Riflemaker

Riflemaker is a contemporary art business and exhibition space in London's Soho district, located in a historic gunmaker's workshop off Regent Street. Founded in 2003, it specialises in exhibiting and representing emerging artists, with particular strengths in feminist, performance, and sound art. The building, constructed in 1712, ranks among the oldest public buildings in the West End of London. Beyond its exhibition programme, Riflemaker functions as a publisher of artists' books and hosts events spanning poetry, music, film, talks, discussions, and performances.

Riflemaker's programme centred on emerging and internationally recognised artists working across media, with a sustained commitment to feminist art, performance, and sound. The gallery developed a reputation for ambitious thematic exhibitions, including a multi-instalment series on the disappearance of the analog world, focusing on print photography and recorded music. Its roster of represented artists achieved placements at major institutions including Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well as Frieze Masters and numerous international art fairs and public museums.

The gallery's exhibition history includes several widely reviewed projects. Stuart Pearson Wright presented a dual painting and film exhibition featuring actress Keira Knightley in her debut art-film performance. Leah Gordon, later co-curator of the Haitian Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale, showed photographs of voodoo ritual in Haiti and returned in 2012 with Caste Portraits. Francesca Lowe created a floor-to-ceiling painting installation with accompanying text by novelist Alasdair Gray. Christopher Bucklow staged live exhibitions in 2004 and 2009, as did Graham Fink in 2014 and 2017. The 2012 programme featured Berlin collective Artists Anonymous, kinetic pioneer Liliane Lijn in conjunction with Sir John Soane's Museum, Belfast sculptor Tim Shaw's figurative installation Soul Snatcher Possession, 1970s photo-collages by Penelope Slinger, and flipbook films by Juan Fontanive. Alice Anderson presented a performative exhibition in October 2012. In 2016, feminist artist Judy Chicago displayed test-plates from The Dinner Party alongside early drawings and paintings. The Chinese artist Wen Wu's 2018 exhibition of small text paintings, shown in Beijing and at Riflemaker London, marked the final exhibition at the Beak Street premises.

The gallery occupied 79 Beak Street in Soho, a building constructed in 1712 as a gunmaker's workshop. This structure, located in the City of Westminster, is one of the oldest public buildings in the West End of London. The historic workshop character of the space provided a distinctive setting for contemporary art presentations.

Riflemaker was located in Soho, off Regent Street in the City of Westminster. The gallery maintained an active events programme with regular Monday evening performances and discussions. Its official website remained accessible at www.riflemaker.org. Following the closure of its Beak Street premises in 2018 after Wen Wu's final exhibition, the space ceased to operate as a physical gallery, though it had participated in Photo London as recently as May 2017.