The Case of the Crushed Petunias is a “lyrical fantasy” written in 1941, focuses on Dorothy Simple, a woman whose restricted, orderly life in Massachusetts is disrupted when her petunias are destroyed, sparking a thematic exploration of routine, rebellion, and embracing a more vibrant life.

The Municipal Abattoir is a rare, politically charged one-act play written primarily in the late 1960s, exploring themes of totalitarianism and the loss of individual free will.

Studio 8 has been based at October Gallery since 1979. Their last production was Deconstruction of the Countdown, based on writings by William S. Burroughs. Refreshments available from 6 pm and after the performance.

*Please note there is no disabled access to the Theatre.

Bringing together the art film KIELI BI – Woman Who Raises the Wind and a live dance performance, Dana Mussa presents TENGRI WOMAN—an immersive exploration of memory, identity and the body.
Rooted in a spiritual and temporal journey, the project evokes a time when women lived in deep connection with nature. Moving between ancestral memory and contemporary experience, the work creates a bridge between tribal roots and modernity.

*Please note there is no disabled access to the Theatre.

An evening of thunderous rhythm and meditative precision awaits as internationally renowned percussionist Joji Hirota performs with The London Taiko Drummers at October Gallery.

The commanding presence of taiko drums will resonate through the gallery in a powerful 40-minute performance that reveals both the raw intensity and the disciplined grace of this ancient Japanese tradition. Driving, intricate rhythms unfold into immersive soundscapes — at once elemental and refined.

Presented in conjunction with Kenji Yoshida: The Meaning of Life, the exhibition and bar will remain open to ticket holders from 6.30 – 8.30 pm.

Join Joe Nickols, Project Curator of Samurai at the British Museum and Gerard Houghton, Director of Special Projects, October Gallery for a discussion about Kenji Yoshida and his solo exhibition, The Meaning of Life. The conversation will examine the late Japanese artist's extraordinary life and artistic career.

Join artists Eleanor Lakelin and Junko Mori in conversation with curator Eleri Fanshawe for a special gallery talk accompanying the exhibition Lineages.

Working across wood and metal respectively, Lakelin and Mori share a deep attentiveness to natural forms, processes and cycles of growth. This conversation will explore their distinctive material practices, tracing how each artist responds to the inherent qualities of their chosen mediums through making, repetition and transformation.

In both practices, the artists’ use of line emerges as a connective thread between material and gesture as a method of ‘way finding’ that interlinks nature with contemporary sculptural form. The talk offers insight into the artists’ influences and shared sensibilities, inviting audiences to consider how an expanded notion of line operates as both concept and form within their work.

The talk takes place on the gallery’s ground floor and has disabled access.

Join Govinda Sah ‘Azad’ in discussion with Dr. Katie Hill, Academic Lead, Asia and Senior Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, on the occasion of his solo exhibition, Journey to the Heart of Light at October Gallery.

This exhibition highlights Sah’s latest large-scale oil and acrylic paintings on canvas and presents selected smaller scale works. Journey to the Heart of Light weaves together the artist’s personal journeys through both inner and outer realms. Beginning his artistic career in the Himalayan mountains close to where he was born, Sah first moved to London to study at Wimbledon College of Arts, before moving from London to Margate, where he recently opened a purpose-built studio.

The conversation will examine Sah’s creative process and unpack the influence of the different environments that the artist has lived in upon his artistic progress.

The talk takes place on the gallery’s ground floor and has disabled access.

To accompany the exhibition Freedom Rising: The Art of Owusu-Ankomah, join Papa Essel, Artist and Gerard Houghton, Director of Special Projects at October Gallery, for a conversation exploring the complex paintings by the late Owusu-Ankomah.

5.00 pm Paid bar open in the Gallery (free drop-in)
6.30 pm Theatre doors open
7.00 pm Film Screening (52 min)
Location: Theatre (2nd floor)
Entry: Free admission (booking required)

To coincide with the exhibition Aubrey Williams: Elemental Force, October Gallery will present a special screening of Mark of the Hand: Aubrey Williams, directed by Imruh Bakari. 

This remarkable film follows the artist, Aubrey Williams, as he returns to his birthplace of Georgetown, Guyana’s capital city. After restoring one of his murals at Timehri International Airport, the artist travels on to Hosororo, in the depths of the rainforest, returning for the first time, in forty years, to visit the Warrau people who originally inspired him to follow his lifelong path as an artist. That once arduous, days-long journey through deep forest by canoe and on foot has since become a forty-five-minute hop by plane, and the film traces the course of that surprisingly emotional return.   

