Interview with Asylum

Interview with Asylum directors Jo Dennis & Dido Hallett – Originally published by South London Art Map


Hidden within the Caroline Garden’s Chapel, the ruinous décor of Asylum has been home to a new programme of art initiatives co-led by artists Jo Dennis and Dido Hallett.

CM: For starters, could you tell me a little bit about yourselves and the Asylum space? I’m interested into how you managed to acquire such an interesting space to work with.

JD&DH: The space was on the Southwark Council website in the Commercial Property to let section. We made a proposal to run it as an art space and we were lucky enough to be given the lease in 2010. Jo and I both studied at Goldsmiths College and were practising artists looking for a space to run an arts programme in.

CM: Do you think the peculiarities of your space lend a certain something to artists/exhibitions, over and above the formalities of the white-cube milieu? And if so is that what attracted you to the space in the first place?

JD&DH: Asylum is a challenging space to hang a show in as the space is a work of art in itself, when putting on an exhibition in this space a lot of the white cube rules have to be disregarded and new ones made up. Some of the best shows we have had are the site specific ones that work with the space and look into its history and use the unique atmosphere of the chapel. When we first saw the space we knew instantly that this was something special and would be an amazing opportunity for any artist to get their hands on! We have recently taken on another intriguing and challenging space ‘Safehouse 1’ on Copeland Road in Peckham, last month the 2nd year illustration and graphics Camberwell College and students put on a show there.

CM: How does co-running and directing the space usually play out? Do you both take equal responsibility for the management/curation of your exhibitions? Similarly, is there a certain process that you follow when producing an exhibition or does it change with every project?

JD&DH: It changes with every project, sometimes one of us will take a more involved approach and sometimes we are completely hands off. We have collaborated with other artist lead groups and curated with other artist/curators. The exhibitions and events we have are a mixture of Asylum projects and other people renting the space. We have had shows with students from Camberwell, Goldsmiths, central St Martins, RCA and with more established artists. We have recently started a residency programme curated by Ed Ball who is on the MA curation course at the RCA. We generally work with artists who are passionate about the space and want to show there rather than source artists and curators.

CM: I’m aware that you enjoy working with short-term exhibitions and was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about your interest in this area and what you think it offers artists and exhibitions?

JD&DH: Short 3 or 4 day exhibits suit how we work and where the space is. Asylum is situated in gated gardens which doesn’t get much passing footfall, having short exhibitions puts the focus on the launch event and encourages artists to get the people to the shows in a small window.

CM: Finally, is there anything coming up soon that you are involved in that you can tell us about?

JD&DH: Thursday 3rd July we will be having performances and screenings from artists involved in our residency program. I will put all the finer details up on SLAM web site. 24th-26th June at Safehouse we have MA film students from Goldsmiths doing a live performance.We will be putting in a proposal for the Artlicks weekender in October. We have Joran Rappa solo show at Asylum in October and also in October at Safehouse we will be hosting 2 exhibitions as part of the South East Asia Art Festival.





Asylum is an artist lead organisation based in Caroline Gardens Chapel in Peckham, London. It was founded in 2010 and is directed by artists Jo Dennis and Dido Hallett.