March 30 (2 – 4pm) will see the launch of the Whitechapel Gallery’s new year-long program, “The Street,” which will commission site-specific installations for the area of and around Wentworth Street in East London (familiar for hosting Petticoat Lane market).
Significantly, the first commission by Nedko Solakov will feed into this history of the famous market and will draw out similarities between the street market and the art market. Solakov’s A Turnover for Many and a Bit of Luck for One, will function as a year-long lottery and invite vistors to the market to purchase an item worth at least £5. The customer will register their contact details and the item will be displayed in “The Shop” (26 – 28 Toynbee St, London, E1) alongside a work by Solakov that is worth £5000. At the end of the project (March 2009) a Petticoat Lane market trader will be asked to pick a winner, who will in turn receive the Solakov work as a prize.
“The Street” will also see the Whitechapel Gallery work with the likes of Minerva Cuevas, General Public Agency, Jens Haaning, Henry VIII’s Wives, Bernd Krauss, Lars Bang Larsen, Shimabuku and Canal. These artists will develop public interventions, events, installations and performances, many of which will be focused in the project’s headquarters – a redundant hat shop on Toynbee Street. The final commission will take place in the Whitechapel Gallery itself to celebrate the opening of its major expansion in Spring 2009.