LONDON.- The South London Gallery’s new annexe in a former Fire Station opened to the public on Saturday 22 September with an exhibition titled KNOCK KNOCK. Curated by SLG Director Margot Heller in collaboration with artist Ryan Gander, the exhibition explores humour in contemporary art.

Across the road from the SLG’s main building, the Fire Station has been renovated by 6a architects. It doubles the size of the SLG and includes the creation of new exhibition galleries, an archive, communal kitchen, education space and artist’s studio.

To celebrate the opening of the SLG’s new space, KNOCK KNOCK is being presented across the main site and the Fire Station. KNOCK KNOCK brings together works by more than thirty artists – from established figures such as Maurizio Cattelan, Sarah Lucas and Ugo Rondinone to younger practitioners such as Danielle Dean, Hardeep Pandhal and Simeon Barclay – in different mediums ranging from painting, drawing and sculpture to collage and film.

Newly commissioned work is on view throughout the opening weekend, including three off-site artist projects as part of Open Plan, the SLG’s ongoing public art and education programme that invites international and British artists to create artworks with and for the gallery’s neighbours on local housing estates. A large-scale text piece by artist Jessie Brennan has been installed on the roof of Heron House on Pelican Estate; Basim Magdy collaborated with local children to transform Art Block, the SLG’s free children’s space on Sceaux Gardens Estate; and Gabriel Lester’s colourful, bollard-like sculptures populate the paved area below Crane House on Pelican Estate.

Heralding the SLG’s new programming strand Evidence of Us, which supports local histories through the lens of contemporary art, is a series of films by artist Rory Pilgrim titled The Resounding Bell. Screened in the Studio on the top floor of the Fire Station, the films explore how we might retell otherwise unheard stories relating to care, community, migration, technology and war.

Later in 2018, Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 will be presented across both SLG sites.