Decima Gallery


Decima Gallery is a London-based arts projects organisation with a reputation for irreverent projects. Also known as Decima Projects or Decima International Arts, but more commonly simply referred to as Decima, it is owned and managed by David West, Alex Chappel, Larry McGinity and Mark Reeves.
Decima have occupied various physical spaces since 1997 and have also staged a number of projects hosted by other venues, in London and around the world, including major London spaces such as the Tate Modern, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Whitechapel Gallery. Decima have also staged many conceptual, event-based and media-based projects. Ralph Rugoff in Frieze called them "Neo-Publicists", as they do not just seek press coverage, but use the mass media as their artistic medium.
As well as doing art projects, events, and club nights, Decima deals in limited edition books and prints, specialising in Gilbert & George and Stephen Gill.
A 2008 article in The London Paper described the gallery as "infamous" for its headline-grabbing stunts in the late 1990s, including the "Fuck Art and Pimp" exhibition where Angela Marshall pretended to offer her artwork in exchange for oral sex, the show "Was Jesus a Homosexual?" and the time that curators Alex Chappel and David West gratecrashed the Tate dressed as a pantomime cow to "make people think".

Origin

David C. West worked with the Factual Nonsense Gallery alongside Joshua Compston before Compston's death on 5 March 1996. Among projects on which they collaborated was The Jack Duckworth Memorial Clinic, a spoof clinic for soap opera addicts.
In 1996, David C. West along with Alex Chappel formed a "media terrorist" group called a.r.t.. "We use the media as a canvas for art", explained David C. West: "Stunts have included running a clinic for soap opera addicts and launching The Dennis Nilsen Tour Company.".

Decima Street 1997-2000

The group's name originates from the address of their first gallery space which was officially launched in February 1998 at 3 Decima Studios, Decima Street, London SE1.
The gallery was first occupied on 31 August 1997 by Guy Hilton, Philip Hunt, Alex Chappel and Matthew John Andrew. Guy Hilton left before the first show On 12 February 1998 the gallery was launched with a show named "Scott", which was organised by Matthew John Andrew and Philip Hunt.
In April 1998, Decima was reported to stage "Fuckart & Pimp", a show that purported to feature a female artist producing paintings while having sex with clients.
"With delicious predictability, the Great British Public were incensed." The show was in fact a hoax.
Philip Hunt and Matthew John Andrew left in November 1998 after which, Decima was managed by Alex Chappel and David C. West.
On 21 August 1998, Decima sent a fax to the Tate informing them that they would be bringing a real cow to the Gallery to "show where food and sex connect with the world of art". It turned out to be the artists themselves as a Pantomime Cow. At this time, the artist Derrick Welsh was represented by and closely affiliated to Decima.
In April 1999, Decima attempted to cause another splash with a show entitled "Was Jesus a Homosexual?" which was organised in conjunction with political philosopher Richard Morley. The Independent's Pandora column reported "Gilbert and George have installed part of a 100-year-old fountain they purchased recently, which featured the inscription "Jesus said if any man thirst let him come to me and let him drink". This now reads "Jesus said let him come". Another exhibitor, Piers Wardle, has made a crucifix with wooden balls attached by a "string that can be played with" and called it The Miracle of Holy Balls. Charles Sayer's canvas of a naked woman, legs apart, is displayed alongside eight framed biblical texts and entitled Anti-Christ I awake thee. The piece de resistance is Andrew Putland's untitled triptych depicting a black Jesus and black disciples engaged in fellatio with Christ." The exhibition also featured Swedish artist Anna Livia Löwendahl-Atomic.
When the original gallery space closed in January 2000 the name Decima continued to be used by Chappel and West for art projects.

In limbo 2000-2007

Decima steadily continued organising and participating in projects during 2000-2007, albeit far less frequently. During this time, those involved with Decima became involved with other offshoot and related projects.
In 2005, The Upstairs Gallery in Clerkenwell Green, London was opened by Alex Chappel and Fiona Watson while the Guy Hilton Gallery was opened in Spitalfields, London, and an art / book sales website www.drugaddict.co.uk was launched by David C. West. The latter two still exist in February 2010.

Gallery 2 in Hackney Wick

Decima opened an art gallery in a former peanut factory in London's Hackney Wick area on 23 February 2008 with a launch show "The Famous, The Infamous and the Really Quite Good".
In March 2008, Decima began a collaboration with local galleries Elevator and Residence and local studios to plan a local Arts Festival, called Hackney Wicked. On 8 August, The first Hackney Wicked festival went ahead.
Also during 2008, Decima launched their online project 'Decima TV' by webcasting a "chat show" in which comedian Aaron Barschak conducted a series of interviews with artists, namely the artists Bob & Roberta Smith, Franko B and Mark McGowan.
Decima are on record as sceptical about the 2012 Olympics, which is planned for the Hackney Wick area. They comment in an article by Fay Nicholson "Relational Aesthetics"
The Hackney Wick Decima Gallery space closed late 2008 - early 2009.

Without walls, 2009

Decima were criticised in January 2009 following an exhibition on Sunday 18th where they utilised images of missing three-year-old schoolgirl Madeleine McCann in pornographic artwork. The exhibition was branded "appalling and completely insensitive" by the NSPCC.
Decima hit back with a detailed letter explaining their intentions published in the Hackney Gazette on 18 February 2009.
In another statement published in the Hackney Gazette, those running Decima said "Decima Gallery was over three days subjected to dozens of people from Liverpool literally kicking the door in. We have just got new studio tenants and six of them were in the gallery over the weekend and were terrified......Losing these tenants and goodwill of our landlord, Decima Gallery in Hackney Wick had to close it doors on January 28 for the final time, leaving several planned exhibitions in confusion."
In July 2009, Decima exhibited in the Ghetto Gallery, Split, Croatia and went on to stage notable exhibitions in Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany; Piccadilly, London and the Tate Modern, London.
As well as exhibitions, in 2009 Decima also organised various film projects, performance projects, art fairs, live music events and even a Berlin rave.

Exhibitions and projects

A selection of exhibitions and projects organised by or involving Decima Gallery. Most dates are approximate: where an accurate date is shown, this refers to the launch date.
;1997 and earlier
Related projects which pre-date Decima:
;1998
All 1998 events held at Decima Gallery, London SE1, UK unless otherwise stated.
;1999
All 1999 events held at Decima Gallery, London SE1, UK unless otherwise stated.
;2000–2007
;2008
All 2008 events held at Decima Gallery, Hackney Wick, London E3, UK.
;2009
;2010