FRÉDÉRIC ACQUAVIVA "RECORDS, ARTIST BOOKS & BOOKS ON ARTISTS" (1994-2025) LORÉ LIXENBERG "PRÊT-A-CHANTER"

SATURDAY DECEMBER 6 (NOON TO 6PM)

LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE (composers and sound artists FRÉDÉRIC ACQUAVIVA and LORÉ LIXENBERG) were delighted to present every first Saturday of the month
(from April 5 to Dec 6) a series of 9 exhibitions and events at THE OUTSIDERS GALLERY in London, after their initial location in Berlin-Neukölln.
This event marks the end of this series (hello, bonjour) of LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE in this space. We thank all of the people that didn't come. We don't like you anyway.

You are not interested in anything but scrolling on your smartphone and making selfies of your twat face. Anyway, you can't even read this text, so who cares.

For those of you who are still reading this and seeking for what Dick Higgins called "something else" and interested in the works of others, you are welcome to discover:
FRÉDÉRIC ACQUAVIVA (born somewhere, sometime ago).
"I know some people prefer SPOTIFY - sponsors of the military industrial complex - and have maybe never encountered some physical records (CDs, fake vinyls, QR-Code editions, cassettes, USB, hybrids, artist books) but these are some of the works I have published since 1994. On the walls. Up to your arse. You don't want them? Even better!

On the wall opposite, I have displayed books I've written on other artists, because I believe an artist should not only be interested in their own belly button".

PRÊT À CHANTER TM – The Café

LORÉ LIXENBERG, who recently was awarded the John Cage Award for Contemporary Performance, will present at 5PM her
of The VOICE PARTY. You are welcome to attend PRÊT À CHANTER TM, the café where nobody speaks. In a post linguistic society where language has collapsed, speech is antisocial.
Speech is toxic. Speech is banned. Sound has taken over. For one hour, everyone, barstaff, guests, pets, communicate only through sound: humming, yodelling, groaning, whistling, barking. PRICES ARE SET BY CREATIVITY. Meaning is optional. Participants: anyone brave enough to order a drink. Genre: post-internet, post-cyborg, post-language, real-time opera. No speaking in the toilets. The anti-speak detector is listening.

MEET FRÉDÉRIC ACQUAVIVA FROM NOON TO 5PM MEET AND SING WITH LORÉ LIXENBERG FROM 5PM TO 6PM

FRÉDÉRIQUE DEVAUX "LETTRIST PHOTOGRAPHY" (1981-1991) FRÉDÉRIQUE ATHÉNAÏS-DALMORE "JOURNAL OF A TRANSFORMATION" (2004-2025)

LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE (composers and sound artists FRÉDÉRIC ACQUAVIVA and LORÉ LIXENBERG) are delighted to present every first Saturday of the month (from April 5 to Dec 6) a series of 9 exhibitions and events at THE OUTSIDERS GALLERY in London, after their initial location in Berlin-Neukölln.
LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE supports the fight of all invisible, disappeared and marginalised people, especially AVANT-GARDE artists that are forgotten or still unknown. We are proud to welcome to London, for this 8th show, two solo exhibitions of two photographers of very different style.

FRÉDÉRIQUE DEVAUX (born in 1956 in Paris and from KABYLE ORIGINE) joined the lettrist group in 1980. She became an important LETTRIST photographer, creating around a thousand photoworks from 1981 to 1995, most of them with the lettrist Michel Amarger, her partner, as a male model. She also wrote numerous books, specialising in experimental cinema. After leaving the lettrist group, she stopped doing photography but will continued realising experimental cinema and video. Her photographic work, that anticipates the iranian calligraphic photographer SHIRIN NESHAT was recently put into light in Acquaviva's monographic issue of OEI on "LETTRIST & PHOTOGRAPHY". The vitrine shows her active participation to the french 1993 Legislative elections, where she presented herself as a member of Isidore Isou's YOUTH UPRISING mouvement, the same year she was taking part to the VENEZIA BIENNALE with the lettrists.

FRÉDÉRIQUE ATHÉNAÏS-DALMORE was born in Honfleur and started painting and photography at the age of 17. In the early 2000s, F.A.D. decided to change gender, partly because he felt in need of a subject - a model that would always be within reach. She then realised the first known art piece documenting all the steps of her gender transformation. Her "JOURNAL OF A TRANSFORMATION" is a ground breaking artwork, questionning the boundaries between art and reality as well as gender issues, realised during more than twenty years and, if partly shown in Barcelona, Paris and Toulouse, exhibited for the first time in London.

