A grassroots campaign led by various political and community groups, Hackney residents, cultural workers and journalists has cumulated in the landlord of the LD50 Gallery in east London asking the tenants, gallery owners Lucia Diego and Alexander Moss, to vacate the premises.
The gallery, opened in 2015, became the locus of fierce debate following a series of contentious exhibitions, but more importantly the organisation of a ‘neoreactionary’ conference this summer, providing a platform for some of the most notorious so-called ‘alt-right’ figures to speak.
Whilst the gallery owners initially defended their project, claiming that their aim was “to explore contemporary discourse through a series of exhibitions and open discussions,” it would appear that persistent pressure has led to the definitive closure of the gallery.
In a statement released on Tuesday, campaign leaders Shut Down LD50 said “this is only a first step. More needs to be done both to prevent LD50 and its organisers from restarting their project elsewhere, and more generally to ensure that our communities and cultural institutions are kept free of the influence of the far right...Shutting down fascists in the long term requires that we transform the culture in which they can begin to gain popular and institutional support (and the art world is not the neutral space it often believes itself to be). We need to be able to ask larger questions, such as how to oppose Britain’s own violent border regime.”
Hackney Citizen has reported however that gallery owner Lucia Diego has dismissed the claims as "false." “I will not be responding to false information that appears on a Tumblr. Any announcements about LD50 gallery will come from me, and not third parties,” she said
Read more on LD50’s back story on Happening.
