London According to: Stephan Tanbin Sastrawidjaja from Project Native Informant

Named after the locals who explained indigenous cultures to their imperial overlords, Project Native Informant has a nice line in gentle subversion (it started in a windowless Mayfair garage, after all). Concentrating largely – though not exclusively – on painting, it represents 18 artists including fêted contemporary practitioners Joseph Yaeger, Juliana Huxtable and Kenneth Bergfeld. Founder Stephan gives their local highlights.  

Favourite restaurant/café in your area? 

The global diversity of London is pleasurably exemplified in the gastronomic feast of delights in east London. Hard to name just one favourite. We love the saag aloo from Shalamar, the bai qie ji from Sichuan Folk, the wine list at Palmers, the breads at Rüyam, the pizza at Lardo, the breakfasts at Arches, the sashimi at Sushi Show, the lamb chops at Tayyab’s, the coffee at Ngopi, the seasonal set menus at Pidgin or The Water House Project, and the entire menu at Lahore. 

Best pub near the gallery?

The Approach Tavern, of course! The owner Jake, by the bar, holding court, is always up for a little gossip, if he’s not encouraging us to go upstairs to see the show at the gallery. 

Your most recommended local business? 

The Gallery Café is a great cooperative vegan coffee shop. And AP Fitzpatrick’s has been supplying art supplies to the community for over 30 years. 

Favourite exhibition at the moment and the last exhibition you went to? 

We have just returned from a summer spent in East Asia, so we haven’t seen anything in London, but we are very much looking forward to seeing Sarah Lucas at Tate Britain. And not a solo exhibition, but we love a good whodunnit and can’t wait to tuck into Naomi Pearce’s new novel Innominate, described as ‘an arts administration murder mystery’! I mean… amazing! 

What’s great about your gallery’s location? 

Our corner of east London has been defined as a centre for emerging/contemporary art for decades, by such commercial gallery pioneers as Maureen Paley, The Approach, and Herald St, and newer positions like Carlos/Ishikawa, Mother’s Tankstation, Rose Easton and Soft Opening, in addition to project spaces Auto Italia, Cell and Chisenhale. A visitor can see multiple different perspectives in one very quick afternoon. And the local community values and embraces diversity and inclusion in the best way. 

Tell us about the concept behind your gallery and the kind of artists you look for. 

Project Native Informant started in 2013 as a project space in a garage in Mayfair without any windows or bathroom, to show artists who we considered to be essential, and critical innovators to the movement of contemporary art, artists who we continue to work with today, like DIS, Hal Fischer, Harumi Yamaguchi, Juliana Huxtable and Sophia Al-Maria. We became a commercial gallery when it became necessary to manage their careers and support their ambitions, and the gallery has become known as a platform for deep engagement in the aesthetics and politics of the present, from collectives like GCC, who investigate the culture of governmental politicking, to Joseph Yaeger, a painter who delves into the cultural unconscious, to Dozie Kanu, who collapses the boundaries between art and design and the value of utility. We have just celebrated our tenth anniversary with a group show featuring all 18 programme artists, and a compendium will be launched during Frieze London. It’s been such a joy to work with the artists, developing fantastic exhibitions often specially responding to the gallery’s changing spaces, from the garage, to the old Chinese Consulate Office, to our current space in Bethnal Green. 

What sets the London art scene apart from that of other cities (your local art scene in particular)? 

One special characteristic of the London art scene is how collaborative and supportive we are. When I started the gallery, some of the first cheerleaders were other galleries, and many of those relationships developed to become intimate friendships. Cornelia Grassi, Sadie Coles and Venessa Carlos have particularly created formal and informal platforms that support the network of galleries, understanding that a vibrant art ecosystem is essential for the continued vitality of London as an art destination. 

Would you recommend this area to art lovers new to London? 

Absolutely! 

Best thing about London? 

Its practised cosmopolitanism. 

Worst thing about London? 

We love an ocean beach and wish we had once closer. 

More info on Project Native Informant.

Project Native Informant, 48 Three Colts Lane, London E2 6GQ, @projectnativeinformant

^{Main image: Georgie Nettell, 2013, installation view, Project Native Informant, Mayfair. Image courtesy the artist and Project Native Informant}

^{Thumbnail image: DIS, ‘Big Beat Disaster’, 2023, installation view, Project Native Informant, Bethnal Green. Image courtesy the artist and Project Native Informant}