This April—May 2018, LUX returns to the project CRUISING GROUND with CRUISING GROUND II (CGII ). First initiated in 2017 in response to LUX’s relocation to Waterlow Park, Highgate, after 15 years in East London, CRUISING GROUND engaged with the 50th anniversary of the repeal of the Sexual Offences Act 1967; taking the ponds and cruising areas of the neighbouring Hampstead Heath as a departure point to explore the geographic and cultural landscape of LUX.
From July—Sept 2017, CRUISING GROUND consisted of an exhibition, a programme of workshops, screenings and events, and writing, bringing together a range of perspectives and discourses around cruising. Continuing as its own research project, CRUISING GROUND proposed the methodologies of cruising for LUX, and within the arts more broadly, as a strategy for permanent institutional destabilisation and for queering cultural mediation and production.
CGII extends these notions with a public programme of screenings, performances, workshops, and writing. These will be presented alongside an exhibition of Oliver Payne and Nick Relph’s Gentlemen (2003) as part of the BL CK B X series of monthly exhibitions of artists’ moving image at LUX. The exhibition also coincides with the opening of Ian White: Any Frame is a Thrown Voice at Camden Arts Centre (19 April – 24 June 2018), a retrospective exhibition of work by the late Ian White, who features as lead vocalist in Payne and Relph’s video.
The programme culminates with the launch of a newly commissioned work by artist Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay. Developed over the past year in response to both the physical location of LUX and the underlying concerns of CRUISING GROUND, the commissioned work will be presented at LUX in a unique collaborative event with Naked Boys Reading.
Programme
Exhibition
18 April – 12 May / Wed – Sat 12pm-5pm
BL CK BX: Gentlemen
Oliver Payne and Nick Relph’s Gentlemen (2003, video, sound, 28mins) as part of the BL CK B X series of free monthly exhibitions of artists’ moving image at LUX.
Free, no booking required
Screening, Performance
28 April, 8pm-11pm
EDGING
LINA BEMBE & MAX DISGRACE / MATT CARTER / RICHARD HEALY / ANNETTE KENNERLEY / LEN LUKOWSKI / LIZ ROSENFELD / JAMES SWEETBAUM / JOHN WALTER / IAN WOOLDRIDGE
A screening performance event exploring the complex interaction between environment, duration and behaviour within cruising sites.
£5, booking through Eventbrite.
Workshop
4 May, 10am – 6pm
AIDS IN THE ARCHIVE: The Politics of HIV/AIDS in the Age of the Medical Humanities (Part 1)
A day-long workshop with Fiona Anderson exploring the challenges that artists, curators, and historians face when working with material relating to HIV/AIDS in public and private archives and collections.
Free, with booking required via email. More details on the event page.
Screening
5 May, 5pm-7pm
AIDS IN THE ARCHIVE: The Politics of HIV/AIDS in the Age of the Medical Humanities (Part 2)
A screening programme of works from the LUX Collection, devised as part of the previous day’s workshop.
Free, booking required through Eventbrite.
Talk
11 May, 7pm-8pm
Benny Nemerofsky: TREES ARE FAGS
Launch of the CRUISING GROUND new work commission by artist Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay with a discussion between the artist, LUX and CRUSEV teams.
Free, no booking required
Performance
11 May, 8pm-11pm
NAKED BOYS READING: CRUISING ADRIAN’S LIBRARY
A special edition of the literary salon event, Naked Boys Reading, guest curated by Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay.
£13, booking required through Outsavvy.
Performance Invitation
11 May
A LETTER TO THE MAN WHO
Cruising-Epistolary Action by Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay
Free, please see the event page for further information
CRUISING GROUND and CGII have been developed and curated by Matt Carter in collaboration with Cruising the Seventies: Unearthing Pre-HIV/AIDS Queer Sexual Cultures (CRUSEV), a three-year pan-Europe research project exploring LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) social and sexual cultures of the 1970s and their significance for LGBTQ people across Europe now and in the future. LUX would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to the project so far and look forward to continuing these relationships and forging new connections over the coming months. To find out about all past CRUISING GROUND events and projects, just search “cruising ground” on the LUX website.