Ugly Duck Bermondsey is excited to announce the first ever summer edition of @Disturbance, taking place on Saturday June 22 & Sunday June 23. Following the success of previous programmes championing LGBTQIA+ performance, video and digital artists, @Disturbance makes maximum use of Ugly Duck’s Tanner Street location, a former Victorian factory with multiple spaces. A surreal outdoor party will lead to an interactive indoor set, full of wonder and the unexpected.
June’s live performances will be accompanied by a simultaneous online stream, enabling audiences unable to travel to experience @Disturbance in full effect. @Disturbance remains committed to promoting accessibility and fostering a supportive and inclusive environment for radical, diverse and queer artists.
This year, @Disturbance features five artists: Alex Billingham, Samiir Saunders, Ace Rhaman, Kobi Essah Ayensuo and Ella Frost, performing live and on giant video screens. @Distrubance is entirely artist-led, curated by Deen Atger.
@Disturbance is artist-led, other contributions come courtesy of Mahalia Henry-Richard taking care of graphic design, set designer Knives who has a film background for decors and outdoor installations, and poet Oduenyi Nwike lending multifaceted skills to @Disturbance as a key part of the team.
Ugly Duck Creative Director and founder of @Disturbance Deen Atger says: “This year we look forward to seeing our regular, fabulous @Disturbance crowd as well as new audiences discovering our work. We’re partnering with disabled-led organisations Care-fuffle and Shape Arts to embark on a journey around accessibility. All artists will create new work where captioning, audio description and BSL translation will not only be embedded but considered as the work is being created. By employing livestream, projections and other technologies, we aim to explore and learn what accessibility can mean and look like for artists and audiences. Through this edition of @Disturbance we question how to make this an integral part of the show, rather than approaching it as an afterthought, so that we can not only come together but show up for each other as a larger community.”
@Disturbance is an interdisciplinary, experimental artistic residency & development programme. It champions & supports emerging LGBTQIA+ artists with: space, technical assistance, mentoring, press training. The program culminates in hybrid & immersive public performances showcased live at Ugly Duck & online. Our goal is to enhance experimentation, documentation and accessibility of queer performance art through cutting-edge live streaming and online tools.
Supported by Arts Council England
Graphic Design by Mahalia Henry-Richards
Access measures : Additional info to be released asap
BSL / Captions and audio description will be available and sometimes embedded in the work. There will be a quieter space, seats and we wil encourage audiences to wear covid masks.
The space is wheelchair accessible and has an accessible toilet.
If purchasing a ticket is a barrier, please contact us at general@uglyduck.org.uk. We will be happy to reserve one for you.