“We are extremely excited for Platform to be up and running. As an artist led gallery, we are dedicated to supporting our artists but also
the causes that are close to their and our hearts. At the core of the programme is a social mission; aiming to provide an active platform
for international artists dealing with important socio-cultural, political and environmental issues of our time.” Joe Kennedy, Unit London co-founder
Unit London are proud to announce the launch of Platform, an online exhibitions programme that focuses on socio-political issues.
The programme will begin on 19 October at 10AM with a solo show by Joshua Hagler. In alignment with the core social principle of the
programme, 10% of all sales proceeds from each exhibition will be donated to a charity nominated by the artist and/or curator. For his
exhibition, Hagler has nominated the Brady Campaign: an American nonprofit organisation that advocates for gun control and against
gun violence.
Here, Hagler presents a body of work that explores the prevalence of mass shootings in America. The works in the exhibition feature
both victims and perpetrators of mass shootings. The cases of such shootings in America are now so numerous they bleed into
statistical opaqueness; these works attempt to imbue past events with a renewed sense of reality and tangibility. In homing in on
individual cases, Hagler is asking the viewer to ruminate on what these tragedies mean, not just for those personally affected, but for
humanity on a wider scale.
The paintings were installed in an abandoned school in New Mexico. The artist, standing in liminal space, can look both backwards and
forwards with a sense of discovery, ultimately producing work with a certain poignancy. This pervasive feeling of isolation chimes with
Hagler who has always been interested in places of loss. Hagler lost his younger brother at a young age and, at the end of 2019, months
before the arrival of his daughter, his work began to focus on the role art can play as a mediator between the past, present and future.
As he explains: it can sometimes feel as though those who are arriving are arriving from among the departed. Hagler felt the essence
of this cyclical renewal and regeneration is something his painting could capture and expose.
For future exhibitions, each artist will engage with a socio-political issue they find particularly salient. Platform will be a digital space in
which artists can respond to real-world problems and display their work in a concise and focused manner, bringing it to the attention
of a truly global audience. These offerings will have a strong editorial and curatorial focus with a series of special guest curators.
Each iteration will feature between five and ten original works and run online for approximately two weeks. Future exhibitions include
solo shows with Ziping Wang, Elsa Rouy and Nicolas Holiber.