LONDON—In another sign of the blossoming art scene in London’s East End — specifically, the neighborhood of Spitalfields, home to the dynamic duo Gilbert & George and the YBA Tracy Emin — the scion of a philanthropic family and grocery-chain heir Alex Sainsbury has just opened Raven Row, a self-financed, nonprofit Kunstverein and project space, in an 18th-century residence and adjoining 1970s warehouse.

The 41-year-old Sainsbury, who commissioned the award-winning London architectural firm A6 to create the exhibition spaces and restore the historic rooms to the grandeur they possessed when the building was a silk merchant’s house, is no stranger to contemporary art or nonprofit projects; he was involved with Peer, the critically acclaimed arts organization that still operates on Hoxton Street. "We’re going to have museum-level shows as well as smaller, grassroots projects," he says of the Raven Row venture. In the former category is the current show: a retrospective of the pre-Pop artist Ray Johnson (1927-1995), who is most famous for his Mail Art, involving a worldwide network of correspondents. The exhibition is the largest-ever of his work in Europe and remains up through May 10.

Sainsbury says Raven Row will also serve as "an accommodating hotel," with flats that can house visiting artists and curators. Future guests include the installation artists Nils Norman, from London, and Dave Bailey, from Los Angeles, who will make a sculptural critique of urban planning that is slated to open in September. Judd Tully

"East Is East" originally appeared in the March 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's March 2009 Table of Contents.