DKUK Salon fit out

Do you believe that art should be shown in a democratic environment?

At DKUK clients get their hair cut in front of art in the informal surroundings of the salon. To date, our customers have spent over 1200 hours immersed within thought-provoking exhibitions, but we are only able to accommodate one client at a time at our current location in Holdrons Arcade off Rye Lane.

By offering good quality haircuts that are affordable we have been able to build up a good reputation with local people and exhibition-goers alike, but are limited by the dimensions and location of the existing salon, in the number of people we are able to serve and the scale and ambition of exhibitions and projects we are able to host, but this is about to change…

DKUK has secured the lease to an empty retail unit on busy Rye Lane. Moving to this great location on the High Street, which is more than double the size of our existing home, will allow us to grow the hairdressing business, increase our visibility in the neighbourhood and offer artists more space for larger scale, more ambitious installations. In the new salon we will also introduce a new pricing structure for our haircuts, based on hair length, not gender, reflecting our ethos of fairness and accessibility.

For DKUK to make its unique model of great art and high quality, fairly priced haircuts more accessible to more people, we need help.

While we have secured the lease and funding towards our rent and exhibitions for the next 6 months, we need to raise £10,000 to transform the empty unit into a salon environment in which customers feel comfortable spending up to 2 hours having their haircut and coloured and viewing the exhibitions. Therefore, in addition to fitting out the unit in a way that gives artists flexibility in how they install their work, we will need to install air conditioning and daylight bulbs, as well as for the equipment that will allow us to increase our capacity with 2 more hairdressing chairs and an additional sink - oh, and a front door.

Please help this campaign by pledging your support - we have a range of rewards including limited edition prints and other artworks by some fantastic artists (see below), as well as bundles of haircuts that allow our crowdfunding supporters to be among the first to come and visit us in our new space.

Artist Rewards

Chips for the Poor - Fistula, 7" Single, produced by Bobby Conn  £10

Mark Beldan - Random European Bar, CD Mix Tape

Mark Beldan's compilation 'Random European Bar' is a eclectic ode to Europe including Amanda Lear, OMD and Throbbing Gristle, presented in a bespoke hand printed case and available to supporters for £10.

Phoebe Davies - Limited Edition Print

For £100 supporters can own a limited edition print by artist Phoebe Davies, taken from her short film Act 1: Astoria, which was the result of her residency in two London care homes observing what went on there, as part of Clod Ensemble’s programme Extravagant Acts for Mature People. This short film focuses on “investigating and exchanging ideas of self representation, assumed perceptions and popular culture, drawing upon visual references of hyper stylised fashion imagery and remixing old records with house beats.” There are 2 different prints available, Queenie, Act 1 and Josephine, Act 1 each one a giclée print onto Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper, 12x16in, produced as an edition of 75.

Josephine, Act 1

Queenie, Act 1

Holly Slingsby - Limited Edition Print

Holly Slingsby has created a print based on the performance commissioned by DKUK called  Knotted  Mass. The work traces through a look book of pop-cultural and mythical figures whose hair is key to their narrative. A protagonist who awaits her salon appointment flicks between these characters as if selecting a guise to adopt. The work explores image projection both literally and figuratively, interrogating the salon as a location where identity is formed and performed.

Patrick Coyle - Daniel Kelly Grasshopper Green (2016) Original Artwork

Patrick Coyle (b. 1983, Hull, UK) is an artist and writer working predominantly with performance and sculpture. He recently delivered performances at Global Committee, New York; El Tercer Lugar, Buenos Aires; Westminster Reference Library, London; Catalyst Arts, Belfast; Van Alen Institute, New York; Tate Modern, London; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London and Nottingham Contemporary. For £250 one supporter will receive an original artwork created especially for DKUK.

Candice Jacobs - Sweet Talk (2016) Participation

Sweet Talk is a series of events, organised by Candice Jacobs as a way of creating a knowledge sharing network of artists. The knowledge garnered through these events will be embedded in small 3D printed bronze lipsticks and other objects that become an exhibition that can be carried around in the pocket. For £300 supporters will have the opportunity for this embedded knowledge to take the form of their own lipstick or that of a loved one, and will receive a certificate that recognises their contribution to the Sweet Talk network.

David B Smith Then We Start To Think (2015) Original Art Work

David Brian Smith’s paintings typically represent a solitary figure or figures in psychedelic and symbolic landscapes, alluding to spiritual or heightened emotional interiors, and richly painted on herringbone linen supports. Born into a farming family which had been working the lands of Shropshire for generations, the Smiths had to give up the farm after his father’s death in 2006 due to financial hardship, making the image of the shepherd tending his flock, which recurs throughout his work, a poignant autobiographical motif. This is a rare opportunity to own one of Smith's painted jumper.
£350

Jamie Shovlin - Artist Edition

Jamie Shovlin's unique edition 'Lost in the Flood' (2009) is a screen printed mirror that reproduces a section from a 1969 Life magazine pictorial, documenting the preceding decade. Printed so that your ‘DKUK do’ will complete each image, the present seamlessly blends with historical fragments from ‘the decade of tumult and change.’ You can a double page spread ie two mirrors for £500.

Jeremy Deller - Battle of Orgreave Photobook (2001)

The Battle of Orgreave, the 2001 seminal artwork by artist Jeremy Deller was a re-enactment of a key confrontation during the miner’s strike, funded by Artangel. The Battle of Orgreave Photobook is a collection of photographs that was produced specifically for those who participated in the re-enactment, as a visual record of their experiences. For £500 one supporter can own the only piece that is available from this canonical work.

Richard Woods - Artist Proof

For £600, one supporter can own 'OffCut no.5 (Under the Bed)', 2013,  a signed artist proof of Richard Woods' woodcut on Hahnemuhle Bubra Butten 130gsm paper, 68.4 x 49.4 cm

Joan Byrne Desmonds prints

Peckham street photogrpaher's ltd edtion of Desmonds Barber Shop. 5 available of each