Space To Have A Ball

Free, 15–30 June 2023 at Outernet London

Tottenham Court Road’s free, high-tech immersive exhibition space, Outernet, is collaborating with the National Trust for Pride month, creating a free immersive experience that brings to life parties of the past in beautiful historic places. Influenced by the queer history of four National Trust properties, Space To Have A Ball combines the history of ballroom culture with modern and contemporary dance. Outernetglobal.com

PROUD WEST END

28 June–16 July 2023 along Old Quebec Street, London

A ground-breaking audio-visual ‘living portraits’ art exhibition is coming to London in celebration of Pride 2023. Launched by Oxford Street, the free exhibition will share true spoken stories from fifteen LGBTQIA+ individuals from across the West End, including iconic drag queen Divina de Campo from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Large-scale portraits will be installed in the street for this free LGBTQ exhibition, and accompanied by candid, spoken stories accessed via QR codes. oxfordstreet.co.uk

Queer Joy Exhibition

Free, 1 June–31 August 2023, Pancras Square and Granary Square

King’s Cross’ Outside Art Project is having a Pride month makeover, displaying 50 striking portraits of queer people captured by ten emerging LGBTQIA+ photographers from the UK and abroad. kingscross.co.uk

REBEL: 30 Years Of London Fashion

16 September 2023–11 February 2024 at the Design Museum, London

Launching in conjunction with London Fashion Week 2023 and sponsored by Alexander McQueen, REBEL: 30 Years of London Fashion is the first survey of the radical creativity of young fashion designers in Britain, celebrating the influence of British design on the global fashion stage. It will also celebrate the 30th anniversary of the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN programme, which has alumni including Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, Kim Jones, Charles Jeffrey, Mary Katrantzou and Christopher Raeburn.

LGBTQ+ Audio Trail At Museum Of Liverpool [Ok, for this one we headed up to Liverpool but it was worth it!]

Ongoing – Pier Head, Liverpool L3 1DG. liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

A new audio trail, by the dynamic duo behind the Bottoming podcast, brings to life Liverpool’s rich LGBTQ+ history. Touring you through the Wondrous Place exhibit (a curation of objects from the arts, entertainment and sports where the Scouse have made history), it draws you to reexamine certain objects through a queer lense. Be drawn in by the Killing Eve costume and stay to admire the works of local campaigners who have improved the lives of LGBTQ+ Liverpudlians. 

A Previous Installation At QUEERCIRCLE

QUEERCIRCLE

North Greenwich; next round of exhibitions TBD – Building 4, Design District, 3 Barton Yard, Soames Walk, London SE10 0BN. queercircle.org

In 2022, LGBTQIA+ charity, QUEERCIRCLE, launched its new, permanent space in North Greenwich. A space for the queer community, expect artist residencies, LGBTQ exhibitions, panel discussions and a dedicated library of essential texts in a tucked-away reading nook.

Museum Of Transology

Discover more at museumoftransology.com

‘Collectively, we will halt the erasure of transcestry’: the Museum of Transology is the UK’s largest collection of object representing trans, non-binary and intersex people’s lives, consisting of 213 files, 280 artefacts, 155 brown paper tags and 435 jpgs. The collection can be viewed online, though pop-up events and talks are frequent (stay up to date on Instagram); for example, on 10 June 2023, the Museum of Transology is collaborating with Tate Britain on ‘The Intersex Collection’, where visitors are encouraged to bring their your own objects to add to the collection to ensure their legacy is also written into intersex history.

I Love Or Hate Every Day

Ongoing – On Instagram @iloveorhateeveryday

Kat Egan is turning social media on its head to explore how body issues and transness intersect in a vulnerable and honest performance. A piece of duration art (a performance focusing on the passage of time), Kat takes a daily photo for Instagram of their body to reflect on self-esteem in relation to queerness and gender. Kat is an emerging artist and one to watch for how she explores transness through the visual arts.

Queer Britain

Permanent space near King’s Cross – 2 Granary Square, London N1C 4BH. queerbritain.org.uk

The UK’s first museum of British LGBTQ history and culture opened in King’s Cross in 2022, quickly attracting acclaim and awards. Visit to tour the gallery, or keep an eye on their what’s on listings for events, exhibitions and panels. Plus, Queer Britain will be taking over King’s Cross’s Summer Sounds season on 15 August, showcasing some of the best local LGBTQ+ talent. Free, from 6.30pm, kingscross.co.uk

Desire, Love And Identity At The British Museum

Ongoing – Ongoing at the British Museum (Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG) or explore the trail online. britishmuseum.org

This 60-75 minute object trail and 30 minute trail spotlight same-sex love, desire and gender-diversity, enriched with an audio guide. From sculptures to Maori treasure, a Maya ruler to a Mesopotamian deity, this trail illuminates the world’s long-stretching queer history.

