Programme 2023

PEER is a not-for-profit neighbourhood space for contemporary art, located in Hoxton, East London. PEER places artists and local communities at the heart of our internationally recognised programmes of public exhibitions, collaborative projects, talks, events and offsite commissions.

Located in a converted shopfront in Arden Estate on Hoxton Street, PEER overlooks and maintains Khadija’s Garden. PEER has a critically acclaimed 24-year history as one of London’s most experimental spaces for contemporary art and has worked with artists including Chris Ofili, Mike Nelson, Bob & Roberta Smith, Danh Võ, Fiona Banner, Emma Hart, Jimmy Robert, Jadé Fadojutimi, Lubna Chowdhary and Moi Tran, among many others. Central to all our activities is PEER Ambassadors, a free, collaborative and creative programme for people aged 17–25 from underrepresented and lower socio-economic backgrounds who live and work in PEER’s local area.

PEER’s programme for 2023 addresses themes of collective work, interdependency, and place. The exhibitions programme commences with a solo exhibition by artist Tanoa Sasraku, followed by a survey exhibition over the summer that explores collective artistic, cultural and political initiatives that took place in Hackney in the 1970s and 1980s, and a new commission with artist Iris Touliatou will conclude the year. Throughout 2023 PEER develops a new commission by artist Leah Clements for 2024 and we launch the Ambassador Artist in Residence Programme 2023–24 culminating in a new commission as part of PEER Notices. A programme of events takes place throughout the year, including talks, readings, performances and workshops.

Tanoa Sasraku
February 16–May 20, 2023
Merging digital and handmade processes, London-based artist Tanoa Sasraku (b. 1995, Plymouth, UK) works with sculpture, tapestry, print and analogue film to explore place and memory in relation to British, Black, Ghanaian and queer cultural histories. Influenced by affinities towards places that both capture and exclude human bodies, her exhibition at PEER builds on an ongoing series of works that comprise sculpture and print to examine latent memories, energies and mythologies embedded in rural landscapes.

we are a group of people composed of who we are
June 22–September 9, 2023
A ground-breaking survey exhibition that looks at the cultural, artistic, and experimental cooperative initiatives that took place in Hackney in the 1970s and 1980s. Bringing together new commissions, existing artworks, literature, film and never-before-seen archival material, the exhibition and accompanying events programme explores the radical and influential history of artistic, cultural and social work embedded in the heart of our local community in Hackney. The exhibition brings together diverse voices from a range of generations and backgrounds to explore what it means to cooperate and collectivise.

Iris Touliatou
October 5–December 16, 2023
A new commission and first solo exhibition in a UK institution by Athens-based artist Iris Touliatou (b. 1981, Athens, Greece). Often working in response to a specific context, Touliatou works across various disciplines that are necessary for each intervention. Manifesting in sculpture, drawing, sound, scent and language, her work creates transient forms and shared experiences to comment on labour, affective economies and states of being. Examining infrastructures and function, attachment and desires, the public and private, Touliatou’s work raises questions on the conditions of artistic production and the institutional framework in which it exists. 

PEER Ambassador and Notices Programme
Ongoing
The PEER Ambassador programme is a rolling six-month, free, collaborative and creative programme for people aged 17–25 from underrepresented and lower socio-economic backgrounds who live and work in PEER’s local area. The programme offers paid work experience at our street-facing gallery, alongside professional development and learning opportunities. Ambassadors also work closely with an Artist in Residence throughout 2023-24, as part of PEER Notices.

Leah Clements
Ongoing
Throughout 2023 PEER will be working with London-based artist Leah Clements (b.1989, London, UK) on a new commission that will be presented in early 2024. Working with film, sound, performance, writing and installation, Clements’ research is concerned with the relationship between psychological, emotional, and physical states, often exploring personal accounts of hard-to-articulate experiences while critically and practically exploring issues relating to sickness, cripness and disability in art.

PEER is a registered charity and part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio and is supported by Hackney Council through a Voluntary Community Sector Lease. All of the gallery’s exhibitions and the majority of events are free and open to all.

PEER’s 2023 Programme is supported by Paul and Louise Cooke Endowment and Henry Moore Foundation, with additional support from PEER Patrons and Network. The PEER Ambassador and Notices programme is supported by the Foundation for Future London and Westfield Stratford City grant.

Tanoa Sasraku’s Liths series was originally produced as part Terratypes at Spike Island, Bristol and was commissioned and produced by Spike Island as part of the West of England Visual Arts Alliance programme, supported by Arts Council England. 

PEER’s most recent programme was Revision, a research and event programme reimagining how we work, from November 16 to February 1, 2023.