2026
CEREMONY, Future Ritual’s festival of performance art returns for its second edition in Peckham this November.
Intergenerational and international, CEREMONY is a heady gathering of artists and ideas. This year’s programme considers the ways queers, migrants and others who inhabit the outsides and undersides have tended to mystery, ritual and connection in the shadow of Empire and industry. What wild energies and enlivening presences may yet be found, growing up through the concrete?
The programme features: the world premiere of ASCLEPEION by Ron Athey; new commissions by n:u (melissandre varin), Pianka Pärna and Mal Parry; durational works by Julia Bardsley, Dagmara Bilon, gustaf broms, Rona Lee, Lynn Lu and Katharine Meynell; and performances by Tiziano Cruz, Eoin McCaul, Paul Regan and Lois Weaver.
There’s also DISCHARGE, a performance party curated by Martin O’Brien and featuring Shaun Caton, Daniel Oliver + Claudia Palazzo, selina bonelli, Bart Seng Wen Long + Tommy Burke and Ewan Hindes.
The festival opens with the launch of Dani d’Emilia’s ABSCISSION, a new book which considers how we might navigate endings, identity, metabolic intimacy and planetary crisis beyond the binaries that shape dominant ways of understanding ourselves and the world.
There are discursive events: GRAFTING, for anyone who is (or wants to be) professionally engaged in performance art, and ARTISTS TALKING, a morning of conversation open to all.
And gustaf broms returns to London to offer a 5 day intensive workshop exploring performing with the hidden and feral energies of the city, and Dani d’Emilia explores the practices of ecological reconfiguration through a two day artist lab.
Press enquiries to abstrakt [at] abstraktpublicity.co.uk
All other enquiries to producing [at] futureritual.co.uk
Dani d’Emilia: ABSICISSION
A conversation marking the launch of ABSCISSION, a new book that considers endings, identity, metabolic intimacy and planetary crisis.
6.30pm @ LADA,
info | rsvp
gustaf broms: Performated places_urban thresholds
A five-dary workshop on ways of performing in London’s hidden places and with the city’s feral and restless energies.
STUDIO: Future Ritual,
info | tickets
Dani d’Emilia: Practices of Ecological Reconfiguration
A workshop exploring how embodied practice, reflection, and dialogue can cultivate ecological discernment in times of radical transformation.
STUDIO: Future Ritual,
info | tickets
A double bill of performances seeking wilder modes of expression beyond normative cultural inheritance.
7pm @ Copeland Gallery,
info | tickets
Two performances which foreground the physical and sonic impact of touch, and the contact between bodies and histories.
7pm @ Copeland Gallery,
info | tickets
GRAFTING
A morning of connection + conversation for those professionally engaged in performance art (or those who would like to be).
11am @ Copeland Gallery,
info | free, rsvp
Julia Bardsley + Katharine Meynell
A pair of durational works: a D.A.T.A. Center [Disrupt All The Algorithms] powered by two aGENTS of iNVOCATION, and a place of sinfulness.
2pm @ Safehouse 1&2,
info | tickets
Tiziano Cruz A performance lecture
7.30pm @ Copeland Gallery,
info | tickets
by Ron Athey
with Carmina Escobar, Federica Dauri, Hermes Pittakos + Myrgon
A ritual performance installation bringing ancient practices of purification, prophecy, dream incubation, and votive offering into collision with Athey's inheritance of ecstatic healing, the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics, somatic therapy, and strange science.
doors 9pm @ Unit 8,
info | tickets
ARTISTS TALKING
Conversations between artists presenting in the festival, exploring performance art practices.
11am @ Unit 8,
info | free, rsvp
+ Dagmara Bilon
A pair of durational works: a D.A.T.A. Center [Disrupt All The Algorithms] powered by two aGENTS of iNVOCATION, and house where grief is dismantled, recycled and transformed.
1pm @ Safehouse 1&2,
info | tickets
FREE(HOLD)
by n:u (melissandre varin)
with Ãssia Ghendir, Xie Rong (aka Echo Morgan), Kelvin Atmadibrata + Sel Kofiga
A devotional live artwork dedicated to the practice of trying again, and again.
2pm @ Copeland Gallery,
info | tickets
ASCLEPEION
by Ron Athey
with Carmina Escobar, Federica Dauri, Hermes Pittakos + Myrgon
A ritual performance installation bringing ancient practices of purification, prophecy, dream incubation, and votive offering into collision with Athey's inheritance of ecstatic healing, the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics, somatic therapy, and strange science.
doors 6pm @ Unit 8,
info | tickets
DISCHARGEfeaturing Shaun Caton, Ewan Hindes, Daniel Oliver + Claudia Palazzo, selina bonelli, and Bart Seng Wen Long + Tommy Burke
Short sharp shocks // difficult performance // a sanctuary of sickness // curated by Martin O’Brien
doors 7.30pm @ Copeland Gallery,
info | tickets
Rona Lee + Lynn Lu
An afternoon of four durational works: slow processes unfold across Copeland Gallery and Safehouse 1&2.
1pm @ Copeland Gallery + Safehouse 1&2,
info | tickets
WHAT’S A CHAIR WITHOUT A TABLE
by Lois Weaver
A closing ritual considering the balance of absence and obsession, between solitude and the need for connection.
7pm @ Copeland Gallery,
info | tickets
further information
All of our events are ticketed. Tickets are offered on a first/second/third release basis - meaning the lower priced tickets are available first.
There are an allocation of tickets for those in receipt of Universal and Pension Credit available for each event.
You’ll find a day pass option, which gives entry to all events on a given day, on each day’s ticket page.
There’s also a limited number of full week passes available, priced £90/£120.
If you require free access companion tickets, or if price is a barrier, please do contact us.
All events are priced to reflect the costs of putting independent events on in London, and paying artists fairly. CEREMONY does not make a profit.
Please see individual event pages for fuller accessibility information. You can read about what to expect at our events here.
Seating will generally be a mixture of benches (without backs), chairs and cushions on the floor. If you require a particular seat reserving for you, please let us know in advance.
Events taking place in Copeland Gallery and Unit 8 are Wheelchair Accessible. Those taking place in Safehouse 1&2 are not generally accessible, though please do be in touch to request more information.
producing [at] futureritual.co.uk
Regina Agard-Brathwaite - Programme Coordinator
Herbe Walmsley - Production Manager
ABSTRAKT - Press
The festival is presented in partnership with Copeland Park and Bussey Building, Creative Capital, Fierce Festival, Live Art Development Agency and supported with public funds by Arts Council England.
Enquiries: producing@futureritual.co.uk.