In the vitrine, one can discover another dimension of FRÉDÉRIQUE ATHÉNAÏS-DALMORE with her striking and surconceptual work from 2021 titled "15F Le Verseau", a canvas deliberately shown on reverse, with the one word SODOMY written on the wooden frame.

MEET FRÉDÉRIQUE DEVAUX (AND MICHEL AMARGER) AT 5PM COME IN YOUR MASSES ON NOVEMBER 1!

OUTSIDER BODIES - A COLLECTIVE TRANSMEDIA SHOW

SEPTEMBER 6 (NOON TO 6PM)
OUTSIDER BODIES (A COLLECTIVE TRANSMEDIA SHOW)

LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE (composers and sound artists FRÉDÉRIC ACQUAVIVA and LORÉ LIXENBERG) are delighted to present every first Saturday of the month (from April 5 to Dec 6) a series of exhibitions and events at THE OUTSIDERS GALLERY in London, after their initial location in Berlin-Neukölln. LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE supports the fight of all invisible, disappeared and marginalised people, especially AVANT-GARDE artists that are forgotten or still unknown.

OUTSIDER BODIES is a deep dive into the awkward, ecstatic, censored and celebrated realities of bodies that refuse to conform -- anatomies outside normativity, outliers of form, expression, and identity. Featuring over 90 artists across every imaginable medium (canvas, sculpture, drawing, photography, multiple, artist's book, poster, collage, objects...), this exhibition confronts how bodies are seen, staged, silenced or sacralised across art history’s underground. It is both a living archive and a radical act of preservation.

This new exhibition includes poets-artists-composers from all generations and genres and is an exhibition that rejects easy labels, instead tracing a polyphonic, pan-historical map of the margins, from historical avant garde such as LETTRISM (Isou, Wolman, Brau, Lemaître, Altmann...) to FLUXUS (Maciunas, Ben Vautier, Filliou, Serge III, Patterson, Dreyfus...), CONCRETE & VISUAL POETRY (Bory, Chopin, Heidsieck, Ovcacek, Garnier, Furnival...), VIENNESE ACTIONNISMUS (Muehl, Nitsch, Brus...), BODY ART (Molinier, Journiac, Ferrer, ORLAN, Stelarc...), BIO ART (Kac), FREE RADICALS (Altagor, Lizène, Hubaut, Gette, Parant, Gysin...) to FEMINIST PIONEERS (Iannone, Export, Oliveros...). Mostly, it demonstrates that any theme become interesting in the hands of great artists, who are general ly absent in collective shows and replaced by masters of funding applications.

This day includes a non-stop performance from noon by Italian legend ALBERTO SORBELLI, whose post-conceptual rituals collapse theatre, sculpture and subversion into a singular lived form. At 5pm, experimental British composer/performer ADAM DE LA COUR takes the floor, followed by french poet/experimental breakdancer YOANN SARRAT at 5:30pm.

COME IN YOUR MASSES ON SEPTEMBER 6!

CLITBAIT - THIS HOME IS MY OWN

THIS HOME IS MY OWN

Exhibition & Community Gathering

Friday 18th July

Doors 7PM

Join us for an evening of art, poetry and community as we come together to reflect, celebrate and connect.

Featuring work by 5 incredible visual artists

@melodyakanji @farwatahir_art

@kamipaperuk

@raabiaghaznavi

@ayshemira

responding to themes of home, identity and resilience.

PROGRAMME

19:00 Doors open

19:30-20:00

Welcome from Clitbait

& Creating Belonging Through Design - a talk by @mirnasjourney

• Spoken Word - performed live by @laibaverse

20:00 DJ set w/ Altered States @related.tastes throughout the evening

We'd love to see you there! Book your spot now

Graphic by Sofi Pla

COZETTE DE CHARMOY - THE COLOSSAL LIE (AT THE AGE OF FAKE NEWS)

AUGUST 2 (NOON TO 6PM) ONLY : COZETTE DE CHARMOY "THE COLOSSAL LIE (AT THE AGE OF FAKE NEWS)"

LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE (composers and sound artists FRÉDÉRIC ACQUAVIVA and LORÉ LIXENBERG) are happy to present every first Saturday of the month (from April 5 to Dec 6) a series of exhibitions and events at THE OUTSIDERS GALLERY in London, after their initial location in Berlin-Neukölln.  LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE supports the fight of all invisible, disappeared and marginalised people, especially AVANT-GARDE artists that are forgotten or still unknown.

