McDermott & McGough in conversation with curator Alison Gingeras, 5 October 2018
Curator Alison Gingeras was in conversation with the artists David McDermott and Peter McGough about The Oscar Wilde Temple, a project which had been twenty years in the making.
Listen
Dr. Dominic Janes on ‘Oscar Wilde and Queer Martyrdom’ with Professor Robert Mills, 13 October 2018
Cultural historian Dominic Janes explored the ways in which artists and writers, from Oscar Wilde to Derek Jarman, employed ecclesiastical material culture to further queer self–expression.
Wandsworth LGBTQ 50+ Coffee morning, 16 October 2018
Organised in partnership with the Wandsworth LGBTQ+ Forum, a local community group who have established a broad programme of advocacy, health and cultural activities for people of all ages.
Jonathan Blake in conversation with Lou Stoppard, 25 October 2018
Gay rights activist Jonathan Blake was joined by writer and curator Lou Stoppard to discuss his long involvement in activism and his life since becoming one of the first people to be diagnosed with HIV in the UK.
Listen
Albert Kennedy Trust (akt) Youth Conference Social, 26 October 2018
akt held a social for its 10th annual Youth Conference at Studio Voltaire, hosting over 80 young people from across the UK including Scotland, Wales, Liverpool, and Brighton.
Radical Faeries of Albion: Albion Fae Samhain Circle, 31 October 2018 and 20 January 2019
The London Queer Rad Fae witches celebrated Samhain night at The Oscar Wilde Temple – returning in the New Year to to invoke Queer Spirit and for more invocations, poetry, song and drumming.
Max Fox and Ben Miller on Guy Hocquenghem’s ‘The Amphitheatre of the Dead: An Anticipated Memoir’ (1988), 8 November, 2018
Writer and editor Max Fox read from his forthcoming English translation of The Amphitheatre of the Dead, a lightly science–fictionalised memoir composed in the last months of Hocquenheghem’s life, when AIDS related complications developed into paralysis.
Juliet Jacques, A Wo/Man of No Importance, 17 November 2018
Juliet Jacques’ performative reading of A Wo/Man of No Importance, a short piece of fiction that recounts the events surrounding Oscar Wilde’s trial as well as tales from the decadent literary and artistic circles of London of the late 1800s.
Watch
Salote Tawale, Celebrations & Sympathies: Studies in Culture 5, 29 November 2018
The 5th instalment of Tawale’s Celebrations and Sympathies, a performative hybrid of rituals and ceremonial acts, exploring the familiar and unfamiliar of daily life as well as the artist’s cultural inheritance.
Philip Hoare: Oscar Wilde and ‘Queer Nature’, 1 December 2018
Writer, broadcaster, curator and filmmaker Philip Hoare discussed Oscar Wilde’s role in “queer nature”, riffing on Wilde’s documented love of swimming to take in other watery, poetic dandies from literary history.
Listen
Peter Tatchell on Harvey Milk, 8 December 2018
A talk by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell considering the life and legacy of Harvey Milk, the civil and human rights leader who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States.
House of Rainbow Faith Gathering, 25 January 2019
House Of Rainbow is an inclusive, welcoming and affirming religious community for all people, including sexual minorities and the marginalised. Led by Reverend Rowland Jide Macaulay, an openly gay African theologian.
Clumsy Bodies, February 2019
Clumsy Bodies are an LGBTQIA, disabled-led collective who work primarily in theatre, poetry, and film. They regularly used the Temple as a space for development and rehearsals for a new performance work.
The Gay Artists Group: Life Drawing, 10 February 2018 and 31 March 2019
The Gay Artists Group hosted two life drawing classes within The Oscar Wilde Temple. This long–standing group of Clapham residents and professional artists meet regularly on Sundays to draw the nude form.
LGBT+ History Month: ‘Queer Stories’ hosted by Opening Doors London, 17 February 2019
Opening Doors London – the UKs largest charity providing information and support services for older LGBT+ people – hosted an afternoon of performance, including An Extraordinary Female Affection – The Life and Love of The Ladies of Llangollen by Jane Hoy and Helen Sandler from Living Histories Cymru and Hut 8, an exploration of English mathematician Alan Turing’s (1912-1954) life and loves through dance, choreographed by Mark Smith and performed by Gavin Eden and Joseph Fletcher.
