sign in sign up
<<
Home , Andrew Logan, Blitz Kids, Duggie Fields, Helen Terry, Poju Zabludowicz, The End (club)

The Neo Naturists 8 July – 28 August 2016 The Neo Naturists are a performance art group founded in 1981 by Christine Introduction Binnie, Jennifer Binnie and Wilma Johnson. The group emerged from a subculture – connected with but not limited to the club scene – which developed in against a backdrop of intense eco- nomic, political and social change. In the aftermath of punk, and at the advent of the rise of Thatcherism, a vigorous creative energy developed in the UK which sat outside of mainstream culture, creating its own network of agents, economies, activities and events.

The Neo Naturists were a part of a wide constellation of diverse cultural figures and sometime collaborators, which included BodyMap (David Holah & Stevie Stewart), James Birch, , Jill Bruce, Michael Clark, David Dawson, Peter Doig, Simon Foxton, , , Princess Julia, Bruce Lacey, Andrew Logan, Marilyn, John Maybury, Maia Norman, Grayson Perry, Psychic TV, Philip Sallon, Test Department, Jill Westwood, Dencil Williams and Cerith Wyn Evans.

We used to go to and do performances wearing body paint. Sometimes the performance would be the act of painting each other, sometimes we’d have the paint on already. All the people around us were Blitz Kids doing all that post-punk stuff when it was very trendy to be thin, po-faced and have perfect make-up. We could never really manage that. We were always red and shiny and smiling, and a bit too fat. So we did the opposite and painted ourselves, got i Christine Binnie interviewed by messy and had fun.i Suzanne Cotter, 8 June 2009, Michael Clark, Violette Editions, 2011 The group was established organically. While Christine Binnie and Wilma Johnson had been experimenting at St Martin’s School of Art with body painting as a way of expanding beyond the canvas, Jennifer Binnie and Grayson Perry were making parallel experiments at Portsmouth Polytechnic, using body paint as a means to explore body image and identity. United by a belief in the radical and subversive potential of body painting, the Neo Naturists took these private experiments to clubs and parties, one of their first official such performances being at the Wedgies in the Kings Road in 1980. These public appearances quickly developed into more formal- ised parts of the group’s artistic practices.

In their performances, the Neo Naturists fused an idea of the liberating potential of ancient, pagan ritual with an unabashedly lo-fi, contemporary vernacular. Their performances at nightclubs, galleries, festivals and un- announced site-specific events celebrated a particular kind of anarchic innocence and deliberate primitivism. Wearing little more than body paint, the group achieved a unique artistic voice, one which contrasted with the highly polished aesthetic prevalent in the New Romantic club scene. In a cultural landscape that was decidedly slick, urban and modern, the Neo Naturists’ work made frequent references to the English pastoral and homely pursuits such as camping, girl guiding and harvest festivals; in later works, themes of seasonal cycles, fertility cults and the pattern of death and re- birth become more pronounced.

Black Rapport Day, Thames Beach, Wapping 17 July 1982 Rough edged, consciously unfashionable and unprofessional, the wilfully amateur ideal of the Neo Naturists and their practice can be located within the traditions of punk and bricolage. Their performances and actions were never rehearsed; a schedule would often be discussed just hours before- hand, with props sourced and produced last minute. This refusal to be slick was indicative of the group’s determination for their practice not to be neatly packaged: a deeply non-commercial position. As Grayson Perry remarked, ‘Christine never capitalised on Neo Naturism. It was frowned upon to optim- ise the career chances of things, she never repeated things and she never

