The Rich Compost of Before

The Rich Compost of Before

‘The Rich Compost of Before’ is an archival excavation into the past 20 years of Artist-Run Activity at EMBASSY gallery, featuring fragments from the EMBASSY archive, and responding commissions by Lorenzo Rangoni Robertson and Sarah Phelan.

The exhibition is accompanied by texts from current committee members, formed from research and conversations held during the process of working on this show.

Grainy and makeshift, we take the form of archival worms, digging through the layers of our conjoined topsoil, down to the bedrock at the bottom of the dusty cardboard boxes scrappily labelled ‘Archive – DON’T BIN!!!’.

The Rich Compost of Before is by no means a comprehensive presentation of EMBASSY’s full archive or all the artists and individuals that have contributed to the space, and nor is it intended to be. This exhibition is a snapshot from the current committee, a starting point, an open invitation to engage with EMBASSY’s unique history and ebbe’s through the years of rolling committees. No iteration the same as the ones before. 

In this show, we invite you to touch, examine, challenge, and contribute.

–

The current EMBASSY committee is embarking on the process of preserving the gallery’s collective history in an accessible and secure archive, one which we hope will provide transparency and visibility of EMBASSY and its development. With the help of past committee members searching through old hard-drives, filing boxes, and abandoned email accounts, the current committee have managed to collate missing pieces from EMBASSY’s timeline. Elements of this will be featured in ‘The Rich Compost of Before’. 

Through the establishment of the EMBASSY public archive, a collection of posters, catalogues, stationary, publications, and art objects accumulated and created by EMBASSY, will be made available to view on request for artists, researchers, and anyone who may be interested.

With warmth from the EMBASSY Committee,

Elspeth, Lucas, Maria, Lauren, and Georgia  Xx