Hackney Wick is home to a small and intimate community full of curiosities, forgotten treasures and cultural activity often invisible to the outside observer. Located next to the River Lea in the Eastern edges of the London borough of Hackney, it is the former site of many thriving industries most of which have now died or moved on making way for new, mostly residential developments. The rapid change was accelerated by Hackney Wick's new and famous neighbour - the 2012 London Olympics which brings large scale regeneration to a small and unassuming community. Suddenly the world is looking at Hackney Wick - and the Wick is looking at the world.

The Wick Curiosity Shop is an eclectic collection of local produce, memorabilia, oral history, songs and stories from or about Hackney Wick. The Archive exists on-line and as a series of live events in which it temporarily assembles. The display and the format the shop is continuously changing. The list of curiosities is growing, slowly collecting an extensive list of contributions made in or inspired by Hackney Wick and the surrounding area.

The Wick Curiosity Shop is as much an archive as it is an event structure. It allows existing histories to be collected and new memories to be formed, thus capturing the life of a community in transition through a series of close engagements. Archiving and registering what seems relevant from the viewpoint of the Wick.

This website brings all contributions and events together in one place. You can brows the shop either by looking for individual contributors, by searching all contributions or by events when the shop was open and on site. To find out more about the day to day running of the Wick Curiosity Shop you can visit our blog for more details. Contact us if you would like to contribute something to the shop or spotted something that needs further explanation. You can also join our mailing list to stay informed about future events.

The Wick Curiosity Shop was originally commissioned by [SPACE] for the Hackney Wick Festival in September 2008. It is a collaboration between public works and Hilary Powell from Optimistic Productions with the generous support of Pudding Mill River.

Website by Dorian Moore @ theusefularts.org