Apolonija Sustersic/Ella Gibbs

Apolonia Sustersic’s temporary transformation of IBID.Projects into an intimidatingly pristine, near-deserted white gallery–cum–office hardly welcomes passersby (on my first attempt, I fail to get the door open)—yet, says the press blurb, it’s now functioning as a community research office, gathering information about the gentrification process in East London and art galleries’ involvement therein. “Meetings with city officials, local inhabitants, artists, gallery owners, social geographers, urban planners, etc., will be initiated,” states the blurb—but I can’t see anything on display to indicate when the meetings are happening, how one might represent one’s own views, or who’s on the “guest list” (for more a propos elucidation of that theme, see Angela McRobbie’s essay “Clubs to Companies: Notes on the Decline of Political Culture in Speeded Up Creative Worlds”). Is this a clever parody of Blairite consultancy culture? I ask the lady in scarily trendy specs who’s overseeing the show (Sustersic herself?). I can’t tell if her evasive response is one of bewilderment or crafty dissimulation, so I benignly assume the answer is yes.

A mile or so farther east, Ella Gibbs’s show has only been open a week, but it’s already awash with leaflets, notices, visitors’ comments, contact names and addresses, and real live visitors too. The Spare Time Job Centre, equipped with various facilities (including a restaurant for just two diners) neatly reverses the UK “job centre” function: Manned by a team of dedicated volunteers, it aims to offer practical advice on guilt-free goofing off, frittering, going AWOL, dodging the Work Toad, and general buggering around. I fill out my “Spare Time Application” form. Almost instantly, my fellow applicants and I are collectively agonizing—not just about our lack of leisure, but the sheer difficulty of determining when work stops and “free time” begins. By the time I leave, I’ve donated my calor-gas heater to a freezing artist and signed up for a weekly group swim in Bethnal Green with a bunch of total strangers. The Spare Time Job Centre: putting the “you” back into Utopia? A visit is not just recommended—it’s essential.