Plinth

Fishbar is a space for photography and independent publisher in East London. Their showcase at 10a Thurloe Place comprised 'Stranger', by Arthur, and 'London Ends', by Ebeling - a work about the forgotten parts of London. Leaving behind the landmarks of the centre, the viewer is taken on a journey to the places where the city ceases to be a city and becomes a series of amalgamated villages. The places where London ‘ends’ are the places that Ebeling has been drawn to with his camera, culminating in a 250km walk to connect them all together.

'Stranger' imagines the survivor of a shipwreck in 1968, in which 238 people lost their lives after a boat sank near the coast of Dubai, returning to the city after 50 years have passed. Through photographs and small anecdotes, the viewer is taken on a journey through a city that is both awe-inspiring and alienating. A place which has grown at breath-taking pace from a small trading port in the 1960s to a city of over 2 million in the current day, and continues to draw people from all over the world with its promise of riches. The backbone of the project is the story of the boat; and images of the submerged shipwreck are interspersed throughout the work, transporting the viewer back and forth in history and acting as a reminder of the fragility and skin-deep nature of Dubai.

Plinth commissioned new work especially for Thurloe Place. Kyla McCallum created an origami-inspired immersive space, Refraction, tucked into the fabric of the gallery itself. 'Refraction' is made using over 200 folded paper panels. In total, the space included an incredible 52,000 hand folded lines. Visitors were encouraged to view the space through kaleidoscopes, discovering new shapes and combinations of geometric lines, shapes and shadows. Layer upon layer of origami grew up the walls and slinked across the ceiling, creating an array of detailed patterns.

Some of our most exciting new work came from emerging artist Gaetan James, who produced a limited edition series of large- scale paper-cuts, inspired by local residents and buildings around South Kensington. James, the consummate flâneur, focuses on the theatre of our day- to-day experiences. Nothing is more difficult to see than what is right in front of us. Everyday life is elusive, because we live it out of habit, without thinking and often without questioning. Gaetan James observes these acts: the quiet conversations, a drunk pissing in the corner, the stolen kiss, the exchange of envelopes, a lovers’ tiff or a secret meeting. James purposefully seeks out the insignificant or hidden gestures of life. At any given time everything appears as it should be, yet through the eyes of this visual gastronome, life’s narrative is coated with a sheen of the surreal. And a fleeting moment that could easily be overlooked, and thus lost, is frozen in time, traced and captured through the delicate art of a paper cut.

Since our launch earlier this year with a critically- acclaimed exhibition in a Bloomsbury townhouse, Plinth has been building a reputation for producing innovative products and limited editions by leading contemporary artists. We also curated a pop-up store (with prices ranging from £10 to £500) showcasing the best of contemporary design alongside prints and editions from established artists. At Thurloe Place, we introduced two new ceramic editions to our range: Michael Craig-Martin’s Violin plates (pink) and Richard Wentworth’s Known Unknowns.

Reiko Kaneko exhibited a new range of ceramics at 10a Thurloe Place, as well as holding a workshop over London Design Festival. Now based in Stoke-On-Trent, Reiko uses the region’s famous pure white bone china as a canvas and has spent the past 4 years exploring the possibilities of layered reactive glazes to create unique surfaces. In her latest work these glazes have been combined with the use of Kintsugi. This process originates from Japan and involves the restoration of broken pieces using delicately applied layers of lacquer and gold. Damaged pieces otherwise lost are given new life through the process coming to represent more than their original self. They help to highlight the inherent risks in small batch production, and tell the story of the broken and unbroken objects alike.

We are committed to making contemporary art and design more accessible. Plinth was delighted to offer a programme of talks and events over our time at Thurloe Place, many of which were free to attend.

Plinth at Thurloe Place offered a chance to collect affordable editions, discover unique installations, listen to free talks or simply escape the bustle of London amidst the greenery of Jacques Nimki’s living meadow.