Salon Group Show : 97 New Bond Street

During the Enlightenment, French salons acted as incubators for social and cultural innovation. Within the arts, the salons served as both cultural hubs and platforms for the exchange of often radical ideas that continue to influence the cultural fabric and practises of the visual arts as we know them. Salon 2022, a new exhibition curated and organised by the team at TSIVRIKOS SHAKE, will reimagine the idea of the salon by bringing together a diverse group of artists committed to exploring contemporary concepts of expression, language, and identity – ideas that both influence and define cultural and societal developments in the 21st century.

Hotbeds for new creative talent but also spaces for political and cultural debate, the salons of eighteenth century Paris were the galleries and art fairs of today. They were critical centres of artistic and political discourse. The salon can be defined as a place or setting that offers the potential for people to meet, it allows for a unique environment of socialisation and education where ideas about arts, literature, politics and current affairs can be discussed and debated. Throughout history, there have been many derivations of the salon which existed all across Europe from the 14th to 18th centuries.