2 3 compromised on the un-entertainingness of it. She wasn’t one to have a In the sharp-edged, power-dressed, ruthlessly professional climate of the rehearsed show – she thought that would be selling out to do a rehearsal The Neo Naturists: Thatcherite early 1980s, the Neo Naturists were an incongruous presence. because that would smell of entertainment’. A Continuing Story The ideal of female nudity was buffed, honed and depilated. The art world was dominated by macho neo-expressionist figuration and heavy duty theor- In the Neo Naturists’ performances, the body was both spectacle in itself, by ising; performance art was strictly off the radar. Even the emerging post- and metaphor for the social body. Presenting the nude, painted body with punk, New Romantic club-land where the Neo Naturists found their early an almost Edenic lack of embarrassment, their performances were “body- home was a place of straight-faced posing in elaborate costumes and positive” and celebratory. Though negotiating gender and sexuality, the group’s immaculately-applied makeup, with excess and exuberance only encouraged performances did not present explicit eroticism (although the group were amongst cross-dressing males. sometimes booked by venues in the misguided hope of such). The Neo Naturists' employment of the naked body was more aligned with and remin- Not that any of this deterred the Neo Naturists. The unsympathetic climate iscent of the of the 1960s and its experiments in alternative instead only provided them with a greater incentive to devise performances living. This return to a kind of Utopianism and innocence diverged from and events that flew in the face of convention. Their unashamedly volup- both the increasingly commodified, ‘sexually packaged’ body promoted in tuous naked bodies and their seriously playful rituals (revolving around the 80s, and the conservative moral backlash towards it, in the shape of a cooking, eating and female bodily functions) cocked a good-humoured proposed return to ‘family values’. snook at both the earnestly exquisite dandyism of et al, and the streamlined pneumatic amazons of Helmut Newton. Instead of the This exhibition offers an opportunity to experience a significant selection of cool sounds of new wave or synth-pop, Neo Naturist performances were the Neo Naturists’ extraordinary practice first hand. In doing so, we hope accompanied by records sourced from charity shops – Middle of the Road’s the exhibition promotes a wider recognition of the importance of the group’s Chirpy-Chirpy Cheep-Cheep and the then-outrageously unfashionable ABBA work and approach, which remain as sharply radical and affective in the being particular favourites. present moment as thirty years ago. This publication has been produced as an introductory guide to the works and material on display. Louisa Buck "Neo Naturists are not interested in making themselves look like some- has contributed an enlightening essay positioning the Neo Naturists’ prac- thing else; they want to look like Neo Naturists” declared the group’s tice within a wider context. The booklet also includes a guide to key perfor- co-founder Christine Binnie in a wry 1985 manifesto, published in the mance and moving image works. magazine. In the same manifesto, Binnie defined Neo Naturism as being “casual to the point of excess” and the belief that We would like to take this opportunity to thank Arts Council England, i ‘Neo Naturists Manifesto’, “gorgeousness is the ultimate intelligence”i But undoubtedly the most The Henry Moore Foundation and Thomas Dane for their generous fin- International Times, v.86, n.3, 26 important element of the Neo Naturist ‘look’ was the way in which their March – 24 April 1985, p.1 ancial support, which has enabled the largest presentation of the Neo bared bodies were transformed into living art works by the expert painting Naturists’ work to date. Our special gratitude goes to Yana and Stephen techniques of the group’s other co-founders, Jennifer Binnie (Christine’s Peel for supporting the A Night with the Neo Naturists at the Institute of sister) and Wilma Johnson. Nearly three decades later Christine is keen to Contemporary Arts, London. Thanks also to James Birch, Louisa Buck, emphasise that “Jen and Wilma’s unique and marvellous painting skills are Jane England, William Fowler, John Maybury, , Grayson Perry, a very important part of Neo Naturism: they could – and can – very quickly Patrick Shier, Katharine Stout, Rob Tuffnell, Jill Westwood and Callum cover a body in proper painting, not just smears. It is never ‘make up’ but Whitley. Finally, our warmest thanks go to Christine Binnie, Jennifer Binnie ii Christine Binnie, interview with the always done in a very painterly way."ii and Wilma Johnson for their tireless involvement and generosity in the author, 25 April 2016 development of this exhibition. A crucial element that underpinned Neo-Naturism was what Christine de- iii Christine Binnie, quoted in Andrew scribed as her and Jennifer’s “sensible girl upbringing”iii in rural Sussex, Wilson ‘Grayson Perry: ‘General Artist’’ where their mother was a Girl Guide Leader and bastion of the village choir in Grayson Perry, Guerrilla Tactics, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 2002, and Women’s Institute. One of the things that Christine and Jennifer first p.80 found appealing about Wilma Johnson was that they all “had Mums who were into knitting, weaving and crafts and lived in houses filled with carrier iv Christine Binnie, interview with the bags of wool.”iv It was this strangely irresistible combination of quasi- author, 25 April 2016 anthropological primitivism and sixties let-it-all-hang out hippy-dom with a benignly British aesthetic of village fete, camper stove and bring-and-buy, which made the Neo Naturists so unique. As Christine observed, “even though we were completely naked on stage and with a very tight time limit, we could v Christine Binnie, in The Neo still make a very nice Scottish pancake!”.v Naturists, England & Co, 2007, p.13 Appropriately for a group that set so much store by informality and spon- taneity, the Neo Naturists had no official start point (or indeed end date). Christine remembers writing “the Neo Naturists were born today!” in her diary on 24 October 1981, but this only referred to their name, a knowing reference to punk’s much-discussed flirtation with Neo-Nazism but which was inspired by Christine’s genuine admiration for the naked German punks vi vi Christine Binnie, interview with the she observed on a trip to Berlin. For by this time the naked, body painted author, 25 April 2016 performances of Christine, Jennifer and Wilma were a familiar occurrence in the burgeoning London club scene, at Blitz in , Le Beat Route

