What is the space?

Conceptual sketch of the Alice Yard Space, by Sean Leonard

Alice Yard Space is a small gallery in the backyard of 80 Roberts Street--a nine-by-seven-by-ten-foot concrete and glass box designed by architect Sean Leonard, which opens in September 2007. It is just large enough to fit an artist's installation, a video work, a few drawings or paintings.

Since September 2006, Alice Yard has been home to a series of weekly Friday-night "Conversations", bringing musicians, artists, writers, and audiences together for informal performances and interactions. The gallery now creates the possibility for another kind of conversation, by offering contemporary artists a space to show a carefully selected piece of recent work, or even work in progress.

The concept evolved from a conversation between Sean Leonard and artist Christopher Cozier, and through a series of drawings in a sketchbook they shared over a period of six months. They conceived of a modest space where artists can experiment with ideas and works not normally feasible in a commercial gallery. They are inviting other artists to join in their sketchbook conversation, as it were, and also inviting viewers into the process. Alice Yard Space asks questions about the relationship between artists and their community, outside the conventional bounds of the art market (but not oblivious to commercial concerns).

From 14 September, 2007, Alice Yard Space will host a regular series of artists' projects, instigated by Leonard, Cozier, and writer and editor Nicholas Laughlin, in conversation with a collaborative of three young artists, Marlon Griffith, Jaime Lee Loy, and Nikolai Noel.

Click here for a detailed physical plan of the space.