Coventry Digital Gallery Space: The Reel Store

Futurecity was appointed by Coventry 2021 to undertake an intensive 6-week programme to devise the Feasibility Study for The Reel Store, envisioned as a an international hub of excellence for immersive digital art, revealing Coventry’s identity as an industry and higher education leader in digital technology and gaming. Following on from the huge popularity of immersive art spaces around the world. The space featured innovative experiential art commissions and was a prominent feature of the City of Culture programme in Summer 2022. 

As part of the development of the Feasibility Study, Futurecity engaged in high-level consultation with Coventry City of Culture Trust, Complex Development Projects, Harrabin Construction Ltd, CWLEP, the West Midlands Growth Company and Coventry University to examine the investment and development priorities for the city and the digital creative industries. Futurecity also mapped out the surrounding cultural infrastructure to visualise how The Reel Store can be the hub that draws in the disparate resources and goals to become an Engine for the West Midlands. Initial research and discussions indicated that there was enough synergy to align priorities and establish a clear business plan for a new immersive digital gallery space. 

Futurecity set out a Feasibility Study across a phased development model for The Reel Store, located in the former Coventry Evening Telegraph building. The model would reference the history of its former identity as a printworks, where great machines generated visuals and reflections of the day. The first phase, to develop a beacon and platform for Coventry City of Culture programming and events, was launched in May 2022 as an 800sqm exhibition space. The first major exhibition was artist Refik Anadol’s ‘Machine Memoirs: Space’.