Visitors are invited to explore the exhibition Aubrey Williams: Elemental Force from 5 pm to 7 pm in the Gallery — a paid bar will be available (free drop-in). Doors to the screening will open at 6.30 pm. 

*Please note there is no disabled access to the Theatre on the 2nd floor. 

To accompany the exhibition, Aubrey Williams: Elemental Force, join artist Hew Locke, art historian and curator Maryam Ohadi-Hamadani, for a discussion about Williams’ legacy and innovative approach to his practice. The talk will be moderated by art historian and curator Indie A. Choudhury. The talk takes place on the Gallery’s ground floor and has disabled access. The gallery’s bar will be open from 5.30 – 8.30 pm.

Dr. Hew Locke, OBE, RA was born in Edinburgh, raised in Guyana and lives in London. He knew Aubrey Williams personally from when he was a child in Guyana. In 2022, Locke's installation The Procession was presented by Tate Britain, London and he was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to create an installation for its façade, titled Gilt. He recently curated the exhibition, What Have We Here? at The British Museum, London.

Dr. Maryam Ohadi-Hamadani  is an art historian, curator and Lecturer in History of Art, Edinburgh College of Art at the University of Edinburgh. She has widely published on the postcolonial histories of African, Afro-Caribbean, Asian and Black British art in Britain and beyond. Funded by fellowships from Leverhulme and the Paul Mellon Centre, her current book project, The Commonwealth of Art and Visual Culture, examines the visual construction of the 'Commonwealth,' reflected or criticised in art practices, films and exhibitions produced between 1948-1978.

Dr. Indie A. Choudhury is an art historian and curator. She holds the post for Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art at The Courtauld Institute of Art (Global Black Diasporas and Black Studies). She is currently working on the first monograph of Frank Bowling’s White Paintings as a body of work spanning more than six decades of his career. Recent and forthcoming publications include Speculative Light: The Arts of Beauford Delaney and James Baldwin published by Duke University Press and on Hew Locke published by Yale University Press. Recent exhibitions include In Praise of Black Errantry for Unit London at the Venice Biennale 2024.

Join October Gallery in marking the final day of the art of William S. Burroughs with extended opening hours and a celebratory gathering. The exhibition features rarely seen works from spray paint, ink and acrylic to markers and gunshots. More about the exhibition here

At 3 pm, the panel discussion What’s Left of a Radical Vision When It’s All Come True? will take place upstairs in the Theatre (Sign up for the waiting list). Following the discussion, The Cat Inside (2007), a soundscape by Ramuntcho Matta, will be played in the Gallery along with Matta’s film of the seminal Electronic Revolution, describing the concept and method of Burroughs and Brion Gysin’s genre-defining literary multimedia experiments.

Visitors can also browse a selection of books and catalogues by Burroughs and those who were closely connected to him. Books and catalogue selection

A discussion on how do we maintain legacies of queer and radical vision, on the occasion of an exhibition by William S. Burroughs. Panelists: Ira Silverberg, Andrew Durbin, Neil Bartlett, OBE, Kathelin Gray.

William S. Burroughs was a seer. Using new forms of writing for his visionary social satire, Naked Lunch, he altered the course of letters, foresaw the future of the planet and its inhabitants, and was censored in the U.S. upon publication in 1959. In a career that spanned more than fifty years, he continually broke boundaries, and moved into new forms including painting, film, musical collaborations, and acting. Burroughs and his work retain an ongoing influence nearly thirty years after his death. How do legacies of queer and outsider artists help navigate the daunting challenges and opportunities of the present moment?

The event is fully booked — sign up for the waiting list

5.00 pm Paid bar and specially curated queer soundscape in the Gallery
(free drop-in until 6.30 pm)

7.00 pm Film Screening (2h 16min)
Location: Theatre (2nd floor)*
Entry

Ahead of this special screening of Queer, visitors are invited to explore the exhibition. Immerse yourself in the world of William S. Burroughs from 5 pm accompanied by a curated playlist, a paid bar and the chance to browse Queer, the novel that inspired the film. Doors to the screening will open at 6.30 pm.

Queer, directed by Luca Guadagnino, is a 2024 adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ book of the same title starring Daniel Craig.

In 1950s Mexico City, William Lee, an American ex-pat in his late forties, leads a solitary life amidst a small American community. However, the arrival in town of Eugene Allerton, a young student, stirs William into finally establishing a "meaningful connection with someone."

