Exhibitions feature emerging artists, international artists showing for the first time in London, historic figures who inspire contemporary practice and artist-selected group shows. Camden Arts Centre also strives to support artists in making new artworks. Central to its programme is the artist residency programme, which aims to develop artists' practices with practical support, resulting in new work and public participation. Past residency artists include: Salvatore Arancio, David Raymond Conroy, Caroline Achaintre, Jesse Wine, Phoebe Cummings, Emma Hart, Sally O'Reilly, Francis Upritchard, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Mike Nelson, Graham Gussin, Martin Creed, Vivien Blackett and Jordan Baseman. Educational activity includes talks and discussions, film screenings and live art performances, alongside family activities, schools, projects led by artists, projects for young people and courses in ceramics, drawing, performance and art theory. Off-site artists' projects include new commissions and performance in areas such as King's Cross, London, and in local schools and community centres. A book shop is on site, as well as a Café and Garden.
Management
Jenni Lomax OBE has been the Director of the Camden Arts Centre since 1990. In the 1970s, Lomax was part of the curatorial team assembled by Nicholas Serota at the Whitechapel Art Gallery. Lomax sits on the Board of Raven Row, a non-profit contemporary art exhibition centre in Spitalfields Under her stewardship, the Camden Arts Centre established a programme of exhibitions, including solo shows by Anya Gallaccio, Tal R, Victor Grippo, Hanne Darboven, Eva Hesse and Angela de la Cruz whose first solo exhibition in the UK, entitled "After", was held at Camden Arts Centre in April and May 2010. She was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2010. In 2017, Martin Clark succeeded Lomax, who stepped down after 27 years at the helm.
The building and its history
Camden Arts Centre is situated at the corner of Arkwright Road and Finchley Road, NW3 in a Grade II listed premises, constructed as Hampstead Central Library and designed by the architect Arnold Taylor. The building was opened in 1897 by its benefactor Sir Henry Harben, then Deputy Chairman of the Prudential Assurance Company. The Victorian structure funded by Harben survived World War II, despite hits by enemy incendiary bombs in 1940 and the blast from a V2 rocket in 1945. The library grew in size and was extended in the 1920s, however by 1964 a new facility opened in Swiss Cottage which was better able to cope with the demands of the modern library service and all stock was transferred to it. Hampstead Arts Centre was created in 1965 providing the local community with classes in painting, life drawing, pottery, printing and basic design. The first exhibition was held a year after the Centre was established. Director Jenni Lomax OBE joined Camden Arts Centre in 1990, and has established an internationally acclaimed programme of exhibitions, residencies, artists’ projects and public events. She led the organisation through a major building refurbishment scheme which was completed in early 2004 by Tony Fretton Architects.
