Courtesy of Yasmine Akim.

Committed to creating a safe, creative space for LGBTQIA+ artists, Ugly Duck is at the forefront of championing multidisciplinary live works that speak to the present day. Their annual @Disturbance festival, typically staged towards the end of each year, now set for an inaugural summer edition. The collaborative event seeing artists Alex Billingham, Samiir Saunders, Ace Rahman, Kobi Essah Ayensuo and Ella Frost inspired by Ugly Duck’s partnership with disabled led organisations Care-fuffle and Shape Arts to specifically create new pieces integrating captioning, audio description and BSL. Ahead of the event, to take place on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd June in Bermondsey, Ugly Duck’s Deen Atger tells us more about what to expect from this crucial, innovative event.

Continue reading

Founded a decade ago in 2012 to platform the work of marginalised artists, performance venue Ugly Duck, located in Bermondsey – South East London, has been at the forefront of working with performance artists who are not afraid of exploring lesser talked about themes. Their @Disturbance Festival, now in its 4th year specifically created to showcase LGBTQ+ artists and stories. Set to show Simple Relations No.4, a performance made for camera that queers the use of everyday objects to explore the complexities of living in a gender fluid body in the Southern United States as part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year anniversary on the 10th, 11th and 12th of November, video artist Sandrine Schaefer tells us what inspired them to explore the show’s themes further, how they’ve approached creating the filmed performance and what can be expected!

Continue reading

Courtesy of Orlando Myxx.

Founded a decade ago in 2012 to platform the work of marginalised artists, performance venue Ugly Duck, located in Bermondsey – South East London, has been at the forefront of working with performance artists who are not afraid of exploring lesser talked about themes. Their @Disturbance Festival, now in its 4th year specifically created to showcase LGBTQ+ artists and stories. Set to show The Earth’s Monologue, a piece exploring the intersection of race and gender which will encompass performance and video art as part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year anniversary on the 10th,11th and 12th of November, artist Joy Kincaid tells us how their feeling ahead of the event, exploring the show’s themes further and what they’ve taken away from the creative process!

Continue reading

Courtesy of Zbigniew Tomasz Kotkiewicz.

Founded a decade ago in 2012 to platform the work of marginalised artists, performance venue Ugly Duck, located in Bermondsey – South East London, has been at the forefront of working with performance artists who are not afraid of exploring lesser talked about themes. Their @Disturbance Festival, now in its 4th year specifically created to showcase LGBTQ+ artists and stories. Set to show The Plastic Drag, a visual and sound work investigating how a new wave of underrepresented gender-non-conforming and diverse drag artists are redefining the art of drag and its subversive potential as part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year anniversary on the 10th,11th and 12th of November, artist Orlando Myxx tells us more about how they’ve approached creating the piece, what’s been learned from creating the piece and what the audience can expect!

Continue reading

Founded a decade ago in 2012 to platform the work of marginalised artists, performance venue Ugly Duck, located in Bermondsey – South East London, has been at the forefront of working with performance artists who are not afraid of exploring lesser talked about themes. Their @Disturbance Festival, now in its 4th year specifically created to showcase LGBTQ+ artists and stories. Set to show I found a dead bird, an exploration of the marginalized queer experience of growing up in small town in southern China as part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year anniversary on the 10th,11th and 12th of November, Artist River Cao’s mesmerizing artistic practice spans the realms of installation, video, and performance, wrapped in a poetic meditation on the theme of mourning. Through his perspective, he reveals his encounters, musings, and memories, using the medium of landscape and deftly employing metaphors to explore sadness, subjectivity, and existence. Calm waters and untouched landscapes frequently appear in his previous works, leading the audience to gaze into his inner world. On this journey, one finds oneself confronted with a reimagined melancholy, contradiction and comfort are mutually entangled, and Cao’s evocative creation makes the audience pause in front of his work. Artist River Cao tells us more about exploring the shows themes further, what it means to be a part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year celebrations and what the audience can expect! Continue reading

Continue reading

Courtesy of Tom Morley.

Founded a decade ago in 2012 to platform the work of marginalised artists, performance venue Ugly Duck, located in Bermondsey – South East London, has been at the forefront of working with performance artists who are not afraid of exploring lesser talked about themes. Their @Disturbance Festival, now in its 4th year specifically created to showcase LGBTQ+ artists and stories. Set to show a multi-sensory, immersive work referencing the mythological creature the Bittern bird as part of Ugly Duck’s 10th year anniversary on the 10th,11th and 12th of November, performance artist Gisou Golshani tells us more about how they’ve approached creating the piece, what they’ve learned along the creative process and what the audience can expect!

Hi Gisou, you’ll be taking part in Ugly Duck’s @Disturbance Festival from 10th to 12th November. How are you feeling ahead of the event?

This is my first residency and I’ve really enjoyed taking the time to explore my ideas and engage in in-depth conversations with other queer creatives and professionals. Really excited to bring this project to life!

Continue reading