Auto Italia

Auto Italia Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Auto Italia, Art Gallery, 44 Bonner Road, London.

Auto Italia is an artist-run organisation and project space that commissions new work, bringing together international networks of artists committed to the development of emerging practices and discussions in contemporary art.

Sign Up Now: We’re inviting people to take part in DEADSTOCK, a performance and gathering with artist Riana Head-Toussai...
03/09/2026

Sign Up Now: We’re inviting people to take part in DEADSTOCK, a performance and gathering with artist Riana Head-Toussaint, taking place on Wednesday 23rd September, 6:30–8:30pm.

‘DEADSTOCK’ is an ongoing transdisciplinary project that aims to re-work more accessible, radical and meaningful ways into fashion; breathing new life into the fabric of the culture.

For this event, Riana will facilitate an experimental dressing room, part-performance and part live-archival community space. People taking part will be invited to attend in an outfit they love and take part in an informal ‘fit check’, speaking about their styling choices; who they are, why they love their clothes, and why they work for them.

The conversations will contribute to ‘DEADSTOCK’s ongoing living archive, documenting the creativity, personal histories and ways of dressing that shape fashion and its communities.

Crip/disabled, q***r, trans, Bla(c)k and/or Brown voices will be prioritised.

No expertise in fashion is required, just an outfit you love and something to say about it. Alongside the participant ‘fit checks’, the event will create an informal space for people to gather, share, exchange and spend time together through clothing. Audience members are welcome to attend without participating in a ‘fit check’.

You can register to take part or book to attend as an audience member via the link in our bio, where you can also read more information. Further details will be shared with those taking part closer to the date.

Riana 𐦍༘⋆ Aquenta

Image credit: Anna Hay

Congratulations to Auto Italia alumni, Julian Abraham “Togar”, Zahra Malkani, Bhenji Ra and Natasha Tontey, on their sel...
28/08/2026

Congratulations to Auto Italia alumni, Julian Abraham “Togar”, Zahra Malkani, Bhenji Ra and Natasha Tontey, on their selection for the Busan Biennale 2026, ‘Dissident Chorus’, running from 29 August to 1 November 2026!

Julian Abraham “Togar” featured in our 2019 exhibition ‘Unorganised Response’, presenting ‘Jatiwangi Cup Calendar’ with Grace Samboh. The exhibition features a publication of conversations co-commissioned by Auto Italia and Cemeti Institute for Contemporary Art and Society in Yogyakarta.

Zahra Malkani presented ‘Noorani Metal Sound’ at Auto Italia earlier this year. The exhibition was commissioned and produced by Auto Italia, with support from Arts Council England, Cockayne Grants for the Arts, the Embassy of the Netherlands, ZVM Rangoonwala Foundation, La Beque and Stroom Den Haag.

Bhenji Ra debuted ‘Biraddali Dancing on the Horizon’ with Auto Italia in 2024, co-commissioned by Auto Italia and Western Front, Vancouver.⁠

Natasha Tontey’s ⁠‘Garden Amidst the Flame’ was first presented at Auto Italia in 2022 and was commissioned by Auto Italia in partnership with La Becque, Tour-de-Peilz, Stroom Den Haag, The Hague and Shedhalle, Zurich.⁠

Image: Natasha Tontey, ‘Garden Amidst the Flame’, 2022. Installation view at Auto Italia, London, UK. Photographer: Henry Mills.

Congratulations to Auto Italia alumni, Julian Abraham “Togar”, Zahra Malkani, Bhenji Ra and Natasha Tontey, on their selection for the Busan Biennale 2026, ‘Dissident Chorus’, running from 29 August to 1 November 2026!

Julian Abraham “Togar” featured in our 2019 exhibition ‘Unorganised Response’, presenting ‘Jatiwangi Cup Calendar’ with Grace Samboh. The exhibition features a publication of conversations co-commissioned by Auto Italia and Cemeti Institute for Contemporary Art and Society in Yogyakarta.

Zahra Malkani presented ‘Noorani Metal Sound’ at Auto Italia earlier this year. The exhibition was commissioned and produced by Auto Italia, with support from Arts Council England, Cockayne Grants for the Arts, the Embassy of the Netherlands, ZVM Rangoonwala Foundation, La Beque and Stroom Den Haag.

Bhenji Ra debuted ‘Biraddali Dancing on the Horizon’ with Auto Italia in 2024, co-c

Join us on Wednesday 23rd September, 6:30–8:30pm for DEADSTOCK, a performance and gathering with artist Riana Head-Touss...
26/08/2026

Join us on Wednesday 23rd September, 6:30–8:30pm for DEADSTOCK, a performance and gathering with artist Riana Head-Toussaint.

