No Place Gallery - Relocation & Operations

Friends and Family, it’s with a heavy heart that we share this news. This will be the last month that No Place will be located at 1164 S Front St. At the tail end of 2020 our landlords informed us that they would not be able to renew our lease of 9 years.

In that time, No Place has not only been a home but a conduit to the art world for both artists and residents of Columbus, Ohio. We would like to thank everyone who has believed in us, pushed us to work harder, attended our shows, lent a helping hand, and allowed us to sleep on their couch.

After much thought we’ve decided to continue our programming and are seeking support for a new location. We believe we can represent the art and artists of our community while bridging the divide between the midwest and the rest of the art world. We’re excited for what the future holds.

~Our Project~

We are raising funds to move the gallery into a new home and continue our mission of presenting work that is vital to a broad audience. Our hope is to find a space downtown and cement ourselves in the middle of the city. With your help we can make this a reality and continue serving the community and supporting great art. Materials can be quite costly and will begin to add up quickly.

~Costs~

Building out walls: Drywall, joint compound, studs, screws. $2500

Flooring: Plywood, paint & polyurethane. $2000

Plumbing: purchase and installation of sinks $1500

Lighting: LED-lighting & hiring an electrician. $3000

Signage: $1000 neon and installation

Walls & upkeep: 4  5 gallon buckets of paint, Paint rollers, roller covers, tape. $400

Art packing & storage: Bubble, cardboard, poly sheeting, packing tape. $700

Office materials: printer ink, paper, envelopes, internet, new flat file. Shipping costs: returning & shipping works. $1500

~Goals~

In the new year we hope to expand and establish ourselves more prominently alongside institutions while remaining aligned with our value of supporting young artists and vital conversations. This new space will house our cooperatively owned contemporary art gallery. As gallerists we’ll showcase emerging artists and collaborate with other artist-run projects locally, nationally and internationally. By doing so we hope to enable collaboration between artists and institutions, bringing art in Columbus into a global conversation while providing more opportunities for collaboration and work in our own city.

  

 ~Challenges~

These goals are not without their challenges. In Columbus, the friction between building community spaces and creating sustainable business models can exhaust projects of their resources. This often causes artist-run spaces to close their doors. Further, the lack of opportunities for artists in Columbus has historically forced people to leave and move to New York or LA. We want to foster a sense of community in Columbus that allows our art market to thrive and support its artists. This is our greatest challenge moving forward.

Resources

As we are moving out of our home on S Front St. we’ll be salvaging everything we can as far as resources go. Walls and studs from our gallery will go into storage until we can build out our new space.

~The importance of community-led initiatives~

I visited No Place in 2018 as an artist in an exhibition there. It was my first time showing outside of New York, and it remains one of my best memories of public reaction to my work. I was honored by the curiosity and conversation that people gave to talking about art and what it evoked. It was clear to me that No Place had cultivated a space where people both felt comfortable to express themselves, and a space where challenging ideas could be held; a bridge from the local Columbus nightlife scene to internationally-known working artists. No Place has also materially supported conditions for local artists to work, as the building also held studio spaces. I believe in the value of this gallery’s program, knowing that this is more than just an exhibition space. It’s a homebase, and it’s holding up a whole network of artists and people in dialogue with each other. I’ve kept up with James in part because of his numerous road trips to and from New York delivering artwork. That he also built a skatepark in Columbus should come as no surprise: this guy builds community spaces, and he will do whatever it takes to make a dream happen. I’ve watched dozens of artist-run spaces be evicted and forced to close down, and we often don’t realize how vital they are until they are gone. We need more spaces where people can communicate freely, share experiences, and chill together. In 2021, I think we need to be explicit about what we are fighting for, what spaces actually serve the community and foster the ability to keep imagining a future. If we are going to rebuild this world the way we want it, No Place better be in it.

-Vanessa Thill (writer, artist, activist, NYC)

 ~Getting at the heart of artist-run spaces~

What makes artist-run spaces unique in contrast to institutions is their unique ability to forge relationships and foreground the integrity of the artist and their work. ​Artist-run spaces offer

communities and an art-viewing public an alternative to commercially focused exhibitions. These spaces cultivate verifiable “emerging artists” and are vital to a diverse and engaging discourse involving contemporary art. Artist-run spaces such as No Place, address a need for art that is not satisfied elsewhere, offering an antidote to the ubiquity of museum and larger gallery programming.

-Brian scott campbell (Artist, writer, Texas)

~Mission Statement~

No Place is an artist-run gallery in Columbus, Ohio. Established in 2012, We occupy a former mechanic shop in Marion Village and derive our name from a sign that once hung over the door: ‘No Place Like Home’. No Place endeavors to exist as a conduit for a wide range of contemporary visual art to the Midwest, and seeks to present work that is vital to a broad audience. In consortium to regular exhibition programming, No Place is host to an expanse of DIY music shows, sound installations, talks, and events.

The No Place project indulges associations to the definition of utopia, and aspires to foster an integral community, while showcasing artists on a national and international scope. The exhibition space has been lovingly built from repurposed and up-cycled materials and walls from neighboring art institutions. No Place is guided by the practice of re-imagining exhibition space, as well as the understanding and utilization of these resources: the economy of space, an earnest curatorial vernacular, as well as a comprehensive structure that invites greater discourse and participation.