Originally penned in 1952, Burroughs’ novel remains an iconic love story in LGBTQ literature and was unpublished until 1985.

This award winning documentary, William S. Burroughs: A Man Within, features exclusive interviews with his closest friends and colleagues. Leyser released the film at the age of 24. A Man Within is an unflinching exploration of one of the world’s first openly queer poets, junkies and challengers of censorship. Variety Magazine wrote “Like his subject, Leyser strives to disengage from the conventional, while still being lucid. He succeeds admirably.” It screened on over 15 TV stations around the world as well as on Netflix. A Q&A with the director, Yony Leyser, will take place after the film screening, (duration 87 minutes. Doors open at 2:00 pm and the film starts at 2:30 pm.

A bar will be open for paid refreshments in the Theatre from 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm.

This event will take place in the Theatre on the second floor and has no disabled access.

Andrew Wilson is an art historian, curator and critic. He was senior curator of modern British Art and Archives at Tate Britain 2006-2021, and was previously deputy editor of Art Monthly 1997-2006. He is the editor and author of the Patrick Heron catalogue raisonné of oil paintings (Art Publishing Inc, forthcoming 2027). Wilson has curated major exhibitions and written widely on post-war British art over the last 40 years, including exhibitions and accompanying publications on Conceptual Art in Britain (Tate Britain 2016), David Hockney (Tate Britain and tour 2017-18) and Patrick Heron (Tate St Ives and tour 2018-19). He was the author of Richard Hamilton Swingeing London 67 (Afterall/MIT Press 2012). He is a founding fellow of the London Institute of ’Pataphysics.

Barry Miles has written extensively on the Beat Generation and the sixties counter-culture including biographies of Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, Paul McCartney and Frank Zappa, as well as London Calling: A Countercultural History of London Since 1945 . He was the co-founder of Indica Bookshop and Art Gallery (1965) and of The International Times (IT), Europe’s first underground newspaper. In 1968-9 he was the label manager for the Beatles’ experimental Zapple label. Miles was awarded an Honorary D Lit by University of Gloucestershire. A full biography and bibliography can be found at www.barrymiles.co.uk He lives in London.

The talk takes place on gallery’s ground floor and has disabled access. Doors open at 2:30 pm with a 3:00 pm start.

To accompany the solo exhibition of works by William S. Burroughs, October Gallery will show Naked Lunch, the 1991 film directed by David Cronenberg, starring Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm and Ros Scheider. The film is an adaptation of William S Burroughs’ 1959 groundbreaking novel, Naked Lunch. Burroughs himself was on the set during the making of the film.

This event will take place in the Theatre on the second floor and has no disabled access.

The film, which first was shown with support from BBC, contains extensive primary interviews of Burroughs and scenes in the famous Bunker. Afterwards, there will be a Q&A with Aaron Brookner, with clips from his film, Uncle Howard, featuring Jim Jarmusch, and describing the epic adventure to recover his uncle’s 1983 film.

Aaron Brookner is an award-winning director, writer, and producer. His work includes producing the remastered BURROUGHS: THE MOVIE (Criterion Collection/Janus Films); directing the BIFA-nominated, and NY Times Critic’s Pick UNCLE HOWARD (Sundance/Berlinale), executive produced by Jim Jarmusch. Producing and co-writing LISTEN, winner of two Venice Lions (2020) and 40+ awards worldwide, and co-producing DICIANNOVE (Venice, TIFF, BFI London 2024)

This event will take place in the Theatre on the second floor and has no disabled access.

Curator Kathelin Gray and editor and Burroughs scholar, Oliver Harris, discuss Burroughs as a prolific writer, artist and cultural revolutionary. Burroughs’ art in this exhibition, produced over the last fifteen years of his life, represents a culmination of his investigative approach to artistic production. The impact of his multimedia collaborations with Brion Gysin and his literary work still inspires the new generations of creatives. The recent film adaptation of his novel Queer, by Luca Guadagnino, starring Daniel Craig, represents the diversity and variety of his reception.

The talk takes place on gallery’s ground floor and has disabled access.

Join us for a discussion between Artists Xanthe Somers and Gaia Ozwyn and October Gallery’s Curator, Eleri Fanshawe which explores the relationship between the artists and their chosen materials to create bold ceramics and textured paintings. The conversation will investigate the artists’ influence, their practice and the new works presented in the exhibition Material Sensibilities.

The talk takes place on the gallery’s ground floor and has disabled access.