4 5 in Soho, and a wide range of other venues, from the Spanish Anarchist Asso- intense period of Neo Naturist activity, with Jennifer and Wilma producing ciation at one end of the cultural spectrum and the socialite Dai Llewellyn’s emphatically ritualistic, stylised paintings and Perry increasingly focusing Wedgies in the Kings Road at the other. on making pottery, having been taken to adult education ceramics classes by Christine. Other Crowndale Road occupants included Marilyn (soon to be Satirists of the post-punk London scene, the Neo Naturists were none- a pop star himself), as well as Wyn Evans, Sophie Muller and Angus Cook, theless at the centre of it. Having completed a ceramics diploma at who styled themselves together as ‘International Film and Video’. The Eastbourne College of Art, where she was influenced by the surprising fluid community in and around thesquat also encompassed David Holah number of tutors interested in Fluxus and , Christine had and Stevie Stewart of BodyMap, the artist Firewolf, DJ Princess Julia, and arrived in London in the late 70s. Her first jobs in the city were as a life the aforementioned Maybury. While many of the above were regular or model at Ravensbourne art college and as an attendant at the Hayward occasional participants in Neo Naturist activities (as was Jennifer’s dog, Gallery – where the 1979 Hayward annual, curated by and Prince), the nucleus of the group remained the triumvirate of Christine, featuring performances by Bobby Baker, Anne Bean, Cosey Fanni Tutti and Jennifer and Wilma. Sylvia Ziranek made a particular impression – and later at the Tate Gallery in Millbank. Her fellow guards at the Tate included St Martin’s School of From the beginning, the Neo Naturists were a regular and conspicuous pres- Art students Cerith Wyn Evans and Holly Warburton (both to become film ence at many of the key counter-cultural events of the 80s. They took part artists of note) and through them she met and befriended Wilma Johnson, in the 1982 Faerie Fayre in Norfolk organised by artist and performer Bruce who was studying painting at St Martin’s. Lacey and his wife Jill Bruce – visiting lecturers at Portsmouth who were major influences on Jennifer’s work and thereby on the Neo-Naturists. The Wilma decided to use Christine as her ‘personal life model’, but on discov- radical dancer and choreographer Michael Clark collaborated with the Neo ering a mutual interest in performance art was soon applying paint directly Naturists on Sexist Crabs, a performance incorporating an abundance of onto her friend’s body, and then her own. As Wilma recalls, “I swapped my seafood taped on to performers, which fused Christine’s keen reading of Flesh Tint oil paint for some blue and gold body paint and transformed her the aquatic evolutionary theories of Elaine Morgan’s Descent of Woman into a voluptuous version of Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus, with the help of (1972) with an oblique riff on pejorative descriptions of female genitalia, a feather boa I happened to be wearing”.vii At that time, the fine art and vii Wilma Johnson, in The Neo and memorably provided the grand finale to Clark’s The Artless Dodge fashion departments at St. Martin’s freely mingled; dressing up was man- Naturists, England & Co, 2007, at the Riverside Studios in November 1983. The group enacted Flambé datory. Christine and Wilma were soon experimenting with different styles op cit p.13 your Brassiere at a Parachute and Body Map fashion show in the Chelsea of body painting, with faces, handprints or trompe l’oeil clothes painted Barracks in 1985, cooked fish fingers and cavorted in paddling pools at directly onto their skin. Taking their provocative new look out to the clubs the 1984 launch of Derek Jarman’s Dancing Ledge book, and frequently in the evenings, Christine said, they “were really shocked at how shocked participated in the flamboyant activities of sculptor and counter-cultural everyone was – it seemed to be something to do with appearing naked, impresario Andrew Logan, from his Alternative Miss World extravaganzas yet body painted, not sexually packaged, yet enjoying ourselves”.viii viii Christine Binnie, interview with the to spending several days cooking and rock painting alongside his mirrored author, 25 April 2016 and in The Neo Cosmic Egg sculpture in Portland, Dorset. Naturists, England & Co, op cit p13 In 1980 Christine was sharing a derelict squat in Carburton Street in Fitzrovia with a pre- Boy George and his friend, and fellow New Romantic There were many impromptu public Neo Naturist events: Christine being Blitz Kid, Marilyn. She’d set up a short lived, word-of-mouth café in a nearby photographed by Wilma as she flashed her face painted body in the galleries derelict Lewis Leathers shop which she named The Coffee Spoon, after of the British Museum or in the streets of Soho, and the now notorious T. S. Eliot’s line ‘I have measured out my life with coffee spoons’ from ‘The Swimming and Walking Experiment, with the lavishly decorated Wilma, Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock’ (1915). There was a basic menu, a type- Jennifer and Christine (and Prince the Dog) cavorting in the fountains of the writer for anyone to hammer out their creations on and also occasional Centre Point building on New Oxford Street, until the police put an end to cabaret evenings. One of these included a performance by Jennifer, who the performance. In 1985 the trio even appeared on Noel Edmunds’ BBC was studying painting at Portsmouth Polytechnic, and her fellow student television show The Time of Your Life alongside David Attenborough and and then-boyfriend Grayson Perry, which saw Perry – in one of his earliest Desmond Morris. public forays as a transvestite – driving his motorbike into the café dressed as the TV cook Fanny Craddock, with Jennifer in biker gear as Craddock’s As the 80s art world started to expand, the Neo Naturists also performed husband Johnny, and culminating in the two flambéing bananas on a Baby an increasing number of live events in art galleries, most notably a mem- Belling stove. orable week long residency at David Dawson’s B2 Gallery in Wapping in 1982, during which an expanded group of Neo Naturists enacted a different The Neo Naturists frequently overlapped in their activities, both with each theme daily, including a ‘Five Minute Macbeth’, an ‘Art Day’(when an array other and with those beyond their group. At the same time as Christine of artists were invited to use their bodies as living canvases) and a ‘Black and Wilma were painting faces on their flesh or highlighting parts of Rapport Day’, instigated in large part by regular Neo Naturist Dencil Williams. their bodies in different colours in London, at Portsmouth, Jennifer was Whenever Jennifer and Wilma had solo exhibitions of their own paintings, independently making photographs and Super-8 films in which she and they would invariably make the opening a vociferous Neo Naturist perform- sometimes Perry appeared adorned with psychedelic body paint. Likewise, ance mocking the art world pretensions of the ‘Private View’, with particip- along with Wyn Evans, another regular at the Coffee Spoon and clubs ants posing naked but for high heels, body paint or cocktail dresses made like Blitz was budding film maker John Maybury, who featured many Neo from Sellotape. For the launch of her 1985 solo show at James Birch’s gallery, Naturists in his films. The individuals and activities of these various milieux Jennifer rode naked and unadorned on a white horse down the King’s Road. became even more intermingled when, early in 1983, Christine, Jennifer and Perry all moved into a squat in Crowndale Road in Camden, which By of the 80s the original core trio of Neo Naturists had physically they occupied until 1986. This highly creative period marked the most dispersed. The Crowndale Road squat closed in 1986 and Jennifer, who

6 7 had by then parted from Perry, settled with Wilf Rogers in East Sussex, where their son was born in 1987. She continues to work as an artist. Key Works Christine remained in London and took a degree in Anthropology but still makes ceramics. Wilma left London for a year in Mexico in 1987, then spent ten years in an Irish fishing village before moving to Biarritz where she now lives, paints and writes. Yet the Neo Naturists continued to perform, largely under Christine’s direction. but with Jennifer still frequently contrib- uting her painting skills, her body and her love of nature. An expanded and shifting cast of collaborators and fellow travellers included the artists Liz Finch, Mary Lemley and Genesis P Orridge, Perry’s new partner (and wife-to- be) Philippa and the designer Maia Norman. The performances increasingly reflected Christine’s interest in feminism and tribal customs. “They became more primal and ritualistic and less mediated by painting, artiness and Ye Olde Englishness”, she remembers.ix ix Christine Binnie, in conversation with the author, 25 April 2016 Yet Neo Naturism never relinquished its sense of fun, nor its ability to prov-oke. This was amply confirmed when the original trio reconvened in June 2012 to run a well-attended ‘Neo Naturist life class’ at the ’s Wide Open School, described as “a performative soup of participation, paint and art.”x In 2014, Christine and early Neo Naturist x Leaflet for 'Neo Naturist life class', stalwart Jill Westwood, accompanied by a violin-playing Jennifer, made The Wide Open School, Hayward a dramatic appearance at Andrew Logan’s Alternative Miss World at Gallery, London, 2 June 2012 London’s Globe Theatre, for which a resplendently be-frocked Grayson Perry was the compere. Dubbing themselves ‘Miss Marina Psychopomp of the Counter-Intuitive Homeostasis’ – a characteristically satirical side- swipe at reigning performance art superstar Marina Abramovic´ – the trio outraged the dressed-to-the-nines audience and fellow participants alike by first appearing on stage in downbeat jeans and T-shirts. After a costume change, they reproduced this ordinary garb in body paint, before changing for a final parade into – shock, horror! – the most conventional of real underwear: flesh-coloured Spanx pants and pristine white support bras. Christine may state that “Neo Naturists are looking forward to being body- painted octogenarians”,xi but it can be guaranteed they will only do so on xi ‘Neo Naturists Manifesto’, their own terms. International Times, op cit and Christine Binnie, in conversation with the author, 25 April 2016

