Beaconsfield grew out of Nosepaint, a monthly experimental art event that David Crawforth and Naomi Siderfin ran from 1991 to 1994. With Angus Neill, they incorporated Beaconsfield in November 1994, and it became a registered charity in May 1995.
The aim, in the founders’ words, was to “fill a niche between the institution, the commercial and the ‘alternative'”. Neill left in 1997. Crawforth and Siderfin still direct the programme and make work together as BAW, Beaconsfield Art Works.
The Ragged School
In July 1995 Beaconsfield leased the derelict former Lambeth Ragged School on Newport Street and refurbished it as an art centre. The Victorian building faces the street, with a large railway arch tunnel behind it. Its opening exhibition-residency, Plein Air, ran from September to October 1995.
Thirty years
Commissions over the years include Sonia Boyce, Tracey Emin, Mark Wallinger, Chris Ofili, Franko B, Bruce Gilbert and Monica Sjöö. In 2025 the 30th anniversary exhibition, Manifesto for Sustainable Experimentation, reprinted Boyce’s 1995 commission They’re Almost Like Twins, which once covered the outside wall facing passing trains. That year the gallery’s archive began its move to Tate Britain.
In autumn 2026 Beaconsfield launched a public appeal to keep the building open until its lease ends in 2030. Jumana Emil Abboud’s When the devil’s hair is the only care runs until 24 October, alongside the EarthAIR environmental residency.
Location: Vauxhall, London, United Kingdom
Address: 22 Newport Street, London SE11 6AY, United Kingdom
Website: beaconsfield.ltd.uk
Instagram: @beaconsfield_gallery_vauxhall
