MOT is a contemporary art

Contemporary art

Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...

 gallery in east London run by Chris Hammond.

History

The MOT gallery was founded in 2002 by Chris Hammond, Floyd Varey and Mally Mallinson. It is run as an "independent space and curatorial project".

In August 2002, as the first of two projects taking place during that summer, Louise Harris showed new works, which addressed a subject via a particular medium, including watercolours of blondes, landscape images made from felt and abstract collages with paper on the theme of sex.

In 2005, Hammond curated Shezad Dawood

Shezad Dawood

Shezad Dawood is an artist based in London.Dawood was born in London. His multi-media works are inspired by his varied cultural heritage, having a Pakistani mother, Indian father and an Irish stepmother...

's Paradise Row. Dawood bought a run-down Georgian house in Paradise Row, Bethnal Green

Bethnal Green

Bethnal Green is a district of the East End of London, England and part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, with the far northern parts falling within the London Borough of Hackney. Located northeast of Charing Cross, it was historically an agrarian hamlet in the ancient parish of Stepney,...

 and renovated the property with the interior being white throughout. It was then put up for sale through an estate agent, Blake Stanley, the result being simultaneously an art exhibition and a conventional property vending. Hammond said, "Fantasy is really important, both in terms of architecture and where you want to live. Architecture is all about a projection of where you want to live, it's about imagining space that doesn't actually exist yet." Although the initial idea was a hoax to confuse the estate agent as to the nature of the enterprise, he took to it as a good marketing venture to local creatives and a novel way to enhance his new business.

In December 2006, the PM Gallery in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, presented Bubble & Squeak, curated by London-based Shai Ohayon, to showcase artists who had been exhibited at MOT.

In 2007 Iwona Blazwick

Iwona Blazwick

Iwona Blazwick OBE is director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London.-Life and career:Iwona Blazwick was brought up by her architect parents in Blackheath, South East London...

 chose Elizabeth Price's film At the House of Mr X (2007), shown at the gallery, for her most significant show and artist of the year for Frieze

Frieze (magazine)

-Publication:frieze is published eight times a year and is based in London. As well as essays, exhibition reviews and columns by forward-thinking writers, artists, critics and curators, the magazine includes music reviews, artist projects, interviews and sections on design and...

magazine.

Artists exhibited at the gallery include Jeremy Deller

Jeremy Deller

Jeremy Deller is an English conceptual, video and installation artist. He is a Turner Prize winner.Deller is best-known for his Battle of Orgreave , a reenactment of the actual Battle of Orgreave which occurred during the UK miners' strike in 1984.-Life and work:Jeremy Deller was born in London,...

, Liam Gillick

Liam Gillick

Liam Gillick is a British conceptual artist who lives in New York City. He is often associated with the artists included the 1996 exhibit Traffic, which first introduced the term Relational Art.-Life and career:...

, Martin Creed

Martin Creed

Martin Creed is an artist and musician. He won the Turner Prize in 2001 for Work No. 227: the lights going on and off, which was an empty room in which the lights went on and off.-Life and work :...

, Martin Kippenberger

Martin Kippenberger

Martin Kippenberger was a German artist known for his extremely prolific output in a wide range of styles and media as well as his provocative, jocular and hard-drinking public persona....

, Simon Patterson, Sarah Lucas

Sarah Lucas

Sarah Lucas is an English artist. She is part of the generation of Young British Artists who emerged during the 1990s...

, Matthew Collings

Matthew Collings

-Life and career:In one of his books on art, Collings states that, in his early teenage years, he ran away to Canada. This act was preceded by a period of hanging around in a house in Oakley Street, Chelsea, whose residents included members of various rock bands including Mighty Baby and Family...

, Matthew Higgs

Matthew Higgs

Matthew Higgs is a British artist, curator, writer and publisher. His contribution to UK contemporary art has included the creation of Imprint 93, a series of artists’ editions featuring the work of artists such as Martin Creed and Jeremy Deller...

, and Mark Wallinger

Mark Wallinger

Mark Wallinger is a British artist, best known for his sculpture for the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, Ecce Homo , and State Britain , a recreation at Tate Britain of Brian Haw's protest display outside parliament. He won the Turner Prize in 2007...

.

It received funding from the Arts Council of England.

The gallery address is Unit 54/5th floor, Regent Studios, 8 Andrews Road, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 E8 4QN. It is housed in Regent Studios, which is also home to the Transition Gallery

Transition Gallery

Transition Gallery is a contemporary art project space in Hackney, East London. It is run by artists Cathy Lomax and Alex Michon. Transition Editions the gallery's publishing arm produces publications to accompany shows as well as two bi-annual magazines Arty and Garageland.-History:Transition...

 and Five Years Gallery. The nearest tube station is Bethnal Green

Bethnal Green tube station

Bethnal Green tube station is a station on the Central Line of the London Underground in Bethnal Green, East London. It lies between Liverpool Street and Mile End stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2. The station was opened as part of the long planned Central Line eastern extension on 4 December...

.