1

1 Swimming and Walking Experiment, Centre Point Fountains, Tottenham Court Road, London, August 1984.

8 9 Coffee Spoon Café Poems In the summer of 1980, Christine peers, including screenings by film Wannock Weekend Wannock Weekend shows Christine Evoking the spirit of Romanticism Binnie and her friend Guy Thomson students John Maybury and Cerith Binnie, Jennifer Binnie, Wilma associated with British artists 1980 opened a temporary café in a dere- Wyn Evans; Flambé Bananas, a May 1980 Johnson, Grayson Perry, Cerith Wyn William Blake and Samuel Palmer lict shop next to the squat Christine performance by Jennifer Binnie and Evans and an extended group on a and the pastoral surrealism of was living in on Carburton Street, Grayson Perry; and poetry events weekend at the Binnies’ childhood Cecil Collins, the bucolic English Fitzrovia. Named the Coffee Spoon where guests would write poems on home in Wannock, East Sussex. countryside and rural Sussex in Café after T.S. Elliot’s line ‘I have an old typewriter to be read aloud to particular was a large influence on measured out my life with coffee each other. The English countryside provides the Neo Naturists and key to their spoons’, the café hosted events the backdrop to the film’s depiction combination of ‘English village fête and happenings for a network of key of a group of friends eating cream practicality with Girl Guide common teas and frolicking in chalk pits sense, idealism, the spirit and the South Downs. Wannock is of love, a child-like innocence and in close proximity to Charleston, amateurism, all in a post-punk the home and country meeting context’.i place of the Bloomsbury Group, and the the film’s free-thinking, i Andrew Wilson, Grayson Perry Guerilla Tactics, Netherlands Architecture Institute, bohemian protagonists can be 2002. seen as channeling something of that movement’s implanting of radicalism and queerness in the countryside. Attention to queer and female sexuality runs through the film. At one point, Christine Binnie 2 simulates sex with The Long Man of Wilmington a hill figure carved into the steep slopes of Windover Hill – an action at once comic and quasi-ritualistic.

2 Sack Dress at 1980s Party, Cerith Wyn Evans modeling sack dress, Chagford , London, 31 January 1980.

3 Paper Dress at the Embassy Club with Boy George as Brittania, The Coffee Spoon Embassy Club, London, 3 4 5 September 1980.

4 Wannock Weekend, Wannock, East Sussex, 8 May 1980. Courtesy of the Neo Naturists Archive and BFI Archive

10 11 The Forest Jennifer Binnie appears in this film concerns with gender and identity The Private View In this early Standard 8 film, Christine a private view, posturing and posing in a man’s three-piece suit, cutting and ideas around nature, ritual Binnie, Jennifer Binnie and Wilma while looking at Wilma’s paintings. 1981 open the breast of a paganistic and performance. The soundtrack 1981 Johnson can be seen painted in Towards the end of the film, Jennifer painted sculpture in some Sussex features A Forest (1980), an early abstract colourful body paint in and Wilma break their pseudo serious- woodland, bringing together single by The Cure. Wilma’s parents snow-covered ness and freely dance around in the garden. The film shows the artists snow, imprinting their multi-coloured playing out the social conventions of bodies onto the white ground.

5

7

Don't you want me baby This Super 8 film features Jennifer paint, an early example of body Binnie and Grayson Perry hanging painting before it became a fully 1982 out in a suburban café, eating chips, cemented component of the Neo smoking cigarettes and playing Naturists’ practice. The film’s title music on a juke box. The film is is drawn from its soundtrack – Don’t interspersed with flashes of Jennifer You Want Me (1981), an early synth- enthusiastically dancing in body pop hit by The Human League.

6 5 The Forest, 1981. Courtesy of the Neo Naturists Archive and BFI Archive

Autumn in Folkington This film by Jennifer Binnie drew and performance, as well as 6 Autumn in Folkington, 1981. Courtesy of influence from Bruce Lacey and Jennifer’s fascination with nature the Neo Naturists Archive and BFI Archive 1981 Jill Bruce, who had performed at and spirituality. One scene sees 7 The Private View, Highgate, London, 1981. Portsmouth Polytechnic when she the outline of Jennifer’s body being Courtesy of the Neo Naturists Archive was studying. The film features painted directly onto the floor of the and BFI Archive Jennifer in some Sussex woodland landscape, a gesture which would 8 Don't you want me baby, 1982. covered in red body paint, and be repeated in a later work, Neo Courtesy of the Neo Naturists Archive reveals an early interest in ritual Naturist Epic (1983–). 8 and BFI Archive.

12 13 Flashing in the British Christine Binnie and Wilma As a way of covering their painted May Day Performance For their performance at Centro Christine recollects that Whitehouseiii Johnson began working with bodies in between performances Iberico, a squatted Spanish anarch- were also playing at the venue that Museum, The British body paint whilst Wilma was a and venues, Wilma made floor- Centro Iberico, Notting Hill ist centre in Notting Hill, the group evening and their fans, who made Museum, London student at Central St Martins. length fake fur coats for each of the & , painted themselves with Communist up a large part of the audience, took 1982 Wilma documented a number of group. The coats also enabled the 1982 style uniforms. They held placards the performance very seriously, and these formative experiments with group to experiment with covertly bearing portraits of themselves seemed rather confused. staged photographs of Christine. wearing body paint in more open sketched by Jennifer Binnie and At roughly the same time, Jennifer public spaces, Christine and Wilma parodic 'Chinese' versions of their The same performance was repeated Binnie and Grayson Perry were having become bored of the studio names, including MA-SON and JEN- later that evening at The Fridge, a also experimenting with body and wanting to perform in the SU-BIN. nightclub in Brixton. On this occa- painting while they were studying in daylight. sion, the audience’s reaction was Portsmouth. The performance began with the Neo of aggressive hostility, particularly One of the outings that followed Naturists goose-stepping into the in reaction to the inclusion of male was to the British Museum, where room to a recording of the Red Army nudity; the group were removed Christine flashed amongst the Choir. Cerith Wyn Evans then gave offstage by security halfway through ancient artifacts. This was one of a reading from Chairman Mao’s the performance. the group’s first experiments in Little Red Book, while on stage the making unannounced, site-specific performers made pseudo-political ii Grayson Perry, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl, Wendy Jones. performances. gestures and smashed a plaster iii Whitehouse were a pioneering English poodle. Grayson Perry remembers: power electronic band formed in 1980, an important part of the industrial music We were cavorting and having a scene. very good time, with no political message involved, but when we goose stepped out of the room at the end of the record there was a dead silence. There were around a hundred anarchists in the audience as well as some punks and they all hated it, not one of them clapped…ii

9 Flashing in the British Museum, Christine Binnie body painted and photographed by Wilma Johnson, British Museum London, 3 March 1982.

