#AETHEPROJECTROOM

AE The Projectroom is residency, studio and exhibition space which invites a vast variety of artists. This space was developed with a need for artists to engage in collaboration with artists coming from all over the world. AE The Projectroom is a private space allowing artists to work independently but also to temporarily make Art Eye their home. They are invited to live on the premises, so that they are able to work without any interruption. The aim here was to create a synchronicity between traditional workshop spaces and exhibition spaces.

The space(s) are situated on the 5th floor of Ellis House; a building dedicated to the promotion of South African Art and artists. Ellis House Art Studios is located on the cusp of the Johannesburg inner city in New Doornfontein. The building houses artists, galleries and art practitioners creating multiple dialogues around the production and exhibition of contemporary art. Art Eye chose this new space drawn by its creative energy and close proximity to the inner city. The Art Eye inner city spaces are ventures dedicated to breaking down barriers and celebrating our diversity through Art. These spaces exist in order to create visibility and conjure discussions around humanity, diversity and create a sense of community between artists and art buyers.

The residency programme is a recent development which allows artists the freedom to work within the gallery space, as well as to collaborate with a number of other artists working during the same time. This programme is one in a series of developments which aim to broaden the scope of creative practice and artistic development. Having moved premises to the Johannesburg inner city where the creative community is constantly multiplying, we aim to diversify our product offering by running mulitlple projects conitimitantly. Art Eye Gallery in comprised of a number of spaces including AE The Launchpad, AE The Studio, the AE The Projectroom and the AE The Studiobox(s), all diverse in functionality however simultaneously contribute to the contemporary artistic narrative and challenge established notions of artistic production and art making. We encourage resident artists to challenge their own sensibilities and practice during their time in the AEStudio, often challenging materiality modes of expression, as well as modes of collaboration and unconventional exhibiton practice.

Art Eye Gallery and Studio situated in New Doornfontein, is a collaborative space that perpetuates this idea of free expression and community. AE The Studio, is born from the vision of the Art Eye Gallery which founded in 2013 in The Design Quarter, Fourways. AE The Studio is an experimental project space, which hosts a number of innovative and creative collaborations by artists from different scopes of the South African art scene.

The Art Eye Gallery spaces encourage collaborative and individual creation, asking artists to think and make work that contributes to the wider community. As the gallery is an open space, our open ended accessibity means resident artists seldom work alone; artists from various disciplines are able to come together, converse and engage, create and share work with each other. Our belief is that freedom of space and materiality allows us to interact with others, ourselves and our expression in a much truer way, which subsequently gives light to new works and new ideas.