Future Ritual is a practice of gathering, curating and organising. We collaborate with artists to create contemporary expressions of ritual, working to support the emergence of new and more attuned cultures. 

We are based in London (UK).

> about Future Ritual


News + Upcoming

zack mennell
COMMON HOST
13 - 15 March

A weekend gathering situating ancient folk customs such as mumming in new relation to the post-industrial landscapes of London and Essex . 

> full programme info

On 14 March we’ll host contaminated materials, a workshop exploring the performing our difficult histories.

> workshop info


Martin O’Brien
ON DISCIPLINE
DATES TBA

This intensive workshop looks at discipline in performance making - how commitment, repetition and training can shape the way we work.

> workshop info + booking


Watch Our Work
 
Some of the performances, projects and events we have worked on are available to watch online
> watch
Getting in Touch
Advice + Consultancy





Martin O’Brien, Fading Out of Dead Air (Transmissions for the Necropolis), 2023. Photography by Marco Berardi. 



performing sexuality & strange bodily practices


DISCHARGE is an event dedicated to presenting difficult, radical and marginalised performance work. Curated by Martin O’Brien, DISCHARGE embraces the endless possibilities of the performance space for aesthetic, physical, and political art and experimentation.


DISCHARGE was originally hosted in kink and fetish clubs in London in the early 2010s. In 2024, we reprised DISCHARGE for a special one-off event at Ugly Duck. This year, we’ll host three events in partnership with IKLECTIK, as part of O’Brien’s project Zombie Time.

> Saturday 2 May
> Saturday 18 July
> Saturday 28 November

open call

> applications open soon, deadline Friday 27 February

what we’re looking for
DISCHARGE will be programmed through a mix of open call and invitation. 

The events will be mixed bills, featuring a number of short, sharp shocks each night. These don’t need to be club style performances - we welcome work that is difficult and asks for the audiences’ attention and focus.

The open call is for work that is informed by kink, fetish and sexual cultures and strange bodily practices.

This iteration of DISCHARGE will be hosted by IKLECTIK, a grassroots arts organisation embracing a radical, cross-disciplinary approach to culture-making and gathering. IKLECTIK’s programme brings together experimental sound, non-normative embodiment, performance rituals, and visual practices, with a focus on accessible technologies. For IKLECTIK, sound is a central point of enquiry, possibility, and exploration.

While the works presented at DISCHARGE will foreground the body, we encourage you to think about the role sound (including silence) in your proposed work. IKLECTIK is situated in Peckham Levels. There is step free access to the space.

> IKLECTIK


what we can offer
We can offer performers a fee of £500, rehearsal space, technical assistance (focussed on sound), photo and video documentation.


what you need to do
To apply please complete this google form. The deadline is end of day, Friday 27 February.

If you have any questions, please contact Future Ritual:
producing@futureritual.co.uk

Electric Adam, DISCHARGE, Ugly Duck, 2024. Photo by Manuel Vason.

Ash McNaughton, Dredge, DISCHARGE, Ugly Duck, 2024. Photo by Manuel Vason.



Zombie Time

DISCHARGE is presented as part of Zombie Time, a project exploring how Live Art and performance art practices can shift understandings of health, disrupt the vulnerabity of the patient and the rhetoric of illness as weakness. Living sick can also mean living well!