10 Neo Naturists, Andrew Logan's Alternative 9 Miss World at Olympia, 1981. 10

14 15 Pink Punk Yoga Neo Naturist performances were never rehearsed. Instead, a schedule Performance would be discussed with plans and The Fridge, Brixton drawing made, as well as shopping 1982 lists for props and materials drawn up. Although not many plans for the performances survive, those for Pink Punk Yoga Performance are relatively complete.

The initial idea for this work was ‘an anarchic exploration of everyday actions and ritual action, ‘common sense’ and nudity, and a celebration of our bodies.’iv The performance’s combination of two seemingly disparate elements – punk and yoga – attempts to highlight a shift in popular culture from hippy ideals of love and peace to the angst and anarchy associated with punk. Christine recalls being interested in the outfits worn by people who went to places like the Pineapple Dance Center and would practice yoga, recalling: “Skin tight lycra was new then, it was intriguing that people walked around wearing that, but wouldn't be seen dead naked. 13 Those clothes, and that pink and black colour scheme, were also worn a lot by punks.”

iv Christine Binnie, The Neo Naturists, Live-in Performance One of the most ambitious Neo large roped-off bed in the middle England & Co, 2007 Naturist events took place in July of the gallery. Audience and parti- B2 Gallery & Thames 1982 and involved 15 people living cipants included Derek Jarman, Beach, Wapping in the nude at David Dawson’s B2 Duggie Fields, Bruce Lacey, John 1982 Gallery for five days, sleeping in a Maybury and Andrew Logan. Every 11 day had a different theme: Private View Day, Fashion Day, Macbeth Day, Black Rapport Day and Punk Day. Black Rapport Day, which heavily featured Dencil Williams, involved the participants painting themselves in black body paint and only consuming black food and drink, such as black pudding, black olives, black bread, burnt food and Guinness.

11 Pink Punk Yoga Performance, The Fridge, Brixton, 10 June 1982.

12 Ibid.

13 Black Rapport Day, Thames Beach Wapping, 17 July 1982 (Jennifer Binnie, Wilma Johnson, Nico Holah and Bruce Lacey).

14 Ibid. 12 14

16 17 Sexist Crabs …An adolescent shocker in which The dancer and choreographer three hefty women appeared nude Michael Clark invited the Neo 1983 onwards but for crustaceans sellotaped to Naturists to perform with him their loins.v as part of his first production at London’s Riverside Studios. The Ritual eating is a recurring element Artless Dodge, Michael Clark with in the Neo Naturists’ performances, The Neo Naturist Cabaret & Friends with food often cooked on a calor- was their first collaboration. For gas hob and then fed to audience this iteration of Sexist Crabs, the members, evoking equally the cere- group painted scales onto their mony of communion and the world legs and sellotaped them together, of Girl guideing. Sexist Crabs was transforming themselves into mer- one such performance, debuting at maids. Cerith Wyn Evans performed The Zap Club, Brighton in June 1983 with a squid sellotaped to his front. and revisited multiple times. During the performance, more sea- food was stuck to the performers and distributed to the audience, while Clark danced around them with prawns stuffed into his fishnet tights.

v Unknown source, Neo Naturist archive

17

Neo Naturist Epic This series of unfinished films bears In the scenes of the group drawing 1983 onwards a characteristically Neo Naturist mix around each other directly onto of the serious and the ironic, express- the rocks of Portland quarry, the ing earnest concerns with about group chose luminous paint for contemporary society in a slightly its modern, even punk-like look, lowbrow comedic style, reminiscent to disrupt the natural or primitive of the Carry On films (1958–92). connotations of painting onto rock. The group were influenced by the Moving away from canvas to body, writings of evolutionary anthro- rocks, animals, etc, the Neo 15 pologist Elaine Morgan and her Naturist approach to painting is “aquatic ape” hypothesis – i.e. apparent here as an attempt to that the evolutionary ancestors of connect with and celebrate the modern humans spent a period environment. Evoking ancient cave of time adapting to a semiaquatic painting, it also repositions the existence – a theory which in works (female) body within history and in 15 Sexist Crabs, The Zap Club, The Royal like The Descent of Women (1972) the landscape. Escape, Brighton, 1 June 1983. grounded some of the first claims 16 Sexist Crabs and The Cosmic Egg, about the the pivotal role of women Portland Bill Quarry and Sculpture Park, in human evolution. In the film we Portland, Yorkshire, 1 August 1983. see the Neo Naturist protagonists 17 Sexist Crabs, The Zap Club, The Royal cavorting at the beach and cooking Escape, Brighton, 1 June 1983. 16 fish over a stove.

18 19 Mermaids with Marilyn The Neo Naturists were invited by Upper crust types choked on their Andrew Logan to perform at an cocktails as the – two shapely Henley Regatta, arts festival following the Henley sisters – peeled off and began Henley-on-Thames Regatta. The group’s attendance at PAINTING each other’s bodies. As 1984 the event with singer Marilyn, along the girls began performing in the with the sight of naked body painted exclusive stewards enclosure a women, attracted significant tabloid blushing copper discreetly ushered attention. them into a nearby refreshment tent. Men in dinner jackets and women wearing expensive ball gowns stared open-mouthed as the pair coated themselves in green and silver paint and sticky tape to “look like fish.” The Sun, 9 July 1984

