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

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News + Upcoming

open call
DISCHARGE
1 March

An open call for performance work that doesn’t fit elsewhere.

> more info + apply


 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
11 - 15 May

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. 



channeling sexuality & strange bodily practices


DISCHARGE was a short-run but notorious DIY performance art event dedicated to presenting difficult, uncompromising and marginalised performance work. Curated by artist Martin O’Brien and hosted by kink and fetish club, The Flying Dutchman, in London 2012-2014, DISCHARGE embraced the endless possibilities of the performance space for aesthetic, physical, and political art and experimentation. DISCHARGE was reprised for a special one off event in 2024 at Ugly Duck. 

DISCHARGE returns for three events across 2026. This iteration will be hosted by IKLECTIK, a grassroots arts organisation embracing a radical, cross-disciplinary approach to culture-making and gathering. 

DISCHARGE 2026 will be three nights of performance, which turn into parties. DISCHARGE is for the freaks, monsters and weirdos. It is for the messy, the gross, and the sticky. It revels in the distasteful. DISCHARGE is a sanctuary of sickness, a space for ethical perverts to gather. 


open call

> apply now, deadline Sunday 1 March

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 performance work that is informed by experimental and non-normative bodily practices, including, but not limited to: action; kink and fetish; sexual cultures; experimental movement; strange embodiments; body art; channelings; happenings. DISCHARGE is a space for work that struggles to fit in elsewhere.

The events will be mixed bills, featuring a number of short performances (under 20mins) each night. As this is the case, the works must have quick and minimal set up. This is not a call for cabaret or club style performances - we are interested in work that is difficult and asks for the audiences’ attention and focus. 

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 of 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, Sunday 1 March.

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


event dates
> Friday 1 May
> Saturday 18 July
> Saturday 28 November

> apply now, deadline Sunday 1 March

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!