Future Ritual presents



A year-long programme of performances, exhibitions, artist labs and workshops exploring the function of performance as a modality for gathering, ritual and ceremony amidst the fragmentation of contemporary life.

CEREMONY was a 12 month programming cycle unfolding in London and Venice across 2024 and 2025.

CEREMONY began at midsummer with CONSIDERING TIME an intensive workshop for artists led by Marilyn Arsem, and CEREMONY [I], a day of durational actions, memory activations and offerings performed by Arsem, Devika Bilimoria, Helena Goldwater and Sandra Johnston in a pair of dilapidated terraced houses in Peckham (London). Situated in spaces evocative of decay, memory and tenacity, the performances seemed to speak to performance art as a practice of channelling and devotion.

Across the Autumn, we presented a series of two-day artist labs led by Ron Athey and Michele Occelli on  Anne Bean, and Claye Bowler who shared their practices and different understandings of art-making as a ritual, ceremony and folk tradition.

Helena Goldwater, safe keeping. CEREMONY [I], Future Ritual. Photos by Fenia Kotsopoulou.

Drawing on our longstanding collaborations with Martin O’Brien and zack mennell, we commissioned an exhibition of collaborative photographic works. The resulting images, made on 35mm Cinestill 800T by mennell and exhibited at VSSL studio, depict actions exhumed from O’Brien’s practice and presented for the ghosts of places of worship and pilgrimage.

In December, we presented CEREMONY [II], a convergence of artistic forces, as part of Venice International Performance Art Week. Our programme included Anne Bean, emilyn claid, SERAFINE1369 and Ash McNaughton, Joseph Morgan Schofield and Marcel Sparmann.

In February, we worked again with Ron Athey and Michele Occelli to take a deeper dive into Constructing Phenomena [II], exploring modular sacred theatre, performance mysteries and the politics of the body.

Following the Easter weekend, CEREMONY culminated with a festival of performance, choreography and ritual (18th to 27th April 2025). The programme was imagined as an invitation to cross a series of thresholds and reawaken enchantment in the metropolis. The artists presenting in the festival were: Marilyn Arsem, Anne Bean, gustaf broms, emilyn claid, Raisa Kabir, Alastair MacLennan, Rubiane Maia, n:u, Pianka Pärna, Liz Rosenfeld, SERAFINE1369, kane stonestreet, and VestAndPage with Ash McNaughton and Joseph Morgan Schofield.

Alongside this programme, we offered two synchronous intensive artist development workshops: ARCANE PORTALS, a co-creation workshop by VestAndPage and ON PRACTICE by Marilyn Arsem.

Credits and Support

Joseph Morgan Schofield - Curator
Regina Agard-Brathwaite - Programme Coordinator

Anna Goodman / Abstrakt Publicity - PR

Programme assistance: Robyn Green, Ewan Hindes, Ash McNaughton, zack mennell, Arthur Morris, kane stonestreet and AJ Thwaites.

Future Ritual: Ceremony is supported with public funds by Arts Council England. Further support towards the programme has been given by Mayor of London. The project was produced in partnership with Live Art Development Agency, Queen Mary University of London, Stanley Arts, Venice International Performance Art Week and VSSL studio.

Enquiries: producing@futureritual.co.uk.

Sandra Johnston, Agape / Ajar, 2024. CEREMONY [I], Future Ritual. Photos by Fenia Kotsopoulou.