18

18 Cro Magnon Woman, Film Show and Performance Flyer, B2 Gallery, Wapping, London, 13 February 1983.

19 Sellotape dresses with Marilyn, Crowndale Road, 1984.

20 The Sun, Monday, 9 July 1984. 19 20

20 21 Swimming and Walking Following their experience with Flambé your Brassiere, Simon Foxton had invited the Neo models and parade up and down Marilyn at the Henley Regatta, the Naturists to perform as a part of a with our ordinary clothes on – Experiment, Centre Point group wanted to test further the Duke of York Barracks, catwalk show for the fashion label it’s a gorgeous experience. We Fountains, Tottenham effects of being nude in more public Chelsea Parachute. The group were told that take our clothes off as we walk Court Road, London settings. This performance took 1985 they could do whatever they wished along, and then start painting. place in the fountains at the foot and the disruptive performance We get bored and get into the 1984 of the iconic Centre Point Building, which ensued caused shock and audience and pretend Wilma is one of the first skyscrapers in upset, according to one press report, an unawares audience member, central London. At the time, there with publicist Lynne Franks said to we drag her on stage and make had been a number of stories in the have watch in tears as the group her join in. To start with we paint press about streakers at football ‘trashed the stage’.vii sexy underwear on and all swagger games. Christine Binnie was struck up and down the catwalk several by the fact that in such stories the It’s nearly time to start and Wilma times, then print on the backdrop streakers generally ran away from quickly paints some sexy under- then sellotape Wilma’s bra to the the police, but were inevitably still wear on to Jen. The fashion models backdrop and write; FLAMBÉ YOUR arrested. ‘I thought it would be gawp and enjoy the display. We BRASSIERE. Then paint fashions good to experiment with turning put our kit on the catwalk and like the models onto our bodies. and facing the police and seeing take our positions sitting in the (The models seem to enjoy it). Out what happened. Also we were not audience, with our ordinary clothes comes the coloured porridge. A few very good at running and wouldn’t on. The performance started with prints and a few venus signs have got very far, it seemed very us clambering onto the catwalk, AND suddenly it’s the end.viii uncivilised to run away’.vi In the just after the show had started á ensuing Swimming and Walking la feminist protest beauty contest vii Unknown press cutting from the Neo Naturist archive, possibly I-D or The Face. Experiment, the performers style. It was like a dream come vii Christine Binnie, A Day in the Life of A avoided arrest, but did have an true being able to jump onto the Neo Naturist, Performance, 1985. extended discussion with a passing catwalk with all those glamorous policeman about the difference between indecent exposure and insulting behaviour.

vi Christine Binnie, Neo Naturist archive 21

Existentialists Macbeth During this performance at The after they had been slaughtered for Fridge nightclub, Christine, Jennifer winter as a ritually prepation for the for Halloween and Wilma paint themselves in a cold months. During the event, the The Fridge, Brixton tartan pattern, invoking the witches performers recalled this pseudo- 1985 in Macbeth. The group were inspired tradition by themselves burning by the speculative origin of the word bones on a calor gas stove, creating bonfire as “bone fire”, an ancient a noxious smell and setting off the tradition of burning animal bones venue’s fire alarms.

21 Swimming and Walking Experiment, Centre Point Fountains, Tottenham Court Road, London, August 1984.

22 Swimming and Walking Experiment, Centre Point Fountains, Tottenham Court 22 Road, London, August 1984.

22 23 Art for Money Be Aggressive Art for Money was created by Michael Easter Chicks The Neo Naturists performed Easter and gave out Easter eggs’. The group B.E Aggressive Clark for the gala Save The Wells, Chicks… at Andrew Logan’s Easter sang the refrain 'He was despised Michael Clark, The Royal B.E.A.G.G.R.E.S.S.I.V.E. held at the Royal Opera House in Performance at Andrew Party. For the performance, the and rejected' throughout, a Biblical Opera House, London OOOHH UM GOWER aid of Sadler’s Wells Theatre. Clark’s Logan’s Easter Party group ‘painted on lacy underwear, line found in Handel’s Messiah 1986 WE GOT THE POWERix production featured an appearance The Glasshouse, made a nest from shredded paper, (1741), and which Christine and by performance artist Leigh Bowery crucified a chicken, rolled hard Jennifer Binnie had learned in as well as the Neo Naturists, whose Worship Street, London boiled eggs on our bodies, drank Jevington Church Choir as children. performance involved body painted 1988 Bitter to symbolise our bitterness, cheerleaders chanting “money money money”.

ix Part of the Neo Naturist’s chat during 'Art for Money, A Day in the Life of A Neo Naturist', Performance magazine issue 37

23

25

23 Body Painted Cheerleaders, with Michael Clark, , London, 1985.

24 Neo Naturist Cheer Leaders, with Leigh Bowery and Michael Clark, Royal Opera House, London, 9 February 1986.

25 Easter Chicks Performance, Andrew Logans Easter Party, 1 April 1988.

26 Opening a shopping centre in the Kings 24 Road with Andrew Logan, London, 1988. 26

24 25 Mother's Day Performance, From 1987 Christine and Jennifer bags. In turn, the fish were used to 27 Mother's Day Performance, Cave of Desire Binnie continued the Neo Naturists make kedgeree, which was cooked presented by Psychic TV, , London, 5 March 1989. Cave of Desire in a more sporadic manner, with and fed to bewildered clubbers. Heaven, London a changing cast of members. Taking place on Mother’s Day, the 28 Many Breasted Godess, Sacred Red Ochre 1989 Though they continued to perform performance was intended to cele- sow, Criminal Justice Bill March, Hyde rituals, household tasks, cooking, brate maternity and ‘invoke that Park, 24 July 1994. x singing and giving communion, aspect of the Goddess.' Towards 29 Many Breasted Godess, Sacred Red Ochre during this time themes of seasonal the end of this documentation of sow, Criminal Justice Bill March, Hyde celebrations, the planet’s annual the performance, a member of the Park, 24 July 1994. cycle, and death and rebirth crowd tells the group that they were assumed increasing significance disgusted by the performance; for the group and their practice. A the Neo Naturists seem unfazed per-formance which formed part of by this reaction and discuss how Cave of Desire presented by Psychic increasingly moralistic the young TV, taking place at the gay club have become, calling the woman a Heaven, featured bags of fish in 'child of Thatcher'. water sellotaped to the bodies of the performers, who then ‘birthed’ x Christine Binnie in conversation with the fish by extracting them from the Jessica Vaughan, 2016

28

27 29

26 27 Selected Neo Naturist Performances Selected Neo Naturist Exhibitions Everyone Who’s Ever Been and Events and Screenings a Neo Naturist (1979 to 2005)