DEADSTOCK is a transdisciplinary, ongoing body of work that aims to re-work fashion into a more accessible, radical and meaningful practice; breathing new life into the fabric of the culture.

For this event, Riana Head-Toussaint will facilitate an experimental dressing room: part-performance and part live-archival community space. Audiences are invited to witness a series of ‘fit checks’, in which participants who responded to the open call attend in their favourite outfits and speak about their styling choices; who they are, why they love their clothes, and why they work for them.

These interviews will prioritise crip/disabled, q***r, trans, Bla(c)k and Brown voices, spotlighting and documenting the experiences of people who contribute significant creativity and innovation to fashion, but are often under-platformed and de-prioritised within the broader culture.

The interviews will be recorded and become part of DEADSTOCK’s living archive, alongside the project’s other offerings: clothing alteration and modification support, a slow-fashion line, and community-focused events spanning workshops, talks and gatherings.

Following the ‘fit checks’, the dressing room will transition into an informal space for participants and audience members to gather, connect over food and refreshments, and further explore the broader DEADSTOCK archive.

This is a space to connect and build community through clothing, while actively re-centring the voices that have always innovated and sustained fashion culture.

This event is free to attend and will take place at Auto Italia. Complete access information can be found via the signup form; to register, follow the link in our bio.

Riana 𐦍༘⋆ Aquenta

Image credit: Sam Petersen, photographed for the DEADSTOCK archive by Anna Hay

Join us on Wednesday 23rd September, 6:30–8:30pm for DEADSTOCK, a performance and gathering with artist Riana Head-Toussaint.

DEADSTOCK is a transdisciplinary, ongoing body of work that aims to re-work fashion into a more accessible, radical and meaningful practice; breathing new life into

Join us on Saturday 19th September at 2pm for a presentation and artist talk with our 2026 Participation Artist-in-Resid...
25/08/2026

Join us on Saturday 19th September at 2pm for a presentation and artist talk with our 2026 Participation Artist-in-Residence, Rose Nordin.

Rose will introduce ‘A Shipwreck is a Forest Fire’, a research project exploring scent as a way of remembering ecological and cultural theft. The project conjures “ghost scents” and traces vessels from colonial shipwrecks that carried botanical specimens from Southeast Asia to Europe.

As part of the presentation, Rose will share ‘Burnt Cargo’, a speculative scent developed from archival fragments, folklore and plant histories of Southeast Asia. Formulated by perfumer Ezra Lloyd Jackson, the scent considers histories of colonial extraction through botanical collecting and trade. The presentation will include samples of ‘Burnt Cargo’.

The presentation offers an introduction to Rose’s ongoing residency with young migrants from Praxis and Kazzum Arts, where they are exploring how scent can carry stories of memory and place. Together, they are developing a series of scent-based artworks that draw on their personal stories and shared histories, culminating in a public showing at the gallery from 2nd–8th November.

Rose Nordin
Praxis, for migrants and refugees
Kazzum Arts 🧡
The National Lottery Community Fund
Arts Council England

Hattie Collins interviews Del LaGrace Volcano about their current exhibitions ‘Sensual / Mutual’ at Auto Italia, and sis...
24/08/2026

Hattie Collins interviews Del LaGrace Volcano about their current exhibitions ‘Sensual / Mutual’ at Auto Italia, and sister exhibition ‘Love Bites Back’ at Edinburgh Art Festival for EE72.

“It is so important to find and use our voices, bodies, hearts and minds and do everything we can to disturb, disrupt and dismantle the systems that are actively seeking to destroy or enslave those who fall outside of the white, heteronormative template.”

🌈 hattiecollins 🌈
EE72
Del LaGrace Volcano

Image: Del LaGrace Volcano, ‘Scott’s Bar, Connie and Pearl, San Francisco’, 1980.

Our current exhibition ‘Sensual / Mutual’ by Del LaGrace Volcano is open Thursday to Sunday, 12 – 5pm and runs until 25 ...
19/08/2026

Our current exhibition ‘Sensual / Mutual’ by Del LaGrace Volcano is open Thursday to Sunday, 12 – 5pm and runs until 25 October.⁠

Volcano’s first major institutional solo exhibition, ‘Sensual / Mutual’ surfaces unseen bodies of work from the 1970s and 80s. The exhibition focuses on Volcano’s time in San Francisco and Santa Fe, tracing q***r, feminist, leather d**e, gender-variant, and land-based communities in the process of making themselves visible.

Del LaGrace Volcano

Image: Del LaGrace Volcano, ‘Charmaine and Velinda, Scott’s, San Francisco’, 1981. Installation view at Auto Italia, London, UK. Courtesy the artist and Auto Italia. Photography: Mark Blower

Jemima Skala reviews Del LaGrace Volcano’s exhibition ‘Sensual / Mutual’ for Tribune.“It’s equally wonderful to see work...
18/08/2026

Jemima Skala reviews Del LaGrace Volcano’s exhibition ‘Sensual / Mutual’ for Tribune.

