GEMA Gallery celebrates 10th anniversary with Kitchen Studios takeover

Kitchen Studios is taking over GEMA Gallery in a special celebration marking its 10th anniversary. The three-month takeover includes live performances, children’s workshops, activities, and drawing sessions.

Kitchen Studios has taken over the GEMA Gallery for its 10th anniversary, launching the three-month-long event with a live performance and drawing session featuring an aerialist.

On Friday, the artist collective came together to celebrate a decade of GEMA, which has been pivotal for Kitchen Studios over the years.

Nikolai Celecia and his band performed at the launch event and aerialist Amy Avellano posed for artists in a two-hour drawing session.

President of Kitchen Studios Stefano Blanca Sciacaluga said the GEMA Gallery is where the collective really got its start.

Some ten years, ago for the opening Kitchen Studios held events in GEMA for a month and a half.

“We're hoping to be able to give a much better experience than we did the first time around,” Mr Blanca Sciacaluga said.

“It's a very comprehensive programme for three months.”

“We're slowly rolling it out so it's going to be a slow rollout rather than bringing it all out at once. But we're going to have performances from Nikolai Celecia, Jesse McLaren, film screenings, and we will have people come in to give presentations.”

Kitchen will also be holding children’s activities such as ‘potion making’ and neon art.

Mr Blanca Sciacaluga added that the gallery lends itself as a space for creativity, holding various events over the years.

He said the space has a lot of potential to grow and develop. He thanked Gibraltar Cultural Services for lending the gallery to Kitchen over the years.

GCS Head of Cultural Development Davina Barbara said it just made sense to connect with Kitchen for the 10th anniversary.

“Kitchen have been dipping into our programme over many years with different kinds of collaborations and projects and workshops,” she said.

“So, it really made sense for it to go full circle. They've always had a vault that they can work with. On this occasion, what we did was strip down the whole gallery and it's a full-on takeover.”

Artworks from members of the collective are hung across the gallery, with an installation piece in the last vault.

Mrs Barbara said GEMA is a special venue which sees modern art exhibited in a historical setting.

She pointed out the gallery is situated in Montagu Bastion, a fortification.

“There's a certain gravitas, a certain energy, a certain environment when you walk into those walls,” she said.

“And then we're contrasting it with art and creativity. So, I think that's pretty special and pretty unique.”

She added that the intimate space lends itself to installations and showcases.

“I think, over the years, what we've tried to do is to make it a community venue,” she said.

GEMA has been the home of theatre plays, just recently The Memory Project 2, live performances, and poetry recitals.

“But however much we've tried to reach out and engage with the community, it's one of the things with GEMA, there are still people who don't know where it is,” Mrs Barbara said.

She looked back of some of highlights over the past decade, which include the Victor Quintanilla metalwork exhibition, plays by Daniel Strain-Webber, and the performance of La Maleta focusing on Gibraltarian women.

“It's not even about how many people you can bring in,” she said.

“But it's about working with that space and wanting to bring those more intimate, close-up and personal experiences that you achieve with these types of theatre productions.”

Check Kitchen Studios on Instagram for updates on the programme of events: @gibkitchen