Events

Dolls by John Lee Bird ‘Dolls and idols - a way of existence’ Artist John Lee Bird will be presenting a major solo exhibition, bringing his new DOLLS project alongside work spanning his 25 year career including large scale paintings, print, drawing and film. With influences stemming from film, cult TV, performance, drag and music,…

From the 19 to the 23th Ugly Duck welcome two projects in their victorian factory, Dolls by John Lee Bird and It’s Always Ourselves We Find In The Sea by Illustrious Company.   More info below It’s Always Ourselves We Find In The Sea Created by world-renowned musician and music producer Martyn Ware, composer Gabriel Ware,…

We're excited to invite you to the sharing of a month-long residency on Thursday 27th July featuring 16 artists from Africa, Asia and Europe! Lost & Found is an artist-led hybrid residency & research programme, investigating new ways of collaborating virtually, and engaging audiences across geographical boundaries. This year artists have been exploring 'The Long…

Do You Buy This Do You Buy This? showcases commodified feminist objects, considering the duality between critiquing corporate cooption and supporting feminist practice. We look forward to welcoming audiences to explore the complexities of operating in a capitalist system, exercising our spending power in feminist ways. We are exhibiting commodities that have been produced in…

Creating visuals: projection mapping workshop - London    12 -13 August Where: Ugly Duck 47/49 Tanner Street SE1 3PL, London Bridge When: 12th - 13st August From 11 am to 5 pm. Tickets and price - 12 people maximum - £180 for the weekend  Ex-alumni 10% discount applies Creating visuals: projection mapping workshop is led…

Our Suspended Corridors Claudia Palazzo premieres new performance work Our Suspended Corridors, alongside her re-staged durational installation Vertebral disc at Ugly Duck, London on Saturday 16th September. Sat 16th Sept: Installation 6.30pm-8pm (free, drop in anytime)  Performance 8-9pm (ticketed, set time)  Sun 17th Sept:  Installation 1-4pm (free, drop in anytime)  There are 26 vertebrae in the adult…

Ugly Duck is a London based arts organisation that supports under-represented voices and emerging artists. Artists have access to subsidised rehearsal space, given them access to technical support, provide time with our in-house producing team and offer opportunities for public presentation. All contributions mean a great deal to us and the artists we support. 

The BrinK New ruins have not yet acquired the weathered patina of age…’ Rose Macaulay, Pleasure of Ruins, 1953 The Brink is an expansive exhibition of 21 artists, both established and early-career, whose works range sculpture, installation, painting, and performance, all set within the space of a formerly dilapidated tannery. The exhibition, a collaborative initiative…

Altar-native Exhibition: A Journey into East and Southeast Asian Ancestral Heritage in newly opened Ugly Duck Courage Yard 31st October - 5th November, The Greenhouse, Courage Yard, Shad Thames, London SE1 2NJ Courage Yard with exhibition Altar-native featuring work by nine East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) artists. From October 31st to November 5th, Altar-native will…

Pretty Doomed, is an unconventional art fair & exhibition presented by Ugly Duck & Queer Art Projects, which seeks to challenge the sustainability of the underground and queer art worlds. The first edition took place from the 12th to the 15th of October 2023.Ugly Duck is one of the few independent art venues that showcases…

ANTI / DOOMED FEAST MENUUGLY DUCK 13.10.237pm - 9.30pm This feast invites you to think about the food itself and its origins, culture, history and links to magic and medicine IMPORTANT INFO: PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN PERSONAL PLATE, CUTLERY AND GLASS(To avoid using disposable materials) An intimate feast designed to feed you with vitality, connection,…

Drink some tea in a chilled space with a bunch of other queer people and make some cool clay sculptures :D This workshop is designed for queer women, non-binary, intersex, and trans+ people (or anyone who is exploring their identity within this bracket). No prior experience of making or working with clay is required! We…

MY BLOOD IS MY VOICE WORKSHOP SERIES 7th Jan, 4th Feb & 3rd March 2024   Bringing the new year in with community vocal work, My Blood Is My Voice draws from the neuroqueer experience to facilitate 'collaborative embodied sounding' - a type of vocal improvisation which invites deep listening to both the individual body…

OTHERWORDLY TRANSMISSION Yellow Alien Animal Artificial and Infinite Intelligence An immersive interactive performance and disruptive installation ALIEN AI is an immersive interactive performance and disruptive installation that “breaks” and “glitches” emerging technologies and enables algorithms to subvert their functions to invent new Humane or Alien Technologies. Amongst the destabilising constructs of technological emergency, public participation is…

“Something Don’t Feel Right” is a collaborative piece developed by BIPOC musicians, movement artists and visual artists to raise awareness and to evoke conversation about the diasporic experience. This project aims to cultivate an understanding of diversity as an authentic aspect of the human experience within a socially and politically dynamic world, in motion and…

Violent Bodies Femanifesto Exhibition, Workshop & Performances As inhabitants of the world, we are part of an interconnected system. We influence the people, places and entities around us in discreet and obvious ways, and ultimately disrupt each other’s lives. This exhibit will expand this moment of inevitable disruption, and explore its impact on our bodies…

Martin O'Brien and Future Ritual present DISCHARGE Symposium & Performances DISCHARGE was a notorious performance art event dedicated to presenting difficult, radical and marginalised performance work. Curated by artist Martin O'Brien and hosted by kink and fetish clubs in London, DISCHARGE embraced the endless possibilities of the performance space for aesthetic, physical, and political art and experimentation. A…

welcome to the uk “Welcome To The UK” is a group exhibition and performance, which aim to discuss how visa policies have affected people's lives. The curatorial vision of “Welcome To The UK” aims to inquire into the material, affective, performative, spatial and identity politics of cross-border human mobility through a tangible practice that zooms in the intricate border…