had in the building on the ground floor. There had been a fire in the building sometime in the past, there was no glass in the windows, no electricity and it was open to the elements. The was also a pile of old shoes and half a lorry abandoned here. The ground floor and the three upper floors were completely open with no divisions. It was decided that each artist should put in two days work a week to convert the building. One of the first tasks to be tackled was to make the building weatherproof which mainly consisted of reglazing most of the windows.
Various building teams were set up by the committee which later developed into The Artists Advisory Committee and still operates today. Individual artists were asked what their studio requirements were and a floor plan was drawn up. Artists then started building their own studio spaces using breeze blocks. It was a mammoth effort getting the blocks to the upper floors. I seem to recall a chain gang was formed on the stairs to do this. Most of us had little experience of building work and were learning as we went along. Thankfully a sculptor who knew every about this kind of work was appointed building manager.”