“It’s equally wonderful to see work that resists the narrative of women as soft, lacking in desire, or only capable of an unthreatening, tepid kind of desire. When Volcano photographs women having s*x, the photographs are hot, full of flesh, dirty, illicit. [...] ‘Sensual / Mutual’ reminds us that we can, and should, live joyfully, and unashamedly, regardless of our political climate.

The photographs encourage us to express without fear, and to live intersectionally. [...] Q***r liberation is an evolving movement, continuing way beyond the gallery wall.”

Jemima Skala
Tribune Magazine
Del LaGrace Volcano

Image: Del LaGrace Volcano, Sensual / Mutual, 2026. Installation view at Auto Italia, London, UK. Courtesy the artist and Auto Italia. Photography: Mark Blower.

Book Now: Join us on Wednesday 9th September, 7–8pm for ‘Emerging Artist, Talk!’, a performance by Sam Kan.Have you ever...
14/08/2026

Book Now: Join us on Wednesday 9th September, 7–8pm for ‘Emerging Artist, Talk!’, a performance by Sam Kan.

Have you ever heard an emerging artist talk? Like, you know, string full sentences together and say them out loud?

Sam Kan is a writer and performer who graduated from the MFA programme at the Slade in 2026. This is her first institutional solo performance and marks the beginning of her professional artistic career. Prior to attending the Slade, Sam had only recently found out what art is (some guy she went on a date with told her about it—at length—and she was really impressed), and now, with educational validation in her pocket, she has decided to identify as an emerging artist. She tells herself, “I am an artist,” every morning. She is emerging from the deep, dark depths, blinking her big goo-goo eyes, as she steps forth into the land of the enlightened.

In this performance, Sam will talk about where she has come from (the depths) and where she wants to go. She will demonstrate the power of language and naming: “I am an artist.” She will question what she knows about herself and the world around her, and she will explore what she imagines it could be. As her eyes adjust to this newfound world, Sam cannot always discern between what is really there and what she is imagining. To paraphrase Virginia Woolf; nothing is ever simply one thing.

This event is free to attend and will take place at Auto Italia. To register, follow the link in our bio.

For Apollo, Lucy Waterson covers Auto Italia’s 2026 Participation Artist-in-Residence Rose Nordin, whose residency is in...
14/08/2026

For Apollo, Lucy Waterson covers Auto Italia’s 2026 Participation Artist-in-Residence Rose Nordin, whose residency is in partnership with Praxis for migrants and refugees and Kazzum Arts and is featured in Whitechapel Gallery’s Backyard Biennial.

“During the biennial, Nordin, in collaboration with charity Praxis and Kazzum Arts, will work with young migrants to create a body of work – due to be shown in November – that is ‘rooted in cultural memory’, says Auto Italia director Maggie Matić. Seeing young people as ‘cultural contributors in their own right, rather than an audience to be spoken to’, is key for Auto Italia, as is the focus on migrant and diasporic communities. Taking part in the biennial was a ‘no-brainer’ for Matić: ‘There’s such a wealth of cultural organisations in East London, but with our limited capacities, it’s hard to find ways to link up [with other organisations], so it’s really exciting.”

The body of work will be developed over the next six months, alongside a public programme of events, talks, and training, culminating in a public presentation in November.

The Participation Artist-in-Residence Programme is commissioned and produced by Auto Italia, with support from The National Lottery Community Fund and Arts Council England.

Rose Nordin
Praxis, for migrants and refugees
Kazzum Arts 🧡
The National Lottery Community Fund
Arts Council England

Documentation of our current exhibition ‘Sensual / Mutual’ is now online!⁠The exhibition continues continues until 25 Oc...
13/08/2026

Documentation of our current exhibition ‘Sensual / Mutual’ is now online!⁠

The exhibition continues continues until 25 October 2026, open Thursday to Sunday, 12 - 5pm.⁠ Free entry.

‘Sensual / Mutual’, the first major institutional solo exhibition in the UK by Del LaGrace Volcano. Surfacing unseen bodies of work from the 1970s and 80s, the exhibition focuses on Volcano’s time in San Francisco and Santa Fe, tracing q***r, feminist, leather d**e, gender-variant, and land-based communities in the process of making themselves visible.

Del LaGrace Volcano

Image: Del LaGrace Volcano, Sensual / Mutual, 2026. Installation view at Auto Italia, London, UK. Courtesy the artist and Auto Italia. Photography: Mark Blower.

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Saturday 12pm - 5pm
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