Part Constructivist sculpture, part temporary architecture, Arcade has been conceived as a transportable, multi-functional ‘host structure’ for art in the public realm. With an emphasis on 'moments' rather than 'monuments' Arcade's initial focus was on works made and presented via electronic media including video, sound and wireless communications. The structure has been designed to be easily transported, adapted and installed, enabling artists to respond physically and critically to a given site. Influenced in part by Walter Benjamin’s sprawling, cumulative and unfinished collection of works The Arcades Project, Arcade will accumulate a patina of meanings, references and interconnections from associated artists and locations over time. Future projects and commissions will respond to the roles and connections between artists, public art and regeneration, amongst other things.

Sacrifice Zone is a year-long initiative from Arcade beginning in December 2008. New commissions by artists and writers will be distributed free from the Arcade website. The first commissions are by cultural geographer Craig Martin and Irish artists Kennedy Browne (Sarah Browne and Gareth Kennedy, selected to represent Ireland at the 2009 Venice Biennale).

For its inaugural appearance Arcade critically drew on strategies and materials often used by redevelopment agencies. Inhabiting the main space at Westbourne Studios in London, Arcade played host to a dedicated and challenging programme of work by some of the city’s most thought-provoking artists including Mark Titchner, Thomson & Craighead and Jordan Baseman. Specially commissioned artworks included: a series of written narratives by Maria Fusco that could be received on mobile phones via Bluetooth; a new score for Alex Baker’s haunting Autonomous Drumkit; an internet projection by Thorsten Knaub that tracked the artist’s movements within the borough of Kensington and Chelsea via Global Positioning System; and Adrift, Andrew Dodds' portentous reworking of Radio 4's Shipping Forecast.