I really didn’t think that naming the gallery (and business) would be as challenging as it was. My objectives for the gallery name were that it needed to be self-explanatory, slightly abstract, cutting-edge, appealing, and something that I could be passionate about. The name also needed to be available as a .com and .com.au and able to be registered with Consumer Affairs Victoria. Not a tough ask at all!
The working title for the gallery for the past six months was ‘Gallery42’ as 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything (as per The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams). The naming committee and marketing extraordinaire (my wife) vetoed the name as too abstract (specifically, the street number of the gallery is probably going to be 49… so, 42 may have been a little confusing), so it was back to the drawing board. For the record, I still really like this name!
The next great idea was ‘Emergist’ as the gallery’s primary focus is to exhibit emerging artists. The naming committee again vetoed the name; this time for not being inclusive enough.
Given how challenging the naming process had become, the next working title was (aptly) ‘Untitled’. We thought that this name was uber-cool, however the internet in its modern form has been around for about 20 years so the web addresses were well and truly gone, however I did register galleryuntitled.com.au just in case.
Next Big Thing; Open Space; Once Upon A Time; Concrete Box; White Wall; Blank Wall; Display; First Look; First Show; Debut; Blank Slate; Tabula Rasa; Site Unseen; Someday, One Day; Tomorrow; Today; Nube; Aspirist; Creatist; Emergin; Future Masters; Spring; Chance; First Chance; Big Picture; Anything; Now; Now Showing; My Art; Get Art; Fluffy Fish and many others were all possible options… well… all of those except for Fluffy Fish (sorry Elise!).
Six months passed and I was still no closer to making a decision. Thankfully, I had self-imposed a deadline, and that deadline was last Monday.
Enter 100thgallery.
Whilst this may have been the 100th name that we brainstormed, and may very well be the 100th gallery in Melbourne, these weren’t the reasons for name.
Actually, it was all far more simple than that. My full name is Charles Tyler Hardman, making my initials CTH. ‘C’ in roman numerals is 100 and T and H have no Roman numerical value so the decision was made easy! One hundredth gallery (AKA 100thgallery) was born!