Decima gallery

Decima Gallery is a London-based arts projects organisation with a reputation for irreverent projects, according to a 2008 article in The London Paper:

ART for sex, gay claims for Jesus, pantomime cows – all standard fare for infamous London gallery Decima. The space, formerly in a Bermondsey back street, built up a rep in the late 90s for its headline-grabbing stunts. There was the Fuck Art and Pimp exhibition, where Angela Marshall offered her drawings for blow jobs (later unveiled as a spoof), the show Was Jesus a Homosexual?, and the time Decima’s joint curators Alex Chappel and David West gratecrashed the Tate dressed as a pantomime cow to "make people think".

Also known as Decima Projects or Decima International Arts, but more commonly simply referred to as "Decima", it is owned/managed by David West, Alex Chappel, Larry McGinity and Mark Reeves.

Decima have occupied various physical spaces since 1997 and have also staged a number of projects hosted by other venues, in London and around the world, including major London spaces such as the Tate Modern, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Whitechapel Gallery. Decima have also staged many conceptual, event-based and media-based projects. Ralph Rugoff in Frieze called them "Neo-Publicists", as they do not just seek press coverage, but use the mass media as their artistic medium.

As well as doing art projects, events, and club nights, Decima deals in limited edition books and prints, specialising in Gilbert & George and Stephen Gill.

David C. West worked with the Factual Nonsense Gallery alongside Joshua Compston before Compston's death on 5 March 1996. Among projects on which they collaborated was The Jack Duckworth Memorial Clinic, a spoof clinic for soap opera addicts.

In 1996, David C. West along with Alex Chappel formed a "media terrorist" group called a.r.t. (a reasonable thought). "We use the media as a canvas for art", explained David C. West: "Stunts have included running a clinic for soap opera addicts and launching The Dennis Nilsen Tour Company.".

The group's name originates from the address of their first gallery space which was officially launched in February 1998 at 3 Decima Studios, Decima Street, London SE1.

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Wikipedia