1980 The Blitz Easter Communion, The Blitz, London 1987 Valentines Day Performance, The Fallen Angel, 1983 Cro Magnon Woman, Neo Naturist Film Show Christine Binnie, Jennifer Binnie, Wilma Johnson, Wilf Rogers, Dencil Islington, London and Performance, B2 Gallery, London Williams, Grayson Perry, Jimmy Trendy, Trindy’s friend, David Holah, Nico 1981 Psychedelic Body Paint (St Martins Alternative Fashion Show), Salad Performance, Pyramid, Heaven, London Holah, Ellis O’Neil, Cerith Wyn Evans, Michael Clark, Bruce Lacey, Paula Central St Martins, London 2006 The Secret Public – The Last Days of the British Underground Haugney, Mi Mi Tin Maung, Helen Terry, William Coley Moore, Firewolf, Andrew Logan’s Alternative Miss World, Olympia, London 1988 Communion with Christine, The Diorama, London 1978–1988, Kunstverein Munchen, Munich Jill Westwood, Michelle Sinnott, Raven Sinnott, Rufus Goddard, Magnus Easter Chicks Performance at Andrew Logan’s Easter Party, The B2 Gallery, My Dead Gallery by the Centre of Attention, Rogers, Kath Campbell, Kath’s friend, Penny Marlow, Lizzy Johnson, 1982 Little Swiss Misses Cabaret, The Beat Route, London Andrew Logan’s Studio, Appold Street, London The Fieldgate Gallery, London Susanne Radmann, Mary Lemley, Vicky Burton, Sarah Austin, Claire Valentines Cabaret, Wedges, London Opening a shopping centre in Kings Road with Andrew Laurie, Claire O’Conner, Antal, Ian Hill, Dome Boy, Margo Uden, Molly, Flashing in the British Museum, The British Museum, London Logan, Kings Road, London 2007 The Secret Public – The Last Days of the British Underground Alison, Mystery woman at Diorama 1, Mystery woman at Diorama 2, Mashed Potato Baby Mothers Day Performance, Riverside Trance, Dance, Sleeping Beauty, Web Cabaret Contra Point 1978–1988, The ICA, London Jason Catchpole, Tarisha, Manda Telal, Tony, Lionel Mculum, Studios, London and Heaven, London Youth, Bletchley Leisure Centre, Milton Keynes Neo Naturist paintings, films, performances, ceramics Jeanette Parker Easter Crucified Chicken Performance, The Fridge, London from the 1980s, England & Co Gallery, London May Day Performance at Spanish Anarchist Centre, Centro 1989 Cupids and Amazons (The Diorama, Sexuality Festival, London), Iberico, London and The Fridge, London The Diorama, London 2008 Neo Naturist Films, Derek Jarman Super 8 Festival, Wilma’s Private View Performance, Central St Martins, London Mother's Day Performance, Cave of Desire presented by Gate & Ritzy Cinemas, London Pink Punk Yoga Performance, The Fridge, London Psychic TV, Heaven, London Excalibur Performance with Coloured Porridge, Bruce Lacey’s Bastille Day Performance Performance with Hermine 2011 Neo Naturist Archive and Films, Camulodurum, Faerie Fair, Norfolk Demoriane and Ian Hill, Espace Donguy, Paris Firstsite, Colchester Week Long Live-in Performance: Fashion Day, Macbeth Day, Sandy and Andy Performance with Hermine Demoriane and Black Rapport Day, B2 Gallery, London & Thames Beach, Ian Hill, Espace Donguy, Paris 2012 Neo Naturist footage in the British Guide to Showing Off, Wapping, London Thou Art Goddess, The Assembly Rooms, Glastonbury Curated by Andrew Logan, Guadalajara International Cabaret Fridge, The Fridge, London Share Out 89, Birch & Conran Fine Arts, London Film Festival, Guadalajara, Mexico Neo Naturist Life Drawing Class, Wide Open School, 1983 Cro Magnon Woman, Neo Naturist Film Show and 1990 May Day Performance at The Diorama, The Diorama, London Hayward, London Performance, B2 Gallery, London The Princess, the Pea and the Period, D Beauty of Kaos, Wilma Johnson, Jennifer Binnie, Christine Binnie with current Sheherezade, The Knives Besides the Plates, Charles Centre L’Espace Bizarre, Brussels work and The Neo Naturist Archive, Gallery 286, London Peguy, Notre Dame Hall, London Pagan Halloween Festival, The Witches Fashion Show, The Neo Naturist Films go into the BFI Archive, Sexist Crabs, The Zap Club, The Royal Escape, Brighton Commonwealth Institute, London British Film Institute, London Sexist Crabs giving birth to Whitebait, Commemoration Ball, Neo Naturist Films, ICA, London Oxford 1991 The Miss Ts of Avalon at Andrew Logan’s Alternative Miss Neo Naturist Films, Tramway Festival, Tramway, Glasgow Sexist Crabs and the Cosmic Egg, Portland Bill Quarry and World, Business Design Centre, London Sculpture Park, Portland, Yorkshire The Last Weekend, The Edge Biennale Trust, Alston Cumbria One Minutes Ballet, Venus and Adonis with Michael Clark, The Last Tango, The Chelsea Arts Club, London Riverside Studios, London The Neo Naturists Halloween Performance at the Wheel of Halloween Performance with Apple Bobbing, International Death Bang, Portobello Road, London Students House, London Heaven with Molly, Alison and Ellis, Heaven, London Reading List The Artless Dodge with Michael Clark and Cerith Wyn Evans, Riverside Studios, London 1992 St Patrick’s Day Performance, Night of the Living Ultra Boy George, Take it Like a Man, 1995, London: Harper Collins Sexist Crabs with Michael Clark, Riverside Studios, London Vixons, The Gas Light Club, London Rob Bowman (Editor), The Secret Public/ The Last Days of the British Easter Performance, Night of the Living Ultra Vixons, Underground 1978–1988 [exhibition guide], 2007. London: Institute of 1984 Valentine Sexist Crabs, The Fridge, London The Gas Light Club, London Contemporary Arts Morris Dancing May Day Performance, The Clarendon, London The Untamed Fashion Show with Andrew Logan, Louisa Buck, Shards and Barbs: a Potted History of my Friendship with Neo Naturist Private View Performance, Jennifer Binnie Jurmala, Latvia Grayson Perry, in Mike Baird MP and Rachel Kent, Grayson Perry: My Exhibition, James Birch Gallery, London Pretty Little Art Career, 2016, Sydney: Museum of Contemporary Art Neo Naturist Mermaids with Marilyn, Henley Regatta, 1994 Red Ochre Goddesses, Criminal Justice Bill March, Australia Henley-upon-Thames Hyde Park, London Suzanne Cotter and Robert Violette, Michael Clark, 2011, London: Swimming and Walking Experiment, Centre Point Fountains, Violette Editions Tottenham Court Road, London 1995 Sewing with Alex Binnie, The Gas Light Club, London David Dawson and Rob Le Frenais, New Image and Neo Naturism, Sellotape Dresses, Andrew Logan’s Exhibition, The Misses Wyrd Alternative Miss World, The Grand, London Performance Magazine, 1982 The Book Show, Cylinder Gallery, London Stephen Duncombe (Editor), Cultural Resistance Reader, 2002, London: 1999 Neo Naturists Ladies Choir, Earth Spirit Festival, Sussex Verso 1985 The Neo Naturists Perform with Eternal Fires, The Clarendon, Jane England, The Neo Naturists, 2007, London: England & Co London 2000 Neo Naturists Ladies Choir, Hastings Festival, Hastings Ken Hollings, Valentines Cabaret, Performance Magazine, 1982 Andrew Logan’s Alternative Miss World, Water, , Summer Solstice with Barking Batteria Samba Band, Ken Hollings, Can Your Monkey Do The Dog, Performance Magazine, London Stonehenge, Wiltshire 1983 Body Painted Cheerleaders, Heaven, London and Taboo, Wilma Johnson, Surf Mama, 2011, London: Beautiful Books Limited London 2001 Shit/compost/land/love performance in honour of Wendy Jones, Grayson Perry, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl, 2007, our caca phoney H.our caca phoney H. with Michael Clark, Mary Barnes and RD Laing, Kingsley Hall, London London: Vintage Riverside Studio, London Neo Naturists Ladies Choir, Vic Naylors, London Stefan Kalmár & Daniel Pies (Editors), Be Nice, Share Everything, Have Flambe your Brassiere, Parachute Fashion Show, Chelsea Fun, 2010: Munich: Kunstverein München and Cologne: Verlag der Barracks, London 2003 Homage to Virginia Wolf, The Quentin Follies, Buchhandlung Walther König, Existentialists Macbeth for Halloween, The Fridge, London Charlston Farm House, Sussex Catherine McDermott, Street Style: British Design in the 1980s, 1987: Neo Naturist Tea Ceremony, James Birch Gallery, London London: Rizzoli 2004 Sexists Crabs Summer Solstice, Birling Gap, , LONDON CALLING: A Countercultural History of London since 1986 Neo Naturist Cheer Leaders with Leigh Bowery and Nr Eastbourne, Sussex 1945, 2010: London: Atlantic Books Michael Clark, Royal Opera House, London Elaine Morgan, The Descent of Woman, 1974, London: Corgi Art for Money with Michael Clark, The Royal Opera House, Robert Violette (editor): Leigh Bowery, 1998, London: Violette Editions London John A. Walker, LEFT SHIFT: Radical Art in 1970s Britain, 2002: London: Gardening for Spring, The Fridge, London I. B. Tauris & Co Neo Naturists, Firewolf and Body Printing, Andrew Wilson, Grayson Perry Guerilla Tactics, Netherlands Architecture James Birch Gallery, London Institute, 2002 Madonna Performance, The Dome, Islington, London