Queerate Tate

Ongoing online – tate.org.uk

This digital queer exhibition sits on the Tate website after drawing together contributions from across the globe during the pandemic – an apt representation of the digital curation the pandemic necessitated but also enabled. E-J Scott, the curator of Queerate Tate and also the Museum of Transology, says: ‘By the LGBTQIA+ community, about the LGBTQIA+ community, Queerate Tate is filled with messages of hope, love and survival that offer strength to us all in these most extraordinary times.’

Featured image: ‘Peter, Venus as a Boy’ by Kevin Anaafi-Brown, from the ARTIQ x Link’s Queer Frontiers exhibition 2022.

DATA • GLITCH • UTOPIA

Gazelli Art House 2nd June – 8th July

At Gazelli Art House, Jake Elwes has launched their first solo exhibition, Data • Glitch • Utopia. A limitless exhibition which transcends boundaries as we know them, the exhibition explores AI through a Queer perspective. Based on their research into AI and Machine Learning, Elwes exhibition explores AI, drag performance and Queer technological futures, encouraging playful, thoughtful questions about technology and the self.

SAINTS AND SINNERS

Guts Gallery, 9th June – 7th July

Staged at Guts Gallery in Hackney, Saints and Sinners is a disruptive group show by LGBTQIA+ artists that explores what it means to be Queer in the modern age. Featuring stunning photography of the ballroom scene by Ivie Bartlett, subversive paintings by Juan Arango Palacios and images of the 1970s Gay Liberation movement by Peter Hujar, it charts the societal injustices faced by LGBTQIA+ individuals and the relentless hope, unity and spirit within the community.

HARDCORE

Sadie Coles HQ, 25th May – 5th August

Curated by Sadie Coles and John O’Doherty, Hardcore is a new exhibition featuring the work of 18 artists that explores sex, intimacy and desire. Nuanced and complex, this exhibition is a loud and unapologetic exploration of sex in the modern world. Urgent, vulnerable and exhilarating, Hardcore is an essential curation that encourages viewers to question sex, the body and the mind.

DESIRE, LOVE, AND IDENTITY

British Museum, Ongoing

Dedicated to exploring LGBTQIA+ histories, The British Museum has launched a new tour around their gallery, through a series of 15 incredible artworks. Exploring Queer love, desire and gender diversity, these artworks are taken from different periods in history, from Ancient Egypt to Ancient Greece, and illustrate the worlds Queer history. Discover online or visit at the museum.

THE FLESH DISAPPEARS BUT CONTINUES TO ACHE

Stephen Friedman Gallery, June 1st – July 22nd

Sasha Gordon’s dreram-drenched exhibition The Flesh Disappears But Continues To Ache is a surreal exploration of bodies and humanity. Her works feature doppelgängers which repeat the self, over and over to examine her identity as a young, Queer, Asian-American woman. Her art is unusual and erotic and delves into the world of unconventional bodies.

MANY MIKL MEK AH MUKL

Queercircle, June 22nd – August 28th

Permanent Space, Bishopsgate Institutes Special Collections and Archies

Loosely translated to ‘Every little bit counts, persevere and eventually we will get where we want’, ‘Many Milkl Mek Ah Mukl’ is the first London show by British artist Zinzi Minott. The exhibition is an audio and visual experience, which will feature Zinott’s breathtaking filmography and large scale sculptural and aural installations. Zinott’s work explores Blackness and diaspora collectives and delves into the experiences of the Windrush generation.

A truly one-of-a-kind space, the Museum of Transology is a remarkable collection of objects that explores the lives of trans, non-binary and intersex people. The museum is dedicated to re-writing history, ensuring that the lives, stories and truths of trans, non-binary and intersex people are told, honoured and represented.

BUFFALO: FUTURE GENERATION

Ladbroke Hall, 29th June – Saturday 15th July

Opening later this month, Buffalo: Future Generation by Jamie Morgan is a photography project that explores the radical Buffalo style movement that was born in Ladbroke Grove in the ‘80s. Buffalo style charted the explosion of multiculturalism in the UK; it explored clashes between gender, age and cultural stereotypes. Morgan is known for his rejection of gender binaries over his life-long photography career and has photographed everyone from Boy George to Kate Moss. His iconic images feature a relentless celebration of gender fluidity. This exhibition chronicles life in contemporary Britain and is an all-out celebration of youth, diversity and identity.