The Trial of Lord Alfred Douglas, hosted by Wandsworth LGBTQ+ Forum, 26 February 2019
Wandsworth LGBTQ+ Forum invited participants to take part in The Trial of Lord Alfred Douglas, with Peter Scott-Presland, Andrew Lumsden and David Robson. This interactive performance interrogated popular understanding of Oscar Wilde and his relationship with Bosie, Lord Alfred Douglas.
As Time Goes By: Gay Sweatshop, 2 March 2019
Through a series of facilitated discussions, readings and short screenings, this seminar considered the work and legacies of The Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company and their seminal 1976 play As Time Goes By. Conceived and led by artist Conal McStravick with original cast members Philip Osment and Bruce Bayley.
Maggi Hambling in conversation with Louisa Buck, 12 March 2019
Artist Maggi Hambling discussed her wide–ranging practice, as well as her particular connection to, and work about, Oscar Wilde.
Listen
The Bent Bars Project 10th Anniversary Party, 16 March 2019
The Bent Bars Project, a letter–writing project for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, gender–variant, intersex, and queer prisoners in Britain, celebrated a decade of connecting LGBTQ+ communities across prison walls. The event included readings from current and ex-prisoners who have been involved in the project, as well as special performances by Solomon, writer, editor and performer That Ray and artist and performer Bird La Bird.
In Alan Turing’s Name: Pardoning the Dead, Forgetting the Living, 23 March 2019
This panel, convened by Justin Bengry (Goldsmiths University), brought together authorities on Alan Turing and the 2016 Turing Bill. With Katy Watts (Public Law Project); activist Terry Stewart, Chris Waters (Williams College, Massachusetts) and John Nicolson, the SNP politician who authored the Turing Bill.
Watch
What got you through?: Creative Dance Workshops, March 2019
This series of creative movement workshops invited individuals to explore themes of ‘resilience’ and LGBTQI+ experiences. Sessions were led by dancer and art therapist Bruce Currie and dancer/dance facilitator Andy Newman.
Author and editor Luke Turner in conversation with journalist and writer Paul Flynn, 28 March 2019
Luke Turner was joined by journalist Paul Flynn to discuss masculinity, sexuality, wilderness and religion in his celebrated memoir Out of the Woods (2019).
Listen
Magma Poetry, 2 April 2019
The Oscar Wilde Temple hosted the launch of Magma Poetry’s The Changeling Issue, with guest readings from poets CA Conrad and Jane Yeh.
Dr Sos Eltis, ‘Oscar Wilde (anarchist, socialist, feminist)’, 11 April 2019
Dr Sos Eltis offered a radical re-examination of Oscar Wilde’s plays, challenging long-established views of the writer as a dilettante and dandy.
Listen
Queerdirect Social, 12 April 2019
Queerdirect hosted a platonic speed dating social, as an opportunity to meet people from the wider LGBTQ+ community with a focus on intergenerational knowledge sharing and empowerment in a fun and safe environment.
The Library is Open!, 13 April 2019
The Library is Open! brought together two library–themed durational performances, The Itinerant Poetry Library by Sara Wingate Gray and Psychic Bibliophiles by Istanbul Queer Art Collective.
Brixton Umbrella Circle: ‘Pretended Family Gathering’, 14 April 2019
An afternoon outing for queer people of all ages to discuss the challenges of growing up, growing old, and being queer in the 21st century. Brixton Umbrella Circle is a group of older (50+) LGBTQ+ people located in the Brixton area of London.
Queer Crafts, 23 April 2019
Queer Crafts is a group of queer friends who were joined in October 2018 through their love of crochet and knitting. They crocheted, embroidered, laughed, had photoshoots in the highly pleasing queer aesthetics of the Temple, and sang Samantha Mumba.
QUEERCIRCLE, 24 April 2019
A community consultation session led by QUEERCIRCLE. Queercircle is an organisation that supports the work of Queer artists through exhibitions, events, mentorship programmes and grant schemes.
Huw Lemmey: Red Tory: My Corbyn Chemsex Hell, 25 April 2019
This special event launched Spitzenprodukte’s (Huw Lemmey) second novel, Red Tory: My Corbyn Chemsex Hell, published by Montez Press. The evening included readings by the author, in addition to leading writers and poets Juliet Jacques, Ashkan Sepahvand, Linda Stupart and Timothy Thornton.
Listen
Afemmera meet–up, 26 April 2016
The Oscar Wilde Temple hosted the first official meet–up of Afemmera, a community group for cis and trans feminine-presenting women who love women.
