The pop up store phenomenon has been around for a while now pushing temporary retail spaces into unlikely locations to shake expectations and take new territory. The current burst sparked in the early 2000s and there isn't a big brand that hasn’t tried its luck from Comme des Garçons (who kicked off guerrilla style in Berlin 2004) to Marmite.
Now, thanks to a leasing glut, the pop up opportunity is open to artists, dealers and even students in Wellington, NZ. Mark Amery and Sophie Jerram are making the best of vacant retail to plug in temporary art installations via Letting Space and this weekend we visited a smart one at 18 College Street down from Caffe L’affare and just before OTT. It is a classic roller-door space that a coat of white paint instantly transformed into a contemporary gallery more imposing than most of the current ones in the city. The five photographers called the space Inward Goods both saving on sign writing and giving them a great name. As the five are Massey students there is a chance Wellington might get more artist run spaces to add into the mix once exams are cleared and life begins.
