Gentrification and digital alienation have caused a closure epidemic among gay bars since the mid-2000s. A tragic loss of dedicated spaces for LGBTQ+ people to socialise, find community and express their identity - places that fostered a sense of belonging and community.
But while we commiserate these lost venues, this Friday Late celebrates the grassroots collectives and communities finding ways to save these spaces and to create new transient queer utopias in the capital.
All events are free, and places are designated on a first-come, first-served basis unless stated otherwise. Filming and photography will take place at this event.
Please note if the V&A or any of the activations reaches capacity, we will allow access on a one-in, one-out basis.
#FridayLate
A
Queer House Party
The Grand Entrance, Cromwell Road
18.30 - 21.30
Known for beautifully chaotic parties rooted in queer joy, inclusivity and activism, Queer House Party are among the UK's most influential party starters. From lockdown livestreams to packed clubs and major festival stages, the collective delivers international sell-outs for a devoted crowd.
With community at their heart, they push for positive social change. Since 2020, DJs Harry Gay, passer, and host Taali Not Charlie have pioneered the dancefloor, showing new ways to party, connect global scenes, and amplify underrepresented voices to build inclusive nightlife spaces for all.
@queerhouseparty
B
UK Gay Bar Directory - Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 50b, The Paul and Jill Ruddock Gallery
Drop in from 18:30 - 21:30
Shot over nine months in 2015-16, this film documents over 100 gay bars across 14 cities, distilling each venue's interior character and personality. Made in response to the rapid closures of LGBTQ venues, Directory also highlights the consequences of endless austerity: the loss of public space and the dismantling of state infrastructure.
Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings are an artist duo working in film, drawing, installation and performance. Their collaborative work forms from ongoing research and exploration into the relationship between public space, architecture, state infrastructure, gender and sexual identity.
@rosiebhastings@hannah_quinlan
C
BGWMC
The Raphael Cartoons, Room 48a
19:45 and 21:00
Duration 20 minutes
Since 2005, BGWMC has been the heart of East London's drag and cabaret scenes - a retro fever dream venue curating tomorrow's creative agenda. Wherever the BGWMC heart pops up, you know that's where the party's at! Join us for an unforgettable night of creative rebellion featuring provocative, camp, and chaotic pop-up performances from:
Lucinda B.Hind - an international cabaret and circus drag artist fusing burlesque and circus into a bold, genre-defying spectacle seen from Glitterbox to Glastonbury, Burning Man to BGWMC.
Jean - trash-tastic, shape-shifting, gender-bending drag alien, they make their costumes from discarded, forgotten materials and wield humour and hope in the face of environmental and social collapse.
Sarjana - Cabaret isn't just art, it's a revolution. Representing queer Asian cabaret collective The Bitten Peach, this force shaped by nature, not society, blends sensual movement and expressive storytelling to lead you on a journey of self-discovery and liberation.
PMBC - with their fluid approach to identity and creative expression, PMBC is a drag artist, MC, producer, and educator. A performance powerhouse, they're a deep speaker, big joker, an ex-professional footballer, proud lesbian and former winner of Lipsync 1000 - the UK's biggest and best drag competition.
@bgwmc@misslucindabhind@distressed_jean@sarjanasingh@pbmcpresents
D
Ring the Bell - Kleanthis Kyriakou
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 64b, The Simon Sainsbury Gallery, Level 1
Drop in from 18:30 - 21:30
Performance at 21:00
Drawing on the typology of religious altars, this installation honours 'The Bell', a legendary 1980s-90s LGBTQ+ pub in King's Cross that was a haven for alternative music, punk fashion, and radical politics. The work stands as a memorial and a call to protect our queer spaces of congregation today. At 21:00, a eulogy by the artist's drag alter ego Divine the III will be followed by 'the last song' ritual.
Kleanthis Kyriakou is a multi-disciplinary artist, spatial designer and academic memorialising and celebrating LGBTQ+ spaces lost to gentrification and dating apps.
@kleoldn
E
...in a pool painted black - Dani d'Ingeo
Room 25
Drop in from 18:30 - 21:30
Performance at 20:45
Dani d'Ingeo presents the image slideshow '...in a pool painted black'. Using the lens as a mirror on the everyday, the work traces the clarity and shadows of oscillating internal landscapes while interrogating the present value of vernacular documentation. The slideshow will be accompanied by a live activation by sound artist Malou van der Veld.
d'Ingeo is an Italian photographer. Their work captures the rich fabric of the queer experience from an insider point of view - the overlapping of simple mundanity, tender intimacy and underground nightlife.
@remainsofd@malougistics
F
Out of the Box - Queer zines and print in the collections
Seminar Room 2, Learning Centre
19:45 - 20:15
Please note this event has limited capacity. Sign up from 18:30 in Learning Centre
Join curator Danilo Marques dos Reis as we delve deep into the V&A's collections to find queer zines, prints and publications. Rooted in DIY culture, zines are a medium for artistic expression, political commentary and sharing your niche interests through small press. These archives reveal a record of the alternative queer music and club cultures of the 1980s and 90s and how community was created pre-internet. Maybe you'll be inspired to create your own in our flyer workshop (G).
@virtually_dani
G
Nan Carreira - Flyer workshop
Art Studio, Learning Centre
Drop in from 18:30 - 21:00
What would your ideal club night look like? You're invited to design your own club flyer using archive images from the V&A collection. This will be a space to reflect on the concept of joy, community and celebration, creatively exploring how these can be political tools for liberation.
Nan Carreira is a London-based artist working with painting, drawing and participative art exploring themes of spirituality and transcendence, reinterpreting images through a queer lens, and imagining new worlds where vulnerability and self-expression are embraced. Their art reflects on how everyday experiences can connect us to something beyond ourselves.
@nan.carreira
H
Footnotes for Heroes & The Backstreet Slideshow
Prince Consort Gallery
Drop in from 18:30 - 21:30
Prem Sahib re-stages their 2025 works for Studio Voltaire into a new format, combining image, text, furniture, and sound. These centre around - and depart from - The Backstreet, London's oldest and longest-running gay leather bar, which closed in 2022 after almost four decades.
Sahib is an artist whose work references the architecture of public and private spaces, structures that shape individual and communal identities, senses of belonging, alienation and confinement. Mixing the personal and political, abstraction and figuration, Sahib's formalism is suggestive of the body as well as its absence, drawing attention to traces of touch and frameworks of looking.
@premsahib
I
Ghosts in the Room: Black Queer Club Spaces in London
National Art Library
19:15-19:45
Independent curator Shaun Wallace presents an illustrated talk exploring the history of London's Black queer club spaces from the 1980s onwards. Using photography, archival ephemera and oral histories, Wallace - creator of the 'Reunion 79-21' project, chronicling 4 decades of queer and trans London nightlife - traces how these venues functioned as vital sites for performance, community and cultural expression. By recovering overlooked cultural narratives, his work documents the creative networks that shaped Black LGBTQ cultural life, preserving the memory of spaces essential to the city's social and cultural history.
@re.union.rbqc
J
Sex, Clubs, Dissent
Photography Centre, Room 98, The Kusuma Gallery
20:00-20:45
What role does photography play in queer nightlife? And how does the creation of shared joy, protest, and art create sustainable networks of solidarity and resilience?
Amelia Abraham, in conversation with photographer Dani d'Ingeo and hosted by author and queer theorist Prishita Maheshwari-Aplin, explores queer nightlife, archiving space and the transformative world-making power of pleasure as presented in her new book Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising Queer Nightlife.
@amelia.abraham@remainsofd@prishita_eloise
