Peckham Rising: Places to Know
Peckham is overflowing with a seemingly bottomless creative energy: in the past decade it has welcomed the establishment of more significant arts and culture venues than anywhere else in London. With its comparatively low price tag and ample space available, Peckham has served as a hub for the introduction of many cutting-edge programmes and venues, bars, studio spaces, and interdisciplinary collectives that are rivaling, and in many ways outdoing in both local and international eyes the likes of Soho, Shoreditch, and Hackney. Take a break from your usual haunts this week and head south to see what the buzz is about. Ascend to the top of a parking lot to get a glimpse of Bold Tendencies during off-season and pine for rooftop cocktails on warmer days at Frank’s Cafe, spin some records underground at Rye Wax while munching on fusion-style tacos in the basement bar of the CLF Art Cafe. Take a screen-printing workshop at the Sunday Painter, or check out the perennially-ahead of the curve work at Hannah Barry (whose director is also behind Bold Tendencies), and Bosse & Baum (take note, appointment-only viewings on winter weekends.) Top your day off at Arcadia Missa just down Blenheim Grove, an innovative project space that triples as a publishing house, gallery, and ground control for a multitude of offsite projects, co-founded in 2011 by former classmates Rozsa Farkas and Tom Clark. Make sure to catch Rye Wax’s cafebar glorious happy hour from 6-8 pm nightly: with unique cocktail offerings including pumpkin russians and date amaretto sours at two for £8, it’s enough to make the £12+ dry martinis of SoHo et. al. blush.
A Weekend Hitlist for the Arts Down South
CLF ART CAFE
Block A, Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane
It’s only appropriate to begin at the Bussey Building, a massive warehouse whose 120-year legacy is in many ways the backbone of Peckham’s cultural renaissance. Currently it is home to the CLF Art Cafe, which hosts much, much more than its name suggests. From music festivals to art installations, South London Soul Train to the Royal Court Theatre, with a little bit of Train thrown in for good measure, this space boasts one of the most robust programmes around.
RYE WAX
Rye Wax Bar-Cafe Feat. Taco Queen
Basement of CLF Art Cafe
Vinyl shop, comic book store, bar, cafe, music club, and taqueria—we’re talking about one place, not six. Rye Wax opened its doors in 2014 as a multi-functional venue nested in the basement of the CLF Art Cafe, also known as the legendary Bussey Building, in Peckham. Flip through your favorite childhood comic book while enjoying a Battered Avocado taco with chipotle mayo and coconut bacon from the venue’s restaurant-in-residence, Taco Queen. Or sling back a few inventive cocktails (Pumpkin White Russians and Date Amaretto Sours are current highlights of the rotational menu) while you dance the night away to some of London’s most groundbreaking new tunes. Rye Wax organizes a plethora of shows that occur more often than not, with a curated set list that never fails to surprise and delight even the most seasoned music junkie. Rye Wax defies the Londoner stereotype of an early turn down by keeping the tunes rolling nightly until 2:30 AM.
BOLD TENDENCIES
Floors 7-10, 95A Rye Lane
The brainchild of pioneering curator Hannah Barry (whose headquarters you’ll pay a visit to later), Bold Tendencies is a seasonal (e.g. summertime only) art space located in a reclaimed parking lot just opposite the Bussey Building, on the other side of the train tracks. Founded in 2007, the venue has quickly gained a reputation for its wholesome programming featuring visual art, architeccture, music, film, theatre, literature, and (with the help of Frank’s Cafe) food and drink. Like Barry’s other projects, Bold Tendencies is invested in emerging new-media and post-internet artists who address the problematics of contemporary culture in their often interdisciplinary practices. The site has previously hosted work by the some of the most significant figures of the international contemporary art scene including AIRBNB Pavilion/åyr (an artist collective that is, for the record, totally unaffiliated with AirBnb), James Bridle, Richard Wentworth, and Camille Henrot.
FRANKS CAFE
Top floor of Peckham Multi Story Carpark (aka Bold Tendencies), 133 Rye Lane
Much belovèd Franks Cafe brings something of a rooftop bar in Brooklyn vibe to Peckham, and as with Bold Tendencies, it is only open throughout the finer months of the year — typically beginning mid-June. With amazing views of the city and a perennially chilled out atmosphere that is soaked with summery vibes, plus outdoor movie screenings, sunset yoga classes, ad hoc concerts and some pretty astounding Negronis, Franks has you covered for the summer of your dreams.
HANNAH BARRY GALLERY
4 Holly Grove
Founded in 2007 by Hannah Barry, this gallery first found a home in the emerging Copeland Cultural Quarter (e.g. the Bussey Building) before relocating in 2013 to its current location, which was threatened to turn into a meat factory just several years prior. Like Bold Tendencies, Hannah Barry’s eponymous gallery is known for its avant-garde exhibitions, featuring emerging artists
THE SUNDAY PAINTER
First floor, 12-16 Blenheim Grove
The Sunday Painter was founded by Will Jarvis, Harry Scoging Beer and Grace Schofield in 2008, shortly after Jarvus graduated with a BA in Painting from Camberwell College. The Sunday Painter is just around the corner from the overground station at 12–16 Blenheim Grove. It features a gallery and studio spaces, and there is a strong focus on supporting emerging talent with a packed bi-monthly exhibitions programme, including weekly art critiques and other events. It also houses the Peckham Print Space, an open access screen-printing workshop.
ARCADIA MISSA
69 Lyndhurst Way
Rózsa Zita Farkas and Tom Clark founded Arcadia Missa in 2011 as a gallery, publishing house and collaborative research hub, specifically focused on post-internet art and culture. Its tightly curated programme transcends the digital/material divide by incorporating both in its continued research into the social significance of the digital archive in the realm of everyday life. Despite its youth, Arcadia Missa has a notable track record, having exhibited artists like Hannah Perry, Ryan Trecartin, Cory Arcangel and Amalia Ulman. The platform of the written word is integral to the gallery’s mission, and their robust publication series that includes “How to Sleep Faster” and two e-journals, ensures that the continuous conversation regarding contemporary culture that is sustained by the gallery accrues meaning over time, while it addresses the transience of everything else.