It was during these first few months that Ido met Garrett from Amsterdam street-art collective, London Police. “He just came in one day. He’d heard of this underground skate shop and come to check it out. Obviously it wasn’t the right description of what he found but we got talking. When I found out he was part of London Police, I was shocked because I was a fan of their work and that’s how the idea of us holding art shows got started.” The London Police show kicked off with a launch party in February 2002, “which was really nice because I liked the idea of putting something together in the evenings – you know, a good mixture of music, drinks and people. I remember it was February, it was cold and raining. But there were people waiting outside to come in. What a great feeling that was. The show ran for 6 weeks and we sold nearly 20 pieces.”

The store has had 9 exhibitions since then including a launch party for Nike iD.
“I suppose the three that standout for me so far have to be London Police, +41 (a group of graphic designers from Lausanne, Switzerland) and our first group exhibition put together by Atti. Atti came to one of our art shows and afterwards approached me to see if I would look at her work. I really liked it and so we set a date for her to do her own show. Atti didn’t have enough work to fill the store completely so she suggested including some of her friends in the show. We ended up with six different artists and it worked really well.”

Currently, there is an exhibition by photographer, Valerie Phillips (from the US and based in London) and artist, Sara Woster (based in New York). Both had followed a group of young gymnasts over a period of time and the store features pieces from their project. The exhibition launch night featured a live gym show inside and on the square outside the store.

The store’s next exhibition “Tunnel Vision“, which opens 6th June and runs till 20th June, features the work of another photographer and illustrator, Nigel Bennett and Nathan Burton. The duo is also launching their book by the same title from which the pieces in the store have been taken. “They picked out a few words together and then made a story, each in his own media. In the book you can see how each scene has a photographic and illustrative interpretation.”

© Nigel Bennett

So what does the future hold for Ido and 90 Square Meters? A book of all their exhibitions to date? “Perhaps but if we’re going to do something by 90 Square Meters then it has to be done 100% right. Our main priority is to keep following our original goal – getting nice stuff in from nice people, connecting with different brands and helping talented people to get the exposure they deserve.”

90 Square Meters
Address: 52 LevantPlein, KNSM Eiland, 1019 MB Amsterdam
Tel: +31 (0)20 419 2525
info@90sqm.com
https://www.90sqm.com