COZETTE DE CHARMOY was born in 1939 in Westminster, London, to a French (Breton) father from Mauritius and an English mother of Russian origin. She also has Canadian nationality. Cozette has lived and worked in London, Canada, Switzerland and Paris, where she is now located. Painter, graphic artist, poet, she was a friend of LEONARD COHEN (who wrote a song for her), WILLIAM BURROUGHS, BRION GYSIN, HENRI CHOPIN (who published her from 1966 in his seminal magazine OU). In 1972, she started her own artists book publishing company EDITIONS OTTEZEC with her husband and in 1973, her first graphic novel "The True Life of Sweeney Todd" was published by Stefan and Franciszka THEMERSON at The Gaberbocchus Press.

 LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE is proud to produce COZETTE DE CHARMOY NEW SOLO SHOW IN LONDON, 70 YEARS exactly after her work was first publicly exhibited when she was just 15 years old held and living in STOKE NEWINGTON SCHOOL. Alongside works dating from 1966 to 1982, the 31 plates of the deluxe portfolio of "THE COLOSSAL LIE" (her prophetic political graphic novel published by Henri Chopin in 1974) will be displayed in their entirety for the first time in London.

AT 5PM, COME AND TALK WITH COZETTE DE CHARMOY (+ TOM EVANS and DEBRA KELLY)!

COME IN YOUR MASSES ON AUG 2ND!

JOËL HUBAUT - DRESS CODE

LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE (composers and sound artists FRÉDÉRIC ACQUAVIVA and LORE LIXENBERG) are happy to present every first saturday of the month (from April 5 to Dec 6) a series of exhibitions and events held at THE OUTSIDERS GALLERY in London, after their initial location in Berlin-Neukölln.

LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE supports the fight of all invisible, disappeared and marginalised people, especially AVANT-GARDE artists that are totally forgotten or still unknown.

JOËL HUBAUT was born in 1947 in Picardy (France) and became from the 1960's an incredible artist and performer capable of mixing together texts, films, sounds, artworks of any media and style, creating a unity through his EPIDEMIK use of contaminated signs.
HUBAUT's art is the ultimate and subversive reunion of RABELAIS, DADA, CONSTRUCTIVISM, LETTRISM, SITUATIONNISTE INTERNATIONAL, THE BEAT GENERATION, POP ART, VIENNESE ACTIONNISM and all you can ever think of.

LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE is proud to produce JOËL HUBAUT's FIRST SOLO SHOW IN LONDON : "DRESS CODE", with works spanning from 1966 to 2025, mixing all media and styles. Included are his "Chasse aux Knacks", an hommage to the Frankfurt Philosophy School (see in the vitrine) and in the gallery a "Still Life with candles of the Général de Gaulle", some car crash, a detournement of Jérome Bosh mixed with Miro, some music instrument, hand painted photo performance, collages, canvas, serigraph, works on posca, objects and the realisation of a DRESS, which will be the object of his NON STOP PERFORMANCE from 12 (noon) to 6pm

COME AND MEET JOËL HUBAUT IN FLESH AND BONES! COME IN YOUR MASSES ON SATURDAY JULY 5, NOON TO 6PM

http://joelhubaut.jujuart.com/

BROUTIN

LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE (composers and sound artists FRÉDÉRIC ACQUAVIVA and LORE LIXENBERG) are happy to present every first saturday of the months (from April 5 to Dec 6) a series of exhibitions and events held at THE OUTSIDERS GALLERY in London, after their initial location in Berlin-Neukölln.

LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE supports all the fights of invisible, disappeared and marginalised people, especially AVANT-GARDE artists that are totally forgotten or still unknown.
One of our strong focuses is to bring into the light the LETTRIST movement founded in 1946 by the Romanian poet and artist ISIDORE ISOU (1925-2007), of which we celebrate the 100 anniversary.

Isidore Isou's ideas were to found a group and work collectively to reshape the world and all forms of knowledge under the prism of CREATIVITY.
Active on all fields from 1946 to his death in 2007, Isou and the 300 lettrist artists that participated in the group proposed numerous societal transformations. LETTRISM is at that time, the only avant-garde movement to create in 1949 a political party : YOUTH UPRISING, in order to make people become their own Gods of creativity, with the motto " ALL GODS, ALL MASTERS". Isou and lettrists ideas rapidly attracted GUY DEBORD who joined lettrism in 1951, before founding SITUATIONIST INTERNATIONAL in 1957 and many of Isou's ideas spread and culminated in the MAY 68 events.

If the lettrists started with the transformation of poetry (by the unification of music and poetry, opening the paths to SOUND POETRY), they rapidly developed HYPERGRAPHY (the unification of writing and painting) since the 1940's, being precursors to many mouvements such as graffiti art.

On JUNE 7th and ONLY ON THIS DAY, we present a unique show on the lettrist artist BROUTIN. BROUTIN (born in France in 1948) joined the lettrist movement after May 1968.

