There's a new art-project-space in town, joining the artistic variety of Hackney Wick and its regeneration/dilapidation paradox. But this place has a rather unique angle- it's located at the top of a Salmon Smokery on 'Fish Island', and possesses a unique vista of London olympic contruction from the top-floor gallery (think the main olympic stadium!) which can be seen streaming and in pictures from the Formans Smokehouse website (see below).

The inaugural exhibition 'East Meets East' will be a 'renegade' selection of street artists from Eastern Europe and East London, asking its audience (appropriately for the location and timing) to consider the role of artists in the process of urban regeneration and renewal. Expect classic, grand graffiti as well as chemical-based experiments and uncanny spray-colours, from a 'local' palette of London urbanity combined with a Balkan and far-Eastern street culture of contemporary Europe.

The Foremans Smokehouse Gallery itself is set to have monthly exhibitions, where invited curators will bring in artists from local, national and international arenas of art to create an ever-changing programme.

Worth checking out for the location of Fish Island alone, the exhibition is sure to whet the curiosity with its clash of the contemporary and the historical; interestingly, salmon has been smoked in East London by the Formans since 1905, and the practice was brought over by Jewish immigrants before them. The Smokery building as a whole is worth a mention too, designed by the architect Phil Hudson (Jones East 8 of the Ukraine), which takes the form of a fish with roof-'scales', guts, and large bones.

Formans Smokehouse Gallery

 Image Courtesy William Chamberlain.