28 29 © 2016 Louisa Buck, Joe Scotland, Jessica Vaughan, the authors, Studio Voltaire staff Supporters Studio Voltaire, London and An Endless Supply, Birmingham. Joe Scotland, Director Charles Asprey Niamh Conneely, Communications and Development Manager Tom Cole All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, Georgina Corrie, Bookkeeper Donald Curtin stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any Georgia Haysom, Sales and Production Manager Andrew Hale & Stephanie Simon Hale means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or Ellie Howard, Gallery Assistant Alison & Jonathan Green otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Mat Jenner, Deputy Director Karen & Ferdinand Groos Jessica Vaughan, Programme Manager Marcelle Joseph Editors Callum Whitley, Gallery Assistant Emily King & Joe Scotland and Jessica Vaughan Joanna Mackiewicz-Gemes Board of Trustees Megha & Aditya Mittal Editorial Assistance Victoria Siddall (Chair) Dominic Palfreyman Matthew McLean Muge Ponte (Treasurer) Charlie Porter Charles Asprey Alice Rawsthorn Design Pablo Bronstein David Roberts & Indre Serpytyte Roberts An Endless Supply Haro Cumbusyan Mark Francis Victoria Siddall Print Charlotte Ginsborg Eva Tempou Sharman & Company Limited Fred Manson OBE Richard Scott Gallery Circle All images courtesy of The Neo Naturists Archive unless stated otherwise. Catherine Wood Anton Kern Gallery, New York The Approach, London This booklet is published on the occasion of the exhibition Development Committee Corvi-Mora, London The Neo Naturists, 8 July – 28 August 2016, at Studio Voltaire, London. Valeria Napoleone (Chair) David Zwirner, New York/London Aileen Corkery Herald St, London The Neo Naturists has been kindly supported by Arts Council England, Penny Martin Marc Foxx Gallery, Los Angeles The Henry Moore Foundation and Thomas Dane. Joe Scotland , London Victoria Siddall Modern Art/Stuart Shave, London In addition, A night with the Neo Naturists, Wednesday 24 August 2016, Susanne Tide-Frater The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow in partnership with the ICA has been generously supported by Sadie Coles HQ, London Yana & Stephen Peel. Programme Patrons Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin Shane Akeroyd Thomas Dane Gallery, London Haro Cumbusyan & Bilge Ogut-Cumbusyan Charlotte Ford Programme Supporters Joe & Marie Donnelly The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts Valeria & Gregorio Napoleone The Ampersand Foundation Yana & Stephen Peel Arts Council England Catherine Petitgas Australian Council for the Arts Floriane de Saint-Pierre Bloomberg Gerd Schepers & Martina Vondruska Cockayne – The London Community Foundation Dana Sheves, GAST Art Foundation The Cooperative Membership Community Fund Creative Scotland Patrons The Elephant Trust Harriet Anstruther The Henry Moore Foundation Brian Boylan Hospitalfield Arts Pablo Bronstein Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen Alastair Cookson Instytut Adama Mickiewicza Mariana & Adam Clayton Jerwood Charitable Foundation Nicoletta Fiorucci Outset Contemporary Art Fund Found Associates Polish Cultural Institute Betty Jackson & David Cohen Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation Elinor Jansz & Alex Sainsbury Sigrid Kirk Studio Voltaire is core funded by Arts Council England James Lindon Stefania Pramma Silka Rittson-Thomas Jeremy Scholar Ella Whitmarsh Anita & Poju Zabludowicz

Founding Corporate Patrons Chloé Farfetch QIC Global Real Estate Simone

Corporate Patrons (APFEL) A Practice For Everyday Life Arnold & Henderson Artlogic Atomic Smash Baker & McKenzie Blackwall Green Fletcher Gallery Services Hiscox Scott & Co Nikki Tibbles, Wild at Heart

30 31 Studio Voltaire