Disturbance

We have been invited to partner with Ugly Duck to deliver the 2024 Edition of Disturbance, in a role of access workers.

Ugly Duck Creative Director and founder of Disturbance Deen Atger says:

“This year we look forward to seeing our regular, fabulous @Disturbance crowd as well as new audiences discovering our work. We’re partnering with disabled-led organisations Carefuffle and Shape Arts to embark on a journey around accessibility. All artists will create new work where captioning, audio description and BSL translation will not only be embedded but considered as the work is being created. By employing livestream, projections and other technologies, we aim to explore and learn what accessibility can mean and look like for artists and audiences. Through this edition of @Disturbance we question how to make this an integral part of the show, rather than approaching it as an afterthought, so that we can not only come together but show up for each other as a larger community.”

Following the success of previous programmes championing LGBTQIA+ performance, video and digital artists, Disturbance makes maximum use of Ugly Duck’s Tanner Street location, a former Victorian factory with multiple spaces. A surreal outdoor party will lead to an interactive indoor set, full of wonder and the unexpected.

June’s live performances will be accompanied by a simultaneous online stream, enabling audiences unable to travel to experience @Disturbance in full effect. Disturbance remains committed to promoting accessibility and fostering a supportive and inclusive environment for radical, diverse and queer artists.

This year, Disturbance features five artists: Alex Billingham, Samiir Saunders, Ace Rhaman, Kobi Essah Ayensuo and Ella Frost, performing live and on giant video screens.

Distrubance is entirely artist-led, curated by Deen Atger. Other contributions comecourtesy of Lucy Nurnberg who will design the exterior installation, Mahalia Henry-Richard taking care of graphic design, set designer Knives, who has a film background and poet Oduenyi Nwike lending multifaceted skills to Disturbance as a key part of the team.