He is one of the very few lettrist artists that can claim to have been in the lettrist movement for more than half a century.

Broutin developed a unique artistic style, both minimalist and conceptual, while been able to reinvent himself over the years.
He has also been a prominent defender of Isou's texts, notably the ones around YOUTH UPRISING, making him one of the most involved lettrists in political action.

Broutin is the subject of a monographic book and documentary film, both to be completed soon, as well as being the only openly LGBT+ in the lettrist movement.
He was also one of the few lettrists to live outside France, first in Italy, then Berlin, before settling in Nice, where he currently lives, having developed over the past few years Parkinsons disease.

At 5PM, Broutin will make a unique performance through livestream, expanding for the last time his biggest ever work called TGA (Très Grande Acquaviva). At the moment it is composed of 70 canvases of 40 x 30 cm to which he will add 10 new canvases live (called The Parkinson Effect), using the disease as a possible extension of his technique and inspiration.
This performance is made possible through the help of his partner Nenad Boharevic, who will assist him technically in Nice, while being transmitted in livestream at The Outsiders Gallery in London, with the 70 previous canvases displayed on the floor.

Apart from this work and unique event, other key works of Broutin will be displayed on the walls, showing his different styles, like the 6 part retable on Giotto shown in the UK for the first time, as well as 2 very early works of 1968-1969 on non-prepared canvas.

We will also see Broutin's fantastic series on The Inhabitants of NY who he considers to be the biggest living sculpture, and specifically a prophetic work he created in 1991 on the planet's response to the human mistreatment, as well as some hypergraphic selfportraits while chatting on the internet. Finally, one will also see Broutin's a-optical response in 2013 to his iconic Joconde-like "Aoptical Frame" that you can see in the vitrine and that encourages you to take a selfie with him to spread it like a virus on social networks.

COME IN YOUR MASSES ON JUNE 7TH!

HYPERGRAPHIC WOMEN

On MAY 3rd and ONLY THIS DAY, we present a unique show on the two main female protagonists of the lettrist movement:

MAGGY MAURITZ (born in Germany in 1941) and AUDE JESSEMIN (1937-2022) were both active in the group from 1963 to 1969.
This exhibition, curated by Frédéric Acquaviva, will be the first to present them both in a single show, and will also be the very first exhibition of Maggy Mauritz in London.

MAGGY MAURITZ is now represented by LOEVE&CO GALLERY in Paris since her rediscovery in 2021 (and her first ever solo show).
She is known to be the first female artist to have used spray paint in her artworks since the mid-1960's, being a true ancestor of STREET ART, and a self taught artist, who had her initial shock in art in 1962, visiting London.
In this vitrine, you can see an example of the spray paint works "W" (1966) and on May 3rd, you will be able to see for the first time exhibited on a wall (and also for purchase) the porfolio of her "U.N.T.I.T.L.E.D" hypergraphic novel from 1966, published by Editions AcquAvivA at 12 copies with 56 digital prints.
In this work you will see Maggy Mauritz's use of german shorthand in order to write an undecipherable novel of asemantic lettrist conception. Maggy Mauritz was the wife of the key lettrist artist ROBERTO ALTMANN.
LORE LIXENBERG will SINGTERVIEW MAGGY MAURITZ at 5pm on MAY 3rd, so be sure to attend this unique event!

AUDE JESSEMIN came from a familly of butchers in deep France (Tours) and wanted to be a painter, against the will of her family and joined the fine art school of Tours in the 1950's. Arriving in Paris, she met her future husband who will also soon become another key lettrist artist JACQUES SPACAGNA.
She will draw his first works that he will sign, before starting her own hypergraphic works in 1962.

Her style is unique and sometimes evokes OUTSIDER ART.
In this vitrine you can see 3 silkscreens of images realised in 1965 and printed in 2016 at 20 copies and in the May 3rd exhibition, you will discover the 27 digital prints of her 1964 hypergraphic novel "27 EVENTS TOLD THROUGH SIGNS", also published by Editions AcquAvivA.

COME IN YOUR MASSES ON MAY 3RD!

COME IN YOUR MASSES ON MAY 3RD!

COME IN YOUR MASSES ON MAY 3RD!

WHAT'S YOUR TYPE?

APRIL 5, 2025, noon to 6pm 

01 

WHAT'S YOUR TYPE? 

art-poetry-music 

in typing & computing 

LA PLAQUE TOURNANTE (Frédéric Acquaviva and Loré Lixenberg) is  proposing every first saturday of the month a new series of exhibitions hosted  by THE OUTSIDERS GALLERY (64 Stoke Newington Road, London, N16 7XB). Following the Berlin space where 10 exhibitions were held between 2014 and  2017 (receiving the Berlin Senate Artists Space Prize in 2017), they will  organize 10 pop up exhibitions of ONE DAY ONLY starting on APRIL 5. 