Join the conversation between Eddy Kamuanga and Hannah O’Leary as they unpack the ideas behind the artist’s work and new solo exhibition Nature Morte at October Gallery. The artist’s paintings are informed by the disturbing reports about the harmful impacts of industrial mining processes on food production, human health and local biodiversity in Katanga in the Central part of the DRC, to where Kamuanga’s father and mother both trace their origins.

The event will take place in the gallery’s ground floor and has disabled access.

Poetry has delighted and inspired many people over the centuries; it has also confronted the political order and demanded social change. 

Join Dave Neita, who will perform a variety of poems that illustrate the power of poetry to enlighten, enchant and emancipate.

Neita, a poet and lecturer of social policy, will recite and reflect on the works of diverse poets, from Bob Marley to Maya Angelou, and incorporate the works of other poets such as Alice Walker, Claude McKay, Basho, Rumi and Langston Hughes. This will be accompanied with pictorial references to diverse works of art, imbued with essential elements of challenge and change.

Drinks will be available to purchase at the bar 6 – 9 pm.

*Please note there is no disabled access to the Theatre room.

The first-ever London screening of Our Blue World, narrated by Liam Neeson, will be shown at October Gallery on Friday, 27th September. The film takes viewers on an inspiring journey, revealing how modern science and ancient wisdom can transform our essential relationship to water. Narrating the stories of dynamic and visionary individuals worldwide, this thought-provoking and visually stunning film emphasises water's crucial role as the vital force driving all living beings on planet Earth.

Dr. Mark Nelson, Chairman of the Institute of Ecotechnics, will join the event live via Zoom to introduce the film and following the screening, will participate in a discussion and Q & A with Gerard Houghton, Director of Special Projects at October Gallery. The discussion will provide a unique opportunity to delve deeper into the film’s central themes and Nelson’s pioneering work investigating Planet Earth’s ‘water cycle’ as featured in the documentary during his two-year experience inside Biosphere 2 and more recently in developing the innovative 'Eden in Iraq' project.
From the creators of the acclaimed Netflix documentary Brave Blue World — an award-winning documentary seen by millions — Our Blue World, will screen at film festivals before going on wider release later this year.

Agenda:
7:00 PM: Doors open
7:20 - 7:30 PM: Introduction by Dr. Mark Nelson via Zoom
7:30 - 9:00 PM: Film screening of Our Blue World
9:00 - 10:00 PM: Conversation with Dr. Mark Nelson and Gerard Houghton, Director of Special Projects at October Gallery followed by Q & A

Watch the trailer

How are exhibitions created and artworks juxtaposed to form powerful interactions, resonate with meaning and represent more than the sum of their parts? What happens when Curators collaborate with Artists over prolonged periods? What is creative about the process of hanging an exhibition? What resonances, harmonies and visual dynamics are at play?

Join Artistic Director of October Gallery, Elisabeth Lalouschek, in conversation with Director of Special Projects, Gerard Houghton, for a talk which aims to unpack these intriguing questions, using the works in Vital Force to highlight 45 years of October Gallery’s partnership with some of the world’s most renowned contemporary artists.

Disabled access is available as the talk will take place on the ground floor, within the exhibition, Vital Force.

Join renowned Professor Ablade Glover for an in-depth discussion about his artistic practice and his latest exhibition, Inner Worlds, Outer Journeys, with Chili Hawes, Director of October Gallery. In celebration of the artist’s 90th birth year, the talk will explore Glover’s arc of development and how this prominent artist and educator helped shape the current course and future pathways of Ghanaian art. The conversation, moderated by Gerard Houghton, Director of Special Projects, will delve into the historical relationship between the gallery and this exceptional artist. In 1982, Ablade Glover was the first artist from sub-Saharan Africa to exhibit at October Gallery. Since then, the Gallery has devoted ten solo shows to the colourful and always energetic canvases of this acclaimed master of oil-on-canvas painting.

Join us for our next gallery talk with Theresa Weber and Matheus Marques Abu. The conversation explores the artists’ ideas, their practice and the new works presented in the exhibition Emergent Energies.
Through multi-disciplinary installations and collaborative performances, Theresa Weber seeks to question existing power hierarchies and fixed categorisations. Her works often refer to existing mythologies and historical research fields, which are communicated through dense collages and sculptural networks.

The paintings of Matheus Marques Abu are influenced by his ancestry, spirituality and the daily lives of those of the African diaspora in Brazil. His work reveals a personal perspective on colonial history and its reverberations in the daily lives of Black people.

The talk takes place on the gallery’s ground floor and has disabled access.