Cast into a skip in a car-parking space is a cartoon house by artist Richard Wood. It’s a suprising addition to Hoxton square in London, but Skip Gallery has a reputation for popping up in unexpected places – from residential squares to commercial districts of the city.
This installation, opening for the occasion of the London Festival of Architecture and running for the month of June, is titled ‘Upgrade’.
‘Shaping and altering our immediate surroundings is a fundamental part of being alive,’ says Woods, who hopes that the piece will make people question their surroundings and context of Hoxton square in a new way.
The project is a follow up from his ‘Holiday Home’ installation conceived for the Folkstone Triennial in 2017. This saw the arrival of six bright bungalows across the coastal town bringing attention to housing issues across the UK such as second-home ownership and the national housing shortage.
Richard Woods (centre) with Skip Gallery founders Lee Baker and Catherine Borowski. Photography: Ali Tovery
Sketches by Richard Woods for the project design
Richard Woods’ ‘Upgrade’ installed at Skip Gallery in Hoxton Square
The installation of ‘Upgrade’ by Richard Woods
INFORMATION
‘Upgrade’ is on view until 30 June. For more information, visit the Skip Gallery website
ADDRESS
Skip Gallery
The parking space opposite 19 Hoxton Square
London
N1 6PB
-
What is the role of fragrance in contemporary culture, asks a new exhibition at 10 Corso ComoMilan concept store 10 Corso Como has partnered with London creative agency System Preferences to launch Olfactory Projections 01
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
A Danish twist, compact architecture, and engineering magic: the Don’t Move, Improve 2025 winners are hereDon’t Move, Improve 2025 announces its winners, revealing the residential projects that are rethinking London living
-
This Hampstead house renovation in London transcends styles and periodsThe renovation of a Hampstead house in London by Belgian architect Hans Verstuyft bridges the classic and the contemporary
-
London’s Sloane Street has been transformed into a ‘green boulevard’Iconic shopping destination Sloane Street has had a facelift, now boasting wider pavements, enhanced seating and lighting, and a massive planting scheme
-
New book takes you inside Frinton Park Estate: the Essex modernist housing scheme‘Frinton Park Estate’, a new book by photographer James Weston, delves into the history of a modernist housing scheme in Essex, England
-
Conran Building's refresh brings a beloved London landmark into the 21st centuryConran Building at 22 Shad Thames has been given a new lease of life by Squire & Partners, which has rethought the London classic, originally designed by Hopkins, for the 21st century
-
Inside Powerhouse: The redevelopment of Lots Road Power Station, which once fuelled the London UndergroundThe twin-turreted building has followed in the footsteps of Battersea Power Station, being transformed into luxury homes and retail units
-
Sadler’s Wells East opens: ‘grand, unassuming and beautifully utilitarian’Sadler’s Wells East by O’Donnell and Tuomey opens this week, showing off its angular brick forms in London
-
2025 Serpentine Pavilion: this year's architect, Marina Tabassum, explains her designThe 2025 Serpentine Pavilion design by Marina Tabassum is unveiled; the Bangladeshi architect talks to us about the commission, vision, and the notion of time
