The Showroom
A laboratory for new commissions rather than a salon of greatest hits, The Showroom invites artists to make first-time, large-scale projects that grow out of research with local groups and international collaborators. Expect single-artist exhibitions, process-heavy installations, and a long-running social practice strand that treats the neighbourhood as part of the gallery’s ecosystem.
Opening Hours
What's not to miss inside?
Artist Commissions (Single-Project Format)
Most exhibitions are newly commissioned, giving artists room for risk and scale they might not get elsewhere.You’re often seeing the ‘world premiere’ of a work—prototype displays, working archives and evolving installations are part of the language.
📍 Main gallery, Penfold Street
Communal Knowledge Archive
A long-term programme where artists co-produce projects with local residents, schools and traders in Church Street Ward.Look for maps, manuals and toolkits produced with community partners—outputs are meant to be used, not just viewed.
📍 Reading area / project displays
Talks & Publishing
Conversations, reader groups and slim, idea-dense publications extend works beyond the exhibition run.Many commissions leave a printed trace—handbooks, readers, or zines that document method as much as result.
📍 Event space and book stand
Inspire your Friends
- Founded in 1983, The Showroom has specialised in first solo shows and major early commissions in London for emerging artists.
- Since relocating to Penfold Street in 2008, the gallery’s programme has embedded itself in the Church Street market neighbourhood—many projects are site-responsive to this move.
- Its process-driven model means exhibitions regularly include research material—scripts, prototypes, community toolkits—making ‘work in public’ part of the viewing experience.
