Just five months after the opening of V&A East Storehouse, we’re thrilled to announce a new partnership with international arts foundation, Art Explora. Together, we’ll be bringing inspiring creative experiences to communities across east London — helping open up access to the arts for people living in Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, and Waltham Forest.
Art Explora’s mission is to break down the social, economic, and geographic barriers that can prevent people from participating in the arts by launching bold new touring and digital projects, community partnerships, and by bringing creativity directly into schools, neighbourhoods, and care settings.
At the V&A, we share this passion for making art and culture accessible to everyone. Over the next three years, our partnership with Art Explora will build on this shared goal as we work to create new ways for people to experience, make, and connect through art.
The programme has two main strands: the Art Explora Art Commission and the Art Explora Performing Arts Programme. Both will give local residents the chance to work alongside emerging and established artists alike and get involved with the exciting work happening at V&A East.
The Art Explora Art Commission at V&A East
Work on the very first Art Explora Art Commission is already underway. 2024 Turner Prize-winning artist Jasleen Kaur has been chosen as the inaugural artist, and her new project will be unveiled in Summer 2026. Her installation will be open to the public in outdoor spaces, following the opening of V&A East Museum in Spring 2026.
Selected from a group of 30 nominated artists by a panel of community leaders, artists, curators, and representatives from both Art Explora and the V&A and beyond, Jasleen is excited to collaborate with local communities to create something that reflects their lived experiences:
“I’m really interested in how the city, the neighbourhood, the street, the pavement works. Together with local groups I’ll be producing a series of sculptural and sonic works that intervene in public infrastructure and explore this complicated sense of place.”
— Jasleen Kaur, inaugural Art Explora commission holder
Kaur was chosen by a jury that included Justine Simons OBE (Deputy Mayor of London for Culture and Creative Industries), James Lingwood (co-founder, Artangel), Zoé Whitley (art historian and curator), Jeremy Deller (artist), Art Explora founder Frédéric Jousset, and UK director Jemima Montagu, alongside V&A East Director Gus Casely-Hayford, V&A East Chief Curator, Brendan Cormier and V&A East Learning & Engagement colleagues.
The Art Explora Performing Arts Programme at V&A East
Alongside the art commission, the new Performing Arts Programme will see the V&A and Art Explora team up with our neighbours at Studio Wayne McGregor to get East London college students moving. Through creative workshops led by dancers and choreographers from the company, students will develop a brand-new performance inspired by the iconic Le Train Bleu stage cloth — currently on display in the V&A East Storehouse.
From connecting young people with artists working at the cutting edge of creativity, to giving them the chance to explore their own skills and ideas, both programmes seek to build exciting opportunities for the people of East London to experience art in fresh and meaningful ways, and begin to open up pathways to creative careers.
The Art Explora Art Commission and Performing Arts Programmes at V&A East are delivered in partnership with Art Explora.
