At this pivotal time of our 40th Anniversary, we at The Showroom are taking stock to reflect and strengthen our mission. We are pausing our exhibitions programme and will operate online from the building during the first three months of the year to align with our programme vision called RESTORE. We believe that by building resilience and consolidating our efforts to maintain staff well-being we will set our deep roots in well-nurtured soil and reinforce the programme focus.

Inspired by Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe’s thinking, The Showroom’s RESTORE programme will frame the philosopher’s proposal for the future of life, culture, and freedom: repair, remember, reassemble, and reconstitute, in a series of projects to develop over the next two years.

Our strategy is driven by our commitment to promote physical and mental well-being and to produce sustainable programming from physical implementation to conceptual resonance. Additionally, The Showroom will reinforce its commitment to embedding social engagement in its programmes by focusing on nurturing meaningful relationships in our neighbourhood and beyond.

We will also devote the necessary time to launch our new website, which will host exciting activations of our archive and continue working with artists in future projects.

We are taking time to ask what an organisation such as The Showroom can and should be doing. Moreover, we want to make these processes of reflection both visible and ultimately embedded within our ongoing programme.

From January to April 2024, as well as displaying Kay Abude’s mural Be Creative Remain Resilient on the outside of the building, we will operate occasional public activity detailed on our website.