Salon 63: Artist x Salon Collaborations along the number 63 bus route

About

Curator Sasha Galitzine has been developing relationships with salons and bus drivers along the route since May 2017 and has secured funding from both the Arts Council and other private donors. This is her fifth independent curatorial project in London: recent shows include ‘Pompe’ a Dionysian Procession of performances along Regents Park Canal and ‘Closer to the Veg’ a series of artist interventions at Highgate’s Fitzroy Park Allotments, both of which were made in close collaboration with the local communities.
 
The partner salons represent the vibrant diversity of the bus route, serving the local Dominican Republican, Algerian, Nigerian, Columbian, Ecuadorian and British communities in matters not only hair and beauty. Spending time in these spaces it is quite clear that the salon is so much more than a place of preening but rather a bastion of community support, friendship and fun.
 
Salon 63 seeks to explore and celebrate these extraordinary places. This endeavour feels all the more urgent in view of the imminent property and cross-rail developments in both Elephant and Castle and Peckham, threatening the survival of these rich and important sites of community.
 
…The redesign and renovation of a community Jacuzzi area in Old Kent Road’s Miami Health Club, a new dance-based work inspired by the art of shampooing, a script derived from a giant Mexican wig’s encounter with Nigerian hair weavers’ displacement in Peckham. An investigation into the origins of Vietnamese nail workers. A temporary art school within a barber shop… 

Just some of the projects you’ll encounter whilst alighting from the 63 bus from 16th-24th September.
 
This is a project that wants to ask questions.
 
What is a salon? What can a salon mean to its clientele? How can these spaces constitute or represent a community? How can community be expressed? What brings people together? What is a social space? How can dialogues between communities be instigated? How can art help us think about these questions? What is a collaboration? How can art help us start conversations and create meaningful human relationships? What happens when a salon becomes a site of both production and display? Why do people gather? What is a safe space? What kind of space can cater for a diverse group of people? What happens when we think of the salon as a space of self-definition? What is self-care? Why do people really come to these salons?
 
Participating Artists: Larry Achiampong, Gabriele Beveridge, Ellen Gallagher, Gery Georgieva, Paul Kindersley, Eloise Lawson, Andrew Logan, Isaac Olvera, Paloma Proudfoot, Hans Rosenström, Stasis, Freddy Tuppen and Kirsty Turner Jones.

63 Bus Residency: Nick Bashall, Beatrice Hasell-McCosh and Tyga Helme.

Participating Salons:  Barber Streisand, La Bodeguita & Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre, Diamond Nails, Manuel Guerra Skin Care & Sylvio's Juice Bar, Old Kent Road Barber Shop, Lewis Barbers, Miami Health Club, Sam's Barbers, DKUK, Divine Destiny.