What's your type? will display works using typewriter or computer in the  fields of poetry (concrete poetry), art (lettrism) and music (notations),  including international artists never shown before in UK. 

It will include some original works realised on a typewriter machine from  1947 to 2024 by Dom Sylvester Houédard, Bob Cobbing, Keith Armstrong,  Cozette de Charmoy, Robin Tomens, Karel Adamus, Jiri Kolar, Jan Burka,  Jiri Valoch, Alan Ridell, Isidore Isou, Maurice Lemaître, Gil Wolman, Ben  Vautier, Henri Chopin, Pierre Garnier, Ilse Garnier, Jean-François Bory, Joël  Hubaut, Charles Pennequin, Maggy Mauritz, Ferdinand Kriwet, Franz Mon,  Roberto Altmann, Paul Dutton, Steve McCaffery, Willem Boshoff, Öyvind Fahlström, Ake Hodell, Bengt Emil Johnson, Berndt Petterson, Carl  Reuterswärd, Enzo Minarelli, Maurizio Nannucci, Eduardo Kac, Betty Lee  White, Christopher Knowles, Kazunori Yaoita as well as an anonymous  typewriter work. 

It will also show computer related works of Max Bense, Manfred Mohr, Timm  Ulrichs, Bernard Heidsieck, Henri Chopin, Broutin, Jeff Nimp as well as music works using typewriter by Frédéric Acquaviva, John Cage or computer by  Pierre Barbaud and Denis Dufour. 

5pm : Performance by Enzo Minarelli (IT) 

Enzo Minarelli (1951) is the founder of the Archivio 3VITre di Polipoesia  (1983) and the creator of the term "polypoetry" (sound poetry, video poetry,  concrete and visual poetry...). 

t'ARTopia Queer Sound Weekender

t'ART brings together a selection of queer and trans artists and makers for a new exhibition at The Outsiders Gallery, responding to the theme of 'queer sound'. From illustrations to photography capturing queer musicians in performance, to sound and audio artwork, this exhibition documents queer music making and investigates what it means to make sound queerly.​

Exhibition Open Times:

Saturday 22nd March - 12pm-5pm

Sunday 23rd March - 12pm-5pm

The exhibition is free to visit and no booking is required.

 Live Drawing Workshop with Lucie Arnoux

Join us for a very special live drawing session! Illustrator and graphic novelist Lucie Arnoux will lead a live-drawing class in which attendees will learn how to sketch a musician as they are playing, focusing on the relationship between a person and their instrument. 

Featuring live musician Rosie from Boom Boom Racoon. 

We will be raising money for gender affirming surgery funds with this evening's raffle, so come with a couple of quid, win art and raise money for good causes! Please note, our new Queer Sound mini-journal is out not.

Making toMusic: A free-drawing and free-writing workshop

You are invited to put pen to paper, surrounded by queer sound. Join us to have the chance to free-draw and to free-write to the soundtrack of queer musicians and queer sounds, to work collaboratively and individually, to make freely. Guided by writer and maker Finn Brown.

Photos by t’ARTopia

Matilda Ellis - Was It Lovely?

Matilda Ellis is a queer artist, illustrator and educator, who's work explores the power and joy of queer community. Through drawing, quilting and teaching she uses her work to capture scenes of nightlife, performance and resistance.

She draws live in situ in iconic London venues such as Dalston Superstore and Bethnal Green Working Men's Club to capture the energy and magic of drag and queer nightlife performance.

This show is the culmination of around 5 years of exploration with textiles as way to create tangible/touchable heirlooms for queer experiences and families.

The title of the show comes from a misremembered phrase of a patron at the 'Caravan Club' a bar in London only open for six weeks in 1934 that was described by the authorities as "absolutely a sink of iniquity' that was only frequented by sexual perverts, lesbians and sodomites"

This phrase which I encountered in, 'Gay Bar' (2021) by Jeremy Atherton Lin, exemplifies the inherent transience of attempts to archive the power and flaws of queer clubbing. This exhibition is an alternate archive.

LGBTQ+ History Exhibition - 41 years of Stonewall Housing

LGBTQ+ History Through the Lens of Stonewall Housing

On Saturday, 1st February, we invite you to explore 41 years of LGBTQ+ history through the archives of Stonewall Housing. Our exhibition will be open to the public from 12 PM to 5 PM, offering a rare chance to see photos, documents, and materials that tell the story of our charity’s journey since 1983.

