The London Open Live

4 Jun-7 Sep 2025

Overview

Building on Whitechapel Gallery’s long history of commissioning and staging performance, The London Open Live provides a vital opportunity to map the different types of live art practices in London.

The live art scene was badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, not least due to the cancellation of live events and programmes during the various lockdowns. In addition, lack of funding has led to many higher education and university courses scaling back their provision for performance programmes, resulting in decreased visibility and a lack of wider investment and support. The London Open Live aims to highlight the vitality and importance of live art practices by offering a platform for artists to present new and recent work throughout Whitechapel Gallery’s Summer season.

The 13-week programme will showcase artists from different generations whose broad responses to ‘live-ness’ offer an invitation to gather around new ideas and experiences. Encompassing a wide range of concepts including testing the limits of the body under endurance, investigating gender constructs, exploring the texture of verbal and non-verbal language and imagining new worlds, each performance will provide a distinct and timely snapshot of live art practice today. The participating artists are Devika Bilimoria, Season Butler, Shaun Caton, Helen Davison, Tim Etchells, Plastique Fantastique, Helena Goldwater, i.as.in.we, William Mackrell, Nando Messias, Will Pegna, Roshana Rubin Mayhew, Mahsa Salali, Aaron Williamson and Joshua Woolford.  

Performances will take place Thursday to Sunday throughout June–September 2025 at Whitechapel Gallery. An accompanying film programme will be presented in the Zilkha Auditorium & Studio featuring: Babeworld, Rita Evans, Rosie Gibbens, Adrian Lee, Lynn Lu, Jonas Lund and Sweatmother.