Shanaynay is what its founders Jason Hwang, an artist and curator from Los Angeles, and Romain Chenais, a curator from Paris, hesitantly call an “Independent Exhibition Space.” Their space is situated in a storefront in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, “close enough to the hip young galleries in Belleville to not be excluded and far enough to not be included.” Hwang and Chenais met at the now defunct artist-run space The Institute of Social Hypocrisy where they discussed artist-run initiatives and the lack thereof in Paris. They decided to start their own space and Shanaynay has been running for five months now. Their working method is “conversational and collaborative” and their space both offers room for experimentation – projects can be developed in the space over time – and functions as a resource – they have a public library comprised solely of donated books. They purposefully work within a very modest set of means, to “avoid certain structures of presentation traditionally associated with public art institutions and/or private galleries” and “experiment with conventions such as the press release, art documentation, and the art opening.”