Stonewall Housing was founded by activists to support LGBTQ+ individuals facing homelessness or at risk, and our archive provides a powerful look at how we have navigated key moments in queer history.

What to Expect: 

A unique opportunity to view rare photographs, documents, and materials from our four decades of activism.
Stonewall Housing staff and volunteers will be present to offer insights and answer any questions about the items on display.
Learn about the impact of our work and how we have created safe spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals over the years.

Whether you’re interested in LGBTQ+ history, social activism, or simply want to learn more about the work we do, this exhibition is an opportunity to reflect, connect, and celebrate our shared history.

Bodysongs

We are excited to announce Bodysongs, a group sculpture exhibition curated by Charlie Jimenez which navigates the transformative nature of the human form within works that intertwine the grotesque with the fragile, beautiful, bizarre, and mythological. 

Bodysongs invites viewers into an otherworldly vision of bodily transformation, where the body becomes a gender-fluid language of the corporeal, emotional, and absurd. 

Each piece offers a spectral display of bodily realities which arouse and challenge conventions of identity, while also inviting contemplative rethinking of the body as an emotional entity - a fluid and mutable reality where identities and mythology assimilate. 

A place where the body is both vessel and narrative for transformation.

Opening Night Private View

23rd January, 18:00-21:00pm

Exhibition 

24th - 26th January, 18:00-21:00pm

Short Film Screening and Q&A

25th January, 19:00-21:30

Closing Performances 

26th January, 18:00-21:00pm

Artists

@tildax_x_

@finianjamestempest

@mossedbones

@charliejjimenez

@antilyzz

@_antonean

Films by 

#fredericktremblay

@gregorygangemi

@alihendrys

@autojektorx

@barbara_rupik

@brodie_rake

@matteoingrao

@polinakzmnska

Performances by

@electricadam

@charliejjimenez & @mossedbones

Curator @charliejjimenez

Graphic design @finiantempestjames

Andrew Lumsden - Fruit Machine

Andrew Lumsden was a London based pioneer of the Gay Liberation Front, a pioneering openly queer journalist and also an incredibly talented artist working across a variety of mediums.

Throughout February The Outsiders gallery will be showing a retrospective covering Andrews artwork from the early 1970's through to the 2020's. 

A contemporary of Derek Jarman and David Hockney, Andrew Lumsden created a steady flow of artworks reflecting his life as an activist, traveller and lover. His work ranged from abstract and impressionist works in the 70's through to highly detailed photo realistic works reflecting the landscapes, beaches and interiors as he travelled around the UK, across Spain and Goa, to personal sketches and paintings of friends and lovers, and then back to his first love of abstraction during the lockdown period in 2020

We will be displaying key works by Andrew from 1975 through to 2020.

Private View Thursday Feb 6 from 6pm

Closing night Thursday Feb 27 event details TBC

Plus we will be hosting talks, and a walking tour to reflect Andrews life and work. - check our events page for info on these

Supported by Hackney Council - Hackney Pride365

t'ART Exhibition: Queer Time - Private View 2nd November

t’ART are really excited to be bringing together queer and trans artists and makers for a new exhibition at The Outsiders Gallery, responding to the theme of 'queer time'. 

Time is different for us. The markers of a life have not always been accessible to queer people: marriage, children, their children and so on. And then there’s coming out, again and again. Transitioning, changing our bodies, changing our pronouns. Many of us explore as our true selves late. 

t’ART have gathered work from both emerging and established queer and trans artists, working across a variety of disciplines from painting to photography, film to sculpture. And can’t wait to share it with you.

We’d love for you to join us to celebrate the exhibition’s opening at our Private View on 2nd November. Tickets are available for a suggested donation of £3 and all proceeds go towards the exhibition’s costs, or you can purchase one of our most recent publications to pick up at the event! Drinks will be available to purchase at the bar.

Blackness - now showing

VFD's Black Queer Art Exhibition.

Blackness will showcase art made within the queer black community and led and curated by QBPOC.

Exhibition curator and producer @djscarba invited artists to 'Submit existing work they feel reflects their "BLACKNESS".

There are many stories to be told, and we want to give the queer black community a space to open the door into their BLACKNESS!

RUNS TO WEDNESDAY 30 OCTOBER

PRIVATE VIEW Saturday 5 October 6 to 9pm

For more information email info@vfdalston.com

Artist featured:

Rebeca Gomes @unfinished.quirks

The creative force behind

Unfinished. Quirks. Born of Portuguese and Angolan heritage, an artistic journey of defiance and discovery. In the face of scepticism and rejection, Rebeca found solace in the freedom of artistic expression. Unfettered by tradition, they paint outside the lines, crafting a narrative that celebrates individuality and innovation. 

Bethany Grigsby  @beetheillustrator.917

BeeThelllustrator, an Afrofuturistic artist from London, deeply inspired by Black history and personal stories. Bee blends Afrofuturism with pop surrealism, creating psychedelic, dreamlike illustrations that always carry a deeper message. The ultimate goal bring, to inspire and uplift others, especially Neurodivergent people of colour, using art to tell our stories.

Cece Morgan  @_holy_c_

Cece Morgan is a photographer, artist and DJ. From North Yorkshire, Cece moved to London and with this, the subcultures brought new avenues of expression for her queer and Caribbean identity. Finding solace and expression in London's queer rave scene. Cece works across hazy, colour-drenched, sensual imagery to documentary portraiture exploring themes of blackness.

RISK IT ALL FOR JOY

'Risk it all for Joy', an enchanting showcase featuring the works of Bengali-British painter Mousumi Saha at VFD Outsiders Gallery in June/July 2024.

Rose symbolism has existed as a metaphor for cosmic consciousness  since the birth of world religions from Sufism and Hinduism to Christianity. The suspension of the flowers in a dream-like sky create a certain dimension of divinity which the painter felt was encapsulated in the poem ‘The Sick-Bed’ by Rabindrinath Tagore.

The painter’s recent experiences of health issues herself and in her family have further defined that her biggest source of delight over despair has been witnessing simple moments of life force in action,  primarily in the close observation of flowers in bloom..

The artist also unashamedly embraces the decorative, romantic and feminine associations the rose evokes - a motif ever present in chintzy wallpaper and Rococo-inspired show plates.

(S)exhibition - The Museum of Sex Objects

(S)exhibition is a collaboration between the Museum of Sex Objects and a group of incredible queer women/artists who work in the sex industry.

This installation explores the normalcy of sex work and the performative nature of pleasure. Representing the duality of identity that many sex workers experience due to the nature of their work, it offers insight into where those competing personas clash.

As many sex workers practise from home, the exhibition draws on the ordinariness of home juxtaposed with the theatre of sex work. Banal household objects, such as a chest of drawers and fridge doors, are co-opted as canvases to tell these artists' stories. These objects mirror the duality in a sex worker's life, the “pressures of curating and performing fake identities” with the real queer women outside of the male gaze. In doing so, our wish is to provide a more holistic and whole identity to sex workers as a way of nurturing empathy and understanding, leading to a more united sisterhood.

The exhibition ran throughout May 2024. Alongside the installation, we will be hosted a variety of events and workshops to explore themes relating to the history of sex work and identity more deeply.

This show would not be possible without our fine fellowship of collaborators and the generosity of Lyall @VFDalston for hosting (S)exhibition. Thank you X

Guided Tours

7pm for 7.15 start, finishes 8.30pm

Every Wednesday, the Keeper hosted guided tours of the (S)exhibition to delve deep into the history of the pieces. What better way to spend a Wednesday evening?

To Weaponise, To Fetishise - Friday 10th May, 7-9pm

Extrapolating from the piece Narratives, Counternarratives, Chao-Ying Rao (Betty) will be speaking about her personal experiences growing up as an East Asian woman in Scotland, and how she learned to weaponise and manipulate being fetishised as a form of survival. She will discuss feminism in relation to sex work, and as well as her own experiences as a way providing context for her instillation. Unpacking the nuances around objectification - an often-uncompromising word which requires some deeper analysis, she will talk about objectification as escapism through ritual and performance.

East London Stripper Collective host life-drawing - Saturday, 11th May, 2-5pm

Life Drawing with ELSC first launched in 2013 as a natural progression from the age-old practice of hiring professional harlots and hussies as models for art. This fast-paced class often involves high-octane aerial pole poses. The workshop will incorporate some traditional life drawing with a couple of 5-, 10-, and 15-minute poses. No experience needed—newcomers welcome!

Fallen Women -Saturday 18th May, 7-8.30pm

A night of sexually charged enchantment with Folk singer-songwriter Liz Overs in conversation with Museum of Sex Objects storyteller The Keeper.

They explore through music and objects, the unsung folk hero, the sex worker.

Chasing this spirited, cruel beauty, carrier of disease, fair maid, poor young girl, and wronged woman across time.

She is the container of all society's projected fears. What a burden to bear!

Hopefully, by shining a light on her, the wrongs she has endured for millennia will be a small way to being righted

Venus Mound Unbound

Zoe Bedeaux - Artist, Alchemist, Textual Healer & Founder of Cosmotics Witchcrafted by Vida - takes you on an explorative odyssey

A critical commentary on shamanic activities, Zoe Bedeaux - artist,

Vaginal musings in the age of sex reformation and Herstory

THE IMMORTAL PORTAL INVITES YOU

TO ENTER THE CAVE,

TAKE HER IN HAND,

TO UNDERSTAND,

TO GET HER,

TOGETHER

FOREVER.

SHE MOVES IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.

IN THE END

IT IS SHE WHO SHALL SAVE THE DAY!

Everyone will be invited to anoint themselves with Love Dust Cosmotics Witchcrafted by Vida before entering the space.

Self-Defence Weekend Special - Saturday 25th   May, 2-5.30pm

Forced underground and denied the protection afforded to most members of society, marginalised groups have had to find a means of resistance that not only keeps them safe, but builds community in the process. Sex workers are no different, and as some of societies most vulnerable people, have historically used all the tools available - physical, mental and social - to protect us from harm.

Part 1: Join Black Venus in a self - defence workshop for sex-workers and survivors. Learn basic, tried and tested techniques that both protect and empower. Learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai striking techniques that can be employed in self-defence situations on the ground, standing up and in confined spaces. The workshop will be integrated with conversations led by Venus on the topic of who deserves to be protected and how stigma influences policies that harms sex workers, survivors, women and GNC people from all walks of life?

 Part 2: Did you know sex workers in the 15th Century used makeshift pepper spray to defend

themselves? Join Fiona Carroll to delve deeper into the role self-defence has in the history

of sex work. This talk will explore the methods of social protection and defence employed

against persecution and how community was used as a form of protection.

Writing Intimacy - Sunday 26th of May 2-4pm

This writing workshop explored how to write intimacy authentically. Hosted by two sex worker writers and artists, Annabelle and Bella, for whom intimacy represents the primary tool of their trades, both in the sex and creative industries. Intimacy isn’t one specific thought or action, it is the feeling of knowing and being known, and a lot of the best writing situates this experience in surprising places. In this workshop, we will use writing to explore experiences of intimacy. Some may be sexual, but they can also be as subtle as revealing just a tiny detail of your inner world, such as a small habit or ritual.

Annie & Beth - photo Claire Lawrie

Hearth - photo Claire Lawrie

Cautary Clamp - photo Claire Lawrie

Madame of the Whip - photo Claire Lawrie

Soho Window - photo Jorge Monedero

The Hite Report - photo Claire Lawrie

Mixed Rage: Unapologetically Other

Unapologetically Other

Mixed Rage Collective

Mixed Rage collective showcases artworks exploring lived experiences of being ‘othered’. This significant group exhibition, by artists from Mixed heritage, use their creativity as an outlet to celebrate their interracial roots as well as expressing their anger of being perceived and treated differently.

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, conversations between artists Sevonah Golabi and Niall Singh sparked the Mixed Rage project. After found validation and solidarity in similar experiences, Golabi held an open call for artists from Mixed ethnicities. The response to collaborate within this safe space was overwhelming. The newly formed collective created Mixed Rage Zine’s as a platform wherein they published the submitted poems, stories, and artworks.

Through ‘Unapologetically Other’ the collective seeks to address the lack of representation, daily micro-aggressions and displacement felt by people of Mixed ethnicities and the highly political and colonial backdrop into which they were born.

‘Unapologetically Other’ offers a point of connection to appreciate the identity journey of being Mixed-race. The multifaceted components and nuances are reflected in the remarkable artworks. These range from multimedia to an art film exploring lost identity, and from political multi-layered collages to intimate family portraits. With this exhibition Mixed Rage offers a broader narrative and a place of recognition and belonging for people of Mixed heritage.

Artists: Jane Thakoordin, Niall Singh, Sevonah Golabi, Sherrie Edgar and Sina Leasuasu

Special thanks to Dominique Nok, the curator for the first version of this show at the Midlands Art Centre in Birmingham 2022

Just Coping 25

JUST COPING 25 is an exhibition at VFD Gallery, Dalston that documents and celebrates a hybrid, queer arts event that took place in the borough twenty-five years earlier, in August 1998.

Featuring JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND, KENNY MELLMAN, TOM STEPHAN, FIL OK, JAMES B.L. HOLLANDS and many more.

The original JUST COPING event at 333 Club featured visual artists, filmmakers, fanzines, drag cabaret and DJs in a hybrid celebration of LGBT+ creatives working outside of the mainstream. JUST COPING 25 at VFD will take the form of an immersive installation, showcasing ephemera from the 1998 event and utilising audio testimony from the original participants, in a celebration of independent queer culture, history and survival in Hackney.

Date and Time:

01st February: Private View 18:30-21:30 then 2nd to 29th February