Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art
The Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art is an educational charity and a not-for-profit contemporary art gallery based in London. Established in 2004, the foundation is housed in a converted warehouse over two floors in a building that was renovated to a design concept by the Italian architect, Claudio Silvestrin. The gallery comprises roughly 5,000 sq ft of exhibition space.
Parasol Unit was established by its director and curator, . A graduate in the History of Art from Columbia University New York, Ardalan worked as Guest Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She guest curated the exhibition 'Winslow Homer and the New England Coast' at the Whitney's Stamford, Ct. Branch. Ardalan became the first Director/Curator of New York City's Swiss Institute in 1987, before moving to Zurich, Switzerland, and then relocating to UK and founding Parasol Unit. She has curated numerous exhibitions and has also lectured and written about art. Prior to her career in art, Ardalan obtained a Ph.D. in physical chemistry.
Aims
Parasol Unit is devoted to promoting contemporary art for the benefit of the public. The exhibition programme comprises work by emerging and contemporary artists in a variety of media: sculpture, painting, installation, video and photography. The institution was developed on the model of a Kunsthalle, with no permanent collection.Each exhibition is supported by a programme of educational events that engage with the public and local community. Exhibitions are also accompanied by a new publication, an artist's monograph or catalogue, which is distributed worldwide.
Funding
Parasol Unit, like publicly funded institutions in London raises funds to cover its running costs. The one-time donation by the founder is a reserve that allows the foundation to operate while other funding sources are identified. The reserve currently covers about 60% of the foundation's operating expenses whereas the remaining 40% are financed through Gift Aid scheme, grants from charitable organisations, private donations and sales of merchandise. These have included Arts Council England, Pro Helvetia, Japan Foundation, The French Institute, The Goethe Institute, The Austrian Cultural Forum, Henry Moore Foundation, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Portuguese Embassy and Australian Embassy, Tower Hamlets Council. Additional funding has been provided by private companies including Dataton, Deutsche Bank, Gallagher Limited, Goldman Sachs, Key Capital and Schroders.The gallery space is privately owned and has been put at the disposal of the foundation at no charge.
Exhibitions
Every year the foundation organises four challenging and thought-provoking exhibitions of works by international contemporary artists working in various media. Parasol Unit has introduced a host of international artists to London's public and has been instrumental in launching the careers of artists such as Michaël Borremans, Yang Fudong and Charles Avery. Entry to exhibitions at Parasol Unit is free.Exposure Award
In 2009, the foundation launched its Exposure Award, an annual programme which gives recent graduates the opportunity to exhibit their work alongside a major exhibition at the gallery. Each year Parasol Unit selects three winning artists from a UK art school. The judging panel selects which one, or more, of the graduates will be invited to mount a month-long exhibition at Parasol Unit.| Date | Exhibition | Artists |
| 2005 | The Performance | Michaël Borremans |
| 2005 | Built in London | Mario Sala |
| 2006 | No Snow on the Broken Bridge | Yang Fudong |
| 2006 | Streifzuege | David Schnell |
| 2006 | Goin’ Down, Down, Down | Matthew Ronay |
| 2006 | Lonely long meaningless way home | Johannes Kahrs |
| 2007 | Momentary Momentum: Animated Drawings | Some artists included: Francis Alÿs, William Kentridge, David Shrigley, Naoyuki Tsuji, Tabaimo and Kara Walker |
| 2007 | Two Feet in One Shoe | Armen Eloyan |
| 2007 | Secret for Snow Leopard | Yutaka Sone |
| 2008 | Fire Under Snow | Darren Almond |
| 2008 | Front of House | Ângela Ferreira, Narelle Jubelin and Marcos Corrales |
| 2008 | Present Tense | Mona Hatoum |
| 2008 | The Islanders: An Introduction | Charles Avery |
| 2008 | Endless Prayers | Y.Z. Kami |
| 2009 | X, Plus and Frame Paintings | Robert Mangold |
| 2009 | Parades and Processions: Here comes everybody | Francis Alÿs, Fiona Banner, Jeremy Deller, Thomas Hirschhorn, Rachel Lee Hovnanian, Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler, William Kentridge, Michèle Magema, Annette Messager, Amy O’Neill and Hiraki Sawa. |
| 2009 | Cloud Choreography and Other Emergent Systems | Keith Tyson |
| 2009 | Visible Invisible: Against the Security of the Real | Cecily Brown, Hans Josephsohn, Shaun McDowell, Katy Moran and Maaike Schoorel. |
| 2009 | EXPOSURE 09 Award | Sonny Sanjay Vadgama, Chris Gomersall and Mark Dennis, graduates of Central St Martins College of Art and Design |
| 2010 | Eija-Liisa Ahtila | Eija-Liisa Ahtila |
| 2010 | Boundary Layer | Tabaimo |
| 2010 | Silent Warriors | Adel Abdessemed |
| 2010 | Burlesque in which we've thrown it on its head | Nathan Cash Davidson |
| 2010 | EXPOSURE 10 Award | Leah Capaldi, Kate Liston and Lea Provenzano, graduates of Royal College of Art |
| 2011 | I Know Something About Love | Yang Fudong, Shirin Neshat, Christodoulos Panayiotou and Yinka Shonibare |
| 2011 | In Utero | Jakub Julian Ziolkowski |
| 2011 | One half of August | Yang Fudong |
| 2011 | Time and Memory | Cecilia Edefalk and Gunnel Wåhlstrand |
| 2011 | Lines of Thought | Helene Appel, Hemali Bhuta, James Bishop, Raoul De Keyser, Adrian Esparza, Özlem Günyol & Mustafa Kunt, Sol LeWitt, Richard Long, Jorge Macchi, Nasreen Mohamedi, Fred Sandback, Conrad Shawcross, Anne Truitt, and Richard Tuttle |
| 2011 | EXPOSURE 11 Award | Jack Friswell, Kate Shepherd and Rebecca Turner, graduates of Wimbledon College of Art |
| 2012 | the time that remains | David Claerbout |
| 2012 | Bharti Kher | Bharti Kher |
| 2012 | Jannis Kounellis | Jannis Kounellis |
| 2012 | EXPOSURE 12 Award | Lulu MacDonald, Sean Steadman and Dante Rendle Traynor, graduates of Slade School of Fine Art |
| 2013 | NAVID NUUR: PHANTOM FUEL | Navid Nuur |
| 2013 | MERLIN JAMES | Merlin James |
| 2013 | Siah Armajani: An Ingenious World | Siah Armajani |
| 2013 | EXPOSURE 13 Award | Nicole Buning, Scarlett Lingwood, Luana Duvoisin Zanchi graduates of Goldsmiths, University of London |
| 2014 | Canan Tolon: Sidesteps | Canan Tolon |
| 2014 | Shezad Dawood: Towards the Possible Film | Shezad Dawood |
| 2014 | Jimmie Durham: Traces and Shiny Evidence | Jimmie Durham |
| 2014 | Shinro Ohtake | Shinro Ohtake |
| 2015 | Katy Moran | Katy Moran |
| 2015 | Los Carpinteros | Los Carpinteros |
| 2015 | Katrín Sigurðardóttir | Katrín Sigurðardóttir |
| 2015 | The Gap: Selected Abstract Art from Belgium - curated by Luc Tuymans | The Gap: Selected Abstract Art from Belgium - curated by Luc Tuymans |
| 2016 | Julian Charrière: For They That Sow the Wind | Julian Charrière |
| 2016 | Magical Surfaces: The Uncanny in Contemporary Photography | Sonja Braas, David Claerbout, Elger Esser, Julie Monaco, Jörg Sasse, Stephen Shore and Joel Sternfeld |
| 2016 | Rana Begum: The Space Between | Rana Begum |
| 2016 | Robert Therrien: Works 1975–1995 | Robert Therrien |
| 2017 | Tschabalala Self | Tschabalala Self |
| 2017 | Elger Esser | Elger Esser |
| 2017 | Monique Frydman | Monique Frydman |
| 2017 | Martin Puryear | Martin Puryear |
| 2018 | Here & There: Paintings by Lisa Milroy | Lisa Milroy |
| 2018 | Carlos Garaicoa | Carlos Garaicoa |
| 2018 | Heidi Bucher | Heidi Bucher |
| 2019 | Hyon Gyon | Hyon Gyon |