4 Years in Dreamland

When People Dem Collective first moved into Dreamland, it wasn’t a studio complex. It was a disused office — harsh strip lights, worn carpet, empty rooms. A temporary stopgap while we waited for the “meanwhile” space that never came.

But even there, something extraordinary took root.

From those corridors and corners, a movement began — artists came together, shared space, and reimagined what community-led creativity could look like. That story now continues with 4 Years in Dreamland, the first exhibition in our new QUENCH x PDC residency.

This retrospective brings together work by Geoffrey Chambers, Jas Dhillon, and Peter Nicholls, three artists whose practices grew within our Dreamland HQ. Through photography, ceramics, sound, and social practice, they each explore what it means to create in spaces that were never meant for us — to turn the corporate into the communal, and the temporary into something transformative.

This isn’t a show about Dreamland itself, but about the art that took shape there — the experiments, the quiet persistence, the everyday acts of building and belonging. Together, these works reflect the resilience and creative energy that has always defined People Dem Collective.

As we begin our residency at Quench Gallery, Margate, we carry that same spirit forward — nurturing creativity where others see limitation, and continuing to fight for permanent spaces where Black- and Brown-led cultural work can thrive.

📅 Exhibition: Coming this autumn at Quench Gallery, Margate